I am asking you to remove…

I am asking you to remove the bike lane section of this Act.

Bill 212 represents unprecedented jurisdictional overreach that would limit where municipalities can build new bike lanes. Local governments – and not the province – are best equipped to make these kinds of decisions about rebalancing our streets and giving people more transportation options.

In cities and towns across Ontario, people want a more vibrant and friendlier public realm. They know that easing traffic congestion is about giving people more transportation options, not fewer. Ontarians want to achieve net zero for a greener, healthier future and want their communities to be connected so that not every trip to school, to the store, or to work has to be taken by car.

As part of their Climate Emergency plans, many Ontario municipalities are in the planning phases of expanding active transportation options like cycling which will help us get around our small towns and will connect smaller communities to each other. This will make our communities more resilient and will respond to the urgent need to reduce our massive and growing GHG emissions by getting people out of cars and into more healthy forms of transport..

With respect to Toronto, as an international city it is so far behind other great cities in providing for safe cycling options to get around the city. Personally, I fear for the lives of my adult children who cycle to work and shopping in Toronto. Most lanes are not separated from dangerous car and truck transportation. Cyclists are killed every year by car drivers. Rather than tearing out lanes that have been made safe and have provided more revenue for shops along those routes, MORE LANES MUST BE ADDED.

I would argue that cars do not need to travel along Bloor and Yonge streets at all. Of all the streets in Toronto, they are the best served by public transit. Thousands of cyclists a day travel along these streets. In comparison, many fewer cars use these streets, so why would anyone remove bike lanes there?

I object to the misleading statistics which are being used to justify this wrong-headed addendum to Bill 212. Your own Ontario study shows over 5% of folks in Toronto cycle and the number grows each year. Missing is the rest of the equation: how many people walk, how many take public transit, and how many drive in the areas where there are bike lanes? That would give us the true picture.

Additionally, the space required by each type of transportation needs to be looked at. Cars take up the lion’s share of the urban space and generally are only moving one or two people. It is the cars which cause congestion, not wide sidewalks, bike lanes or buses. Cars not only use more than their share of space on roadways but also need two parking spaces – one at each end of the journey. This is extremely inefficient use of urban space.

Providing a variety of transportation options will reduce congestion. Also, congestion fees have been shown to cut congestion in other cities when sufficient alternate ways to move around are provided.

• Bike lanes are good for business
• They’re good for the environment
• They cut greenhouse gas pollution
• They help us reach our climate targets
• They’re good for public and personal health
• They give us freedom and mobility
• Bike lanes save lives

I’m including a link to the story of Alex Amato
George and Karen Amaro’s daughter Alex Amaro was tragically killed while riding her bike on Dufferin Street in December of 2020. Alex, who was on her way home from the Dufferin Mall after buying a chocolate bar and an extension cord for her Christmas tree, was struck by three cars that evening. On Thursday, the Amaro family spoke with CBC’s Metro Morning and their message was simple: “bike lanes could have saved our daughter”