I am opposed to the entirety…

I am opposed to the entirety of the Bill 212 proposal in which "The framework would enable provincial approval for new bike lanes on municipal roads requiring removal of a traffic lane and for existing ones, where a traffic lane was removed; it also provides for the removal of the bike lanes on Bloor St., Yonge St., and University Ave. in the City of Toronto and to return them to a lane of traffic." Cutting down an integral means of transportation that is economical for those who cannot afford vehicles and fundamentally better for the environment will not solve the traffic crisis in Ottawa. Much research has been done into road design that reduces traffic; look at the Netherlands, for example; the leading solution is higher volume and higher quality public transit solutions. In other words, moving more people more frequently = more transport in less time. That would solve the crisis, not the removal of bike lanes, not increasing lanes or the size of the road. Consider other alternatives before striking the heart of public transit for those who use bikes: students, area locals who don't need a car to drive within short distances, children, the elderly, those who like exercise, people who commute to work, people who commute to friends and family. Bikes aren't just a rich man's pastime; bikes are how people get around without forking hundreds of dollars in gas every week to get from suburbia to downtown. Improve the downtown core with more bike lanes, reduce road widths, and generate more reliable public transit infrastructure, and more people would be willing to use it. Cutting costs by making bad trains or removing infrastructure disincentivizes all those things. It pushes more people to drive their 6-seater vehicles with one person at the wheel and nobody else in the car- the epitome of less efficiency, making more traffic.