I live in Sunnylea and have…

I live in Sunnylea and have witnessed first hand the detrimental impact the bike lanes have had on the Kingsway neighborhood. They were installed with little or faulty data that has never been shared. It is a running joke that the bike lanes are virtually empty all of the time even in the summer. I have sat in traffic for 15 mins and not seen a single bike in either direction.
Negative impacts include:
- significant increase in emissions of hundreds or thousands of idling cars every day in traffic. This is ironic as emissions is reason most cited by proponents of bike lanes. Reality is very different than an imaginary world where everyone trades in their car for a bike
- Uber drivers racing through quiet neighborhood streets to avoid driving on Royal York or Bloor. I have been in Ubers and advised drivers to slow down as they race past kids in the street (there are no sidewalks in this neighborhood). This was never the case before bike lanes.
- it is a regressive policy. Cycling is largely a bourgeois pursuit and most cyclists are above average income. They are being prioritized over those that must drive for their job: house cleaners, nannys, delivery drivers etc
- the aesthetics of the execution are appalling. I have seen bike lanes done beautifully in other cities. Those on Bloor with plastic strips sticking out of concrete blocks makes Bloor street look like a permanent construction site or yard sale. The impact on local business is brutal.