To whom it may concern, I…

To whom it may concern,

I strongly object to this Act and urge the government to scrap it in its entirety. The whole thing is contrary to the principles of environmental protection.

First, the Act is itself founded upon poor data. The Minister and Premier have stated repeatedly that only 1.2 percent of people in the GTA bike to work. This figure should not be used because it includes the entire Census Metropolitan Area, rather than Toronto proper, and people also cycle to do errands and shopping, visit friends, etc. It's not just for work. A 2019 study by the city showed that about 70 percent of Torontonians cycle in some capacity. Cycling rates are higher when there is safe infrastructure. If you build it, cyclists will come.

Second, there are no workable routes on side streets that could replace the Bloor, University, and Yonge bike lanes. That is obvious to anyone who looks at a map. Personally, I never cycled on Bloor or University before the lanes were installed. Now, I do it all the time. Which allows me to stop and check out anything interesting on my way and easily patronize local businesses. Even if it was possible to put the lanes on secondary streets, most of my destinations are on major roads. The bike lanes should get people where they want to go safely.

Third, these changes to remove bike lanes and prevent new ones from being installed will get people killed. Streets with protected bike lanes are safer for all road users - pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. We are already at a record high of 6 cyclists killed in Toronto in 2024. As someone who rides a bike, I don't think it's too much to ask to be able to get around without constantly risking death.

Fourth, this is a huge overreach of provincial powers. The whole reason we have municipal governments is that local government is best positioned to make decisions about local issues, like road design.

And finally, there is no evidence that doing this will ease congestion at all. If the focus of transport infrastructure is on cars and maximum possible throughput of cars, you're going to get more cars. The 401 is a perfect example. At its widest, it is 18 lanes, one of the widest highways on the continent. But it's still congested. If 18 lanes isn't enough, what is? Instead, the focus of transportation planning needs to be how to get the maximum number of people around safely. There simply is not space in Toronto for everyone to drive everywhere they need to go. It's an intractable geography problem. Instead, safe infrastructure for active transportation (and robust public transit) allows people to use other modes and frees up space for those who need to drive.

So I urge you to scrap this whole bill and leave cyclists alone.