Hello, I am quite concerned…

Hello,

I am quite concerned about the plans to remove bike lanes along Bloor, Yonge, and University.

1. I believe the bike lanes along University Avenue were just recently installed. To remove it would cost 48 million. Who would pay for this? The city, who had to spend $130,000 to install the lanes and now has to remove it? Are we going to have a repeat of the Scarborough RT, where replacing the trains that would have run alongside the route costed more money, pushed the project back by a year, and costed the province more money to fix the issues that plagued the line?

2. I travel along Bloor Street from time to time to reach where I work. I have never seen any issues with traffic at all. But the removal would cause traffic wouldn’t it? And what would happen when Line 2 closes? That is guaranteed to generate even more traffic.

3. Speaking of, those lanes not only protect bikers (which I will bring up later), but most importantly, gives them space to ride safely. Where would the bikers go when the lanes are removed? The sidewalk? In downtown, especially on Yonge and University Streets, that would be a nightmare especially for people walking and navigating the area by foot? On the road? In downtown? Traffic on the aforementioned roads is oftimes at a standstill. Add people biking on the roads into this and this is a disaster waiting to happen. Especially during this time when, for the past 10 years, about 400 biker have been injured, with 28 of them succumbing to their wounds!

There are more ways the 48 million can be well spent. Adding more doctors, education, improvements to healthcare, transit, or investing into affordable housing. Why is it that removing bike lanes of all things is the top priority? It certainly won’t help people like me struggling to make a living.