Speeding through Bill 212 to…

Speeding through Bill 212 to undo decisions made by the city and tear out bike lanes (not to mention pushing through Highway 413 without the required environmental assessment) is a clear overreach of the provincial government's power.

Bike lanes or no, cyclists will keep riding across Bloor, or up Yonge, or down University. We'll just either do it more safely and confidently in separated bike lanes, or we'll do it in among cars and trucks, at much greater risk. It's all very well for Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria to say that cyclists can use secondary roads instead, but if I'm going from one location on Bloor to another location farther along Bloor, I'm taking Bloor. I love taking secondary roads. I love riding on Shaw—but obviously that's not the route that going to take me east-west across the city, a route we all find we need to travel. There really isn't an east-west alternative to Bloor for a cyclist, particularly keeping in mind that it's human strength and energy, not gas or electricity, that I'd need to go down the extra several blocks down to Harbord or up to...I don't know, Davenport? Bike lanes minimally impact vehicle traffic times, but they improve the cycling experience hugely. First and foremost, of course, they save lives.

Never mind that people should have other alternatives to get around the city, like well-supported public transit, like the Eglinton Crosstown, which it seems will never open. Never mind that we shouldn't have so many people driving through the city as we do. Never mind carbon emissions and our worsening climate crisis (even electric vehicles have their carbon imprint). Never mind that it's not bike lanes that have led to traffic congestion but population increases, driver increases. We know that if we make more room for cars, more cars will come. Congestion will never be solved by adding more lanes for cars.

People tell me that this is a culture war and a distraction, but that doesn't mean this huge step backwards is something I can ignore. I used to be an ordinary cyclist, minding my own business, and you've turned me into a cycling activist.