I have been a cyclist in…

I have been a cyclist in Toronto for over 10 years and have seen how the expansion of bike lanes has made commuting by bike so much safer and more popular for me and people of all ages (including seniors and children/families). Every person on a bike is one less person in a car or in an overcrowded TTC subway car, streetcar or bus. We've also seen how installing bike lanes is GOOD for local businesses (e.g. small businesses along Bloor in the Annex), and there is NO evidence that bike lanes substantially impact travel times for cars or emergency response vehicles. The City of Toronto does very thorough due diligence in studying proposed bike lanes to ensure there is no significant adverse effect on people in cars or emergency response vehicles. And these bike lanes save lives!!! The provincial government is acting irresponsibly to make it harder to install more bike lanes, and to remove the bike lanes in Toronto that I, and thousands of other cyclists, rely on to commute safely. This is a purely political move to appeal to voters who live outside of Toronto and who commute by car--who are the REAL contributors to increased traffic--that is not supported by evidence. It will waste millions of dollars and worst of all, will no doubt result in injury or possibly fatalities on Toronto's streets. Shame on the Minister of Transportation and the Premier for prioritizing this action over actions that will actually improve lives for Ontarians, like investing in health care or education.