I was devastated to hear…

I was devastated to hear that the government wants to take out the bike lanes on Bloor and University. These are lanes that I use every week to go to work meetings, dance class, run errands, visit friends, go to the hospital or my doctor. I am writing to beg you to please reconsider.

I cycle because it's cheap, and fast, and healthy. My life is busy and I don't have time to go to the gym--this is how I stay active as I am getting older. I don't earn a lot of money and parking and transit are expensive and a big factor in my decision on any given day to take my bike or Bike Share (I have an annual pass, so each trip doesn't cost me more). Gridlock and subway closures and delay mean it's often the most reliable way for me to get around too, if I have an important meeting or interview.

Bike lanes make me feel not only feel safer, but keep me safer. When I cycle in a car lane, I feel constant fear that someone is going to clip me as they pass within inches of my body. I'm a grown adult but my parents still worry so much about me when I cycle. Unfortunately people do die every year in Toronto while going about their lives on a bicycle. And we know that road infrastructure like bike lanes make a big difference in how frequently people are injured or killed when cycling.

I'm also a driver and I understand that people driving in this city are incredibly frustrated. Traffic is slow and unpredictable and exhausting. And if I thought taking out the lanes would really improve the lives of people driving, I would support this proposal! I would understand that tradeoff and support it because I know there are more people driving than cycling.

But I have not seen evidence that taking out bike lanes will help congestion in a meaningful way. The data I've seen says it might save 90 seconds from peoples' commute. That is not worth it. Not when you consider that more and more people are taking up cycling every year and that shift will help congestion in the medium-long term. Not when you consider that we are going to need way more significant changes to improve congestion (like massive investments in public transit). And not when you consider the increased risk to loss of life and injury that people like me will face without these separated lanes.

When I heard the news that the government wanted to take out the Bloor bike lanes, I was just about to head downtown. As I was riding in the lanes during rush hour, with hundreds of other cyclists (students, parents, food couriers, other random people), I felt so sad thinking about how their lives will be tangibly worse if this goes forward. More dangerous, stressful, expensive, and less joyful (because endorphins are real and cycling makes us happier). I really hope that you don't go through with this.