I commute from south west…

I commute from south west Scarborough to downtown Toronto several days each week for work. As a subway/walking commuter into the downtown core I find that the bike lanes on Bloor have been a huge improvement to the area. I can only speak to the portion of Bloor St. that I frequent.

I exit the subway at the intersection of St. George and bloor between 8:20am and 8:45am on several weekdays throughout the week. I return to the same intersection between 5:00pm and 5:45pm. I also often walk down a portion of Bloor street from St. George to Sherbourne.

When I exit the subway at St. George in the morning, I can honestly describe the intersection of St. George and Bloor as peaceful. Busy but not stressful at all, which I feel is a strange thing to say about an intersection at the core of the city. I noticed this change after the new bike lanes along Bloor St. were put in.

My observation is that the car traffic is flowing along Bloor St smoothly. I do mean smoothly. I understand that the proposred removal of bike lanes is to speed up car traffic. I don't believe that cars can safely move any faster given the numer of traffic lights and pedestrians in the area. With the current road configuration (that includes bike lanes) traffic moves without cars cutting eachother off, blocking intersections (unless someone tries to make an illegal left turn at Bay St.) or cutting off pedestrians. The rules of the road are much cleaner. Go when it's your turn and stay in your lane, car or bike.

My observations of the bike lanes on Bloor are below:

-The bike lanes are well utilized
-I feel much safer as a pedestrian in the area
-Car traffic is flowing smoothly

As a side note, the food carriers count as cyclists. They reduce the number of car trips that people ordering food would be making to pick up their own orders. They deserve to be kept safe.

The city needs to increase the number of people it moves. Adding more cars in the downtown core is not a viable way to do that. The wonderful new subway lines are years away from being completed and we need to get cars off downtown roads. Having an integrated straight forward network of protected lanes for cyclists is a great way to move more people within the city core.

I currently use my bike on the city's recreational trails. I have seriously considered making my commute to work by bike but the cycling infrastructure in my neighborhood is lacking. My cycling options include taking busy roads like Warden Ave which is incredibly unsafe given the speed of cars on those roads or riding on the sidewalk which is not safe for pedestrians. I belive that a city should be allowed to make it's own decisions when planning and expand it's cycling network. They have a large team if skilled urban planners that understand the city and it's needs. I worry that the proposed bill 212 will stop the planned expansion of the bike lanes in my neighborhood. The bike lanes that would allow me to safely make more of my everyday trips by bike. I live in the "inner suburbs" of the city and I believe that cycling is a variable mode of transportation for me but I'm not willing to get hit by a car to prove it. Adding safe and seperared bicycle lanes is essential for reducing traffic in the city. As urban planners tend to say "build it and they will come". If we build the bike lane infrastructure, people will get out of their cars and onto bikes which will leave more room on the roads for people that choose to drive.

Imagine being able to send a highschool aged child to school on their bike, knowing they will get to class safley.
Instead of the parent's fighting traffic to drop them off and pick them up in a car every day. Just a thought as someone that gets to see that traffic jam play out regularly.