We are a family of 5 living…

We are a family of 5 living in the City of Toronto. We own 5 bikes and 1 car. The Bloor and University bike lanes are a critical piece of infrastructure for us to move around the city safely. Already 6 bicyclists were killed on the roads in 2024 thus far. Bike lanes significantly improve our safety. Moreover, by riding our bikes we are lessening the load on the roads, lessening the danger that cars pose to pedestrians, lessening the climate change impact of transportation and, by staying physically active, lessening the burden on our publicly funded health care system. Building bike lanes costs a fraction of other modes of transportation such as roads, railways, subways and so forth. In my experience as a driver and the CEO of a company that owns a fleet of 20 delivery vans, bike lanes usually have a negligible impact on journey time in the short run and are beneficial in the long run. Quite simply -- to move more people, more quickly in Toronto, we need to move them out of vehicles and onto bike lanes, sidewalks, subways, streetcars, buses and trains. To achieve higher rates of bicycle usage, we need a sustained commitment to (a) expanding the network and (b) ensuring proper maintenance and enforcement. With those two elements in place, bike usage will continue to rise, yes, even in the winter as we see in places ranging from Montreal to Copenhagen.