My wife and I are both…

My wife and I are both cyclists and (less frequently) drivers in Toronto. We use our bikes for work, for food shopping and for daily travel in Toronto. We use bike paths when we can because they are generally much safer than having drivers passing literally within inches of one's arms and shoulders.

We are alarmed that the Province of Ontario, armed with faulty data, has concluded that bike paths are little used and cause gridlock for drivers, when in fact, those in Toronto are often very well used. We are alarmed that the Province of Ontario is willing to ignore the advice of world-class traffic engineers and city planners.

If you remove the bike lanes, the gridlock will not disappear. However, there will be depletion of large sums of public money to remove the paths and their infrastructure, and an inevitable increase in deaths and serious injury to cyclists. Removal will make Toronto a less civilized city, and a less interesting place to live, visit, and shop. Removal will also cement Ontario's reputation as a hide-bound jurisdiction that is now 20 or 30 years behind the lead of more sophisticated cities and jurisdictions such as Copenhagen, Paris, Seville, New York, Portland, Montreal, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Seoul (all famed for their excellent biking infrastructure).

Toronto's gridlock stems from excessive suburban sprawl, insufficient public transit, rapid population growth, and aging infrastructure. Removal of bike lanes in Toronto will not reverse these problems and will only set Toronto even further behind in solving them.