This bill aims to “move…

This bill aims to “move drivers faster.” The province should be concerned with moving people faster, however they choose to travel, and wherever they choose to travel to. A policy that prioritizes drivers at the expense of other options is exclusionary, unjust, and dismisses all the evidence of how to move people efficiently and effectively.

The province has assumed that new highways or wider highways will reduce congestion. Has more lanes on the 401 led to less congestion? By entrenching driving as the only option, we will inherently get more driving.

As someone who lives in London, I have very limited choices other than driving to get to other cities. The province should be spending its transportation dollars on expanding and improving those choices rather than bankrolling a new highway that will achieve the same result: congestion.

And I consider myself lucky that I can afford to own and operate a vehicle and be of a certain age and ability to drive it. Many can’t drive for various reasons and the options they have to move around this province are slow, expensive, and undignified.

Which brings me to most of my travel which is within the city. My main mode of travel is by bike as it is for my wife and children. We enjoy being outdoors, getting exercise, and experiencing our surroundings while travelling. We drive for certain trips and we take the bus every so often, but biking is our main squeeze.

In many ways we feel spoiled to have cycling as part of our lives. It’s not a chore or a hassle. For the majority of the time it’s much more pleasant than driving.

So I disagree with the entire thrust of this Bill. We need more options in how we move around not less. We need to make options that are not driving more attractive not less.

Thank you for considering my thoughts. I long for a City, a province, and a country that everyone can move around easily, to the places they want to go, whether by bus, train, car, bike or on foot.