As a Torontonian who's used…

As a Torontonian who's used bike lanes on a daily basis - particularly on Bloor - I am horrified that you are proposing the removal of existing lanes and the stopping of future lanes. You do not understand how aggressive drivers in Toronto are - considering many don't even live here and are just commuting, they have an outsized, negative impact on my day-to-day life unlike anything I've experienced in the many Canadian and American cities I’ve lived in or visited. The ONLY thing that keeps me safer are the new, separated lanes. I have seen drivers break every possible rule (going through red lights, using left-turn or opposite-direction lanes to pass traffic, go backwards on undivided bike lanes to go against one-way traffic) and you are rewarding them with further rights as you strip away mine. We, the vulnerable road users that emit no pollution and reduce the gridlock of traffic by commuting without cars, are being put in harm's way. How are you serving your citizens by doing this? There will still be gridlock - 401 is one of the widest highways in the world and it's always jammed. Please study INDUCED DEMAND to understand why increasing lanes won't help drivers. Furthermore, this bill is fiscally irresponsible - you are encouraging more cars into densely-populated areas which will jack up healthcare costs for Ontario. I can't walk/bike outside during rush hour because the air is heavy with exhaust - it feels like any gains made through exercising are more than lost through breathing in polluted air. Please get on the right side of history and do right by your people - you do realize you will increase deaths for both vulnerable road users and the additional drivers you're encouraging to gridlock our downtown streets, right? Surely this is not worth getting a few extra votes. Please help me to believe you serve all of your citizens, because this bill makes me feel like you don’t care about the 80%+ of us who live in a census metropolitan area. One additional note: I am so disappointed that you include broadband connectivity in this bill. I am all for giving rural communities access to the internet, which is the opposite action of stripping the health and safety rights of people who live in cities (again, 80%+ of Ontarians).