I am writing today to…

I am writing today to indicate my strong opposition to Bill 212, not with my opinion but with data and evidence. I want Ontario to move faster, and I strongly support efforts to reduce gridlock. However, so much of this bill is not considering accurate data or studies on how to build road infrastructure. Most of my comments refer to how the bike lane legislation will affect Ontario’s streets for cars and all other road users.

Travel Times

Toronto City Council produced a thorough report (https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2024/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-250545…) in response to this bill with many important figures. I highly recommend the entire committee read the full report, as this bike lane legislation seems to be targeted at Toronto without using data from Toronto. The city planning experts who wrote this report reported that travel times on streets where bike lanes are proposed to be removed will increase greatly for 4–9 months as lanes will be closed for construction to occur. Then, after the lanes are reopened, the non-partisan planning staff report that there will be “likely minimal improvements in travel time once lanes are removed”. This is largely due to induced demand, where making driving the only viable option for many people puts many more cars on the road, which over a short period of time will fill the reclaimed car lane and then some with no easy way to improve traffic once car demand has increased even more. Also, driving times often only increase by mere minutes. As the Toronto Star reports (https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/do-cycling-corridors-really-slow-traff…) the major streets with bike lanes do sometimes see travel time increases, but they are “often by a minute or less.” These slight increases could also be uninfluenced by bike lanes, as Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America which would naturally increase drivers and thus travel times. Another main travel time measure is emergency response times. In a recent community consultation for the Bloor Street West Complete Street Extension bike lanes, Toronto Fire Deputy Chief Jim Jessop reported that the fire department has not seen an increase in travel times and he told members of the community that “Your response times have been improving," (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bike-rally-community-meeting-bik…)

Bike lanes on University Ave, Toronto

The new University Ave bike lanes are some of the best in the city. They are protected, preserved street parking where it was needed and separate cyclists from cars with a green barrier of plants creating a more beautiful street. This bill proposes removing these lanes which are not meaningfully contributing to traffic. Healthcare experts including the President of Mt Sinai Health (https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/cc/comm/communicationfile-1028…) and the President of Sick Kids Hospital (https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/cc/comm/communicationfile-1025…) that strongly support bike lanes on University.

The Environment

Environmentally, this bike lane legislation along with the removal of environmental requirements for highways is in fierce opposition to our province’s environmental targets and our country’s climate goals. Road transportation is the largest source of pollution in the province, responsible for more than a quarter of all of Ontario’s emissions and by subsidizing driving with new highways and making environmentally friendly options like cycling far more dangerous and disincentivized, the government is contributing to climate change and risking the future of our province for future generations.

Road Safety

Separated bike lanes will always prevent road deaths full stop. As reported by 120 physicians and researchers from the University of Toronto (https://healthydebate.ca/2024/10/topic/legislation-road-design-safety-t…) these senseless tragedies are avoidable and cannot continue to happen on our streets. I strongly urge the committee to carefully read this open letter from physicians in Ontario who cannot keep treating drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists in our emergency departments.

The Future of Ontario

Lastly, we need this bill to consider the future. Not just the environmental future but how we will continue to grow and allow a growing population to move around the city. In a recent City of Toronto council meeting on Nov 6th, of all the new buildings that were approved that day “22% of units in the most recent developments being debated at Toronto City Council have access to a parking space” as reported in the Toronto Star (https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/doug-ford-wants-a-toronto-…). Toronto, but also many municipalities in Ontario will not be able to sustain the population growth if we do not create non-car options for transportation. There is simply not enough space on the roads, or as seen in these new developments, the parking garages of new homes for everyone to drive as their primary mode. 78% of individuals in these new developments will not have a car, and we cannot leave these people stranded. We also need our businesses of Ontario to thrive and continue growing. The Bloor BIA reported that removing the bike lanes on Bloor “would be disastrous to the neighbourhood”. (https://www.torontotoday.ca/local/politics-government/bia-warns-removal…) It is not fair to punish small business just to allow cars to fly by them without stopping to make purchases and help our economy.

I hope you take this data and thoughts from all linked articles and letters into consideration and amend this bill. I am not alone in these thoughts and as of this submission, 22,164 people have signed Cycle Toronto’s petition (https://www.cycleto.ca/ilovebikelanes) wanting to stop this bill and protect our bike lanes. to improve our communities safety, the environment, small businesses, and stop gridlock for good by investing in non-car modes of transit.

Thank you.