The single biggest…

The single biggest contributor to long commutes or congestion is other cars. Research shows that bike lanes can shorten commute times in (at least) two ways.

First, bike lanes encourage people to bike and get them out of cars. This means less traffic on the main roadway, especially since bikes take up significantly less space than cars.

Second, bike lanes make traffic flow more uniform by removing bikes from the road. This makes it easier for drivers to navigate because they will have to worry less about cyclists appearing unexpectedly. Bike lanes make commuting faster, less stressful, and less dangerous for both drivers and cyclists.

Bike lanes are also proven to increase economic activity. In addition to reducing unproductive gridlock, measures that improve pedestrian or cyclist access can increase retail sales by as much as 30 per cent and each square metre of bike parking has five times the impact on retail sales when compared to car parking.

The overall result of obstructing bike infrastructure, and eliminating the little that currently exists, will be worse economic outcomes, and more dangerous road conditions.

Lastly, traffic lights technology have proven to be better at resolving congestion. A new generation of traffic tools has taken intersections well beyond green-yellow-red to include AI-enhanced 24/7 video surveillance, data collection and analysis, as well as the ability to optimize traffic signals on the fly.