Traffic has long been an…

Traffic has long been an issue in Ontario, especially in the GTA. There is a finite amount of space available to roads and the available space is already in use. Personal automobiles which make up a significant portion of traffic are horribly space inefficient; the space the car takes for what is oftentimes a single occupant is very large.

The space efficiency of public transit, cycling and walking is significantly better, not to mention greener and more economical. Cycling and walking have the added benefit of being healthier.

At times such as these when traffic is more of an issue then ever and when we have an affordability crisis and climate change, we should be encouraging and embracing cycling as part of a strategy to reduce congestion by means of getting people out of their cars and onto public transit, bikes or their feet.

Cycling is cheap, healthy, and quick to get around for short of long distances with the aid of public transit. Cycling is significantly more space efficient than private cars.

Unfortunately cyclists are vulnerable when sharing the road with vehicles weighing 2 tonnes or more. Having cycling infrastructure, especially protected cycling lanes, is paramount to getting more people out of cars for all or part of their journey. Expanding and improving cycling infrastructure is a significant step towards increasing comfort levels for cyclists which in turn facilitates more people to choose a bike over a car, or possibly use a bike in conjunction with public transit.

The City of Toronto has made significant steps towards keeping people moving by expanding cycling infrastructure. Bikes are everywhere in the city, all throughout the year. The infrastructure is well used and usage improves as the cycling network is expanded and upgraded.

To rip out critical cycling infrastructure, hitting tax payers with the installation AND removal, is crazy. To give preferential treatment to cars which are expensive both privately (purchase, insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc) and publicly (roads, emissions, etc), take up huge amounts of space per occupant and create significant emissions is kind mind boggling.

There's no evidence ripping out bike lanes or limiting future installations will help ease congestion. In contrast, there is much reason to believe cycling infrastructure will help give people options AND ease congestion.

The Ontario government should not limit municipalities in planning cycling infrastructure, nor should the Ontario government force cycling infrastructure to be removed.