Mr. Premier, I am an older…

Mr. Premier, I am an older adult, taxpayer and voter who has come to rely on cycling as the most convenient and inexpensive transportation for my neighbourhood. Bike lanes on main routes including those named in Bill 212 for removal have become essential to my safety, daily work and shopping. Pushing through the bill as written signals to me that you and your government don't really care about wasting taxpayers' money, increasing bureaucracy, hurting local businesses, increasing driving times, and risking the lives of cyclists and pedestrians like me. I am especially concerned about your seeming disregard for the physical risk to families, young people and children, older people and hard-working voters who rely on bike lanes every day for safe and economical transportation.

These are the detailed reasons why: (1) For example, the Toronto bikes lanes on Yonge, University Ave and Bloor have opened up a world of local businesses we can easily visit by bike that are too difficult to access by car, transit or on foot. By removing these and other lanes, Mr. Premier, you are removing our patronage from those businesses. (2) Working bike infrastructure has been installed at great effort and by tearing it out, your government will cost taxpayers and local businesses a lot of money and lost revenue. (3) By removing the bike lanes, your government will push us into cars, taxis and overcrowded transit along the routes, or force us to bike in traffic, all of which will further clog roads and the TTC. (4) The named bike lanes and others have been critical for making these routes safe for the first time for cyclists and they *encourage safer driving* that also saves pedestrians from harm. Ontario is already so far behind other jurisdictions in providing a network for safe biking and walking--and Bill 212 is a costly regression. (5) The bike lanes on University Ave have opened easy, safe access to 'hospital row' where I and other older adults must frequent--why is your government adding barriers to my access to health care? (6) By adding a new layer of provincial overlording over decisions that are easiest and most accountably made at the municipal level, your government will make bureaucratic action slower and more expensive, and will "chill" the installation of critical bike infrastructure that prevents injury and death.

Mr. Premier, you already abundantly made your point about keeping drivers and people moving without this outright counterproductive legislation that I believe will bring real harms to the taxpayers and voters your government is alleging to help. Toronto's streets are already past capacity with cars, so the solution to getting around is *not* your empty and costly gestures like thwarting bike lanes. Instead, you should focus 110% on forward-thinking smart investments in transportation that complement cars. Thank you for the opportunity to comment--however, it's a crying shame and waste of my money that your government is fast-tracking such an ill-considered bill.