This proposal is deeply…

This proposal is deeply upsetting to me and I feel I must speak up as it affects me personally because I am a cyclist. I've only been cycling since the start of the COVID pandemic and have fallen in love with this method of transportation since I have found it to be liberating and empowering. As a woman, I plan my trips around accessibility to bike lanes because it's the only way I feel safe getting around on my own power. When I bike from point A to point B, I inevitably make stops along the way at businesses that are on my route and I find this easy and convenient and it's not something I would do if I were taking transit. I have never been a driver and so for me this is also an issue of accessibility and affordability. Having a vehicle is a privilege many of us don't have and we cannot be passed over in favor of those who drive. It is infuriating that bike lanes are being blamed for problems that are actually complex and mostly caused by car density. The benefits of cycling are not only personal (including time efficiency, financial savings, and physical exercise for better health), but also social and environmental. We need our elected leaders to inspire us all to do better and be better for the good of our communities, our cities and the world, one person at a time. Cycling should be encouraged and given the credit it deserves in helping fight some of the issues our cities face such as traffic gridlock. Bike lanes are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution. It does take time to see change, but if you build it they will come. The more visibility we have around bike lanes, the more people will be encouraged to bike. Moving bike lanes to secondary roads sends the message that cyclists are second class citizens that don't deserve the convenience of main thoroughfares or direct routes. It is also ridiculous that after the inconvenience of detours and gridlock due to construction of the newest bike lanes on Bloor, Doug Ford is suggesting we should endure this all over again just so that the street would go back to how it was. This is an enormous waste of money and not how I want my tax dollars to be spent. Societies are meant to move forwards not backwards. This bill 212 does not take us forward and it cannot pass.