I have lived in Ontario my…

I have lived in Ontario my entire life and cannot support the decision to restrict and begin removing bike infrastructure in the province.

I do not want the Provincial government dictating whether municipalities are able to evolve and expand their own transportation infrastructure. These are decisions that primarily affect the daily lives of the inhabitants of these cities and should be made by and for the benefit of those same people. It is not the place of the province to unilaterally block and further reverse or cancel existing infrastructure projects under the guise of "saving us time". All existing or in-development infrastructure represent decades of studies and the collective will of the populace to vote for and promote bike-friendly representatives and initiatives.

After settling in Toronto about a decade ago I quickly found that cycling is the best way to get around. Taking the TTC can be effective but you often need to take an indirect route with multiple transfers to reach your destination. Driving (or being driven with the advent of Uber) has never in my ten years of living here been a decent viable method of getting around. The city is constantly beleaguered with construction, road closures, film shoots, you name it. So if I want to get somewhere, I take my bike. By taking away the bike lanes on Bloor, University and Yonge you will tangibly make my life and the lives of my friends and family more dangerous.

My father and both of my sisters have been in serious accidents on their bikes on residential roads in the small town of Niagara on the Lake. They were extremely lucky to not have been hurt worse or to have been on streets many times more dangerous such as those in Toronto. I am a very capable cyclist and as such I generally feel confident biking downtown, but that does not mean it is not dangerous. You must constantly be prepared for cars ahead of you to cut you off, people to door you as you pass, or pedestrians to simply step out in front of your bike without a glance.

One of the most significant changes I've seen in my time here, and one that has been most impactful to me, has been the addition of protected bike lanes. Especially those on Bloor and University that I use often. So much of the downtown core should be easily accessible by bike, and without the safety that this kind of infrastructure provides we will likely never see widespread adoption of cycling. Streets like Spadina or Dufferin with significant traffic but little to no protection for bikes regularly feel hostile on a level incomparable to other main arteries.

The added volume of food delivery and ride share companies has further strained this system, introducing frequent cyclist, e-bikers and scooters that now have to share space on all city streets. Having dedicated bike lanes helps to keep larger automobiles separate and reduce the risk of serious injury for the exposed riders.

In addition to biking I drive in the city on occasion, I also consider myself a capable driver and I'm not intimidated by the prospect of driving through even the most chaotic parts of downtown. However, as a driver I am equally grateful for the existence of divided bike lanes where I am never at risk of getting too close to a cyclist and putting them in danger. Furthermore, in some cases automobiles are also being protected from e-bikes or e-scooters which I find to be more erratic and unpredictable on the road than other vehicles. Having them in a dedicated lane keeps me safe from them suddenly entering or exiting the stream of traffic, as they often do.

I do not want any money put towards contracts to rip out existing (and only recently completed) bike infrastructure. If anything we should be working to fix the gardener expressway and lakeshore being awful means to get in and out of the downtown core. I believe significantly more gridlock can be reduced by targeting these transition points between downtown streets and these highways like at Spadina where there are regularly multiple block backups leading onto the Gardener.

In summary, I believe the provincial government should not put itself in a position to deny critical infrastructure, endanger their citizens or interfere with plans conceived by the community over streets built for and maintained by the community.