Good Evening, As a…

Good Evening,

As a Torontonian who lives in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore area who both drives a car and also has had to bike, take the TTC, take a GO train, and walk to get to my destination, I find the proposal to remove bike lanes to be a baffling decision. While certain sections of these bike paths see only a few hundred riders on average in a given day, some sections of the routes that are proposed to be removed have traffic of over 5000 riders daily. Having to take side streets and alternative routes may work for some of these people, however many of the cyclists who use these lanes will have no viable alternative and thus will be forced to ride on the sidewalk, putting pedestrians at risk, or ride on the road with the rest of traffic, putting themselves at greater risk. This also means that many people who now have a greater opportunity to take an alternative form of transportation around the various cities in the province will be forced back into cars as their main source of transportation. Removing upwards of 5000 cars on the road will have a bigger impact on traffic issues than having an extra lane of traffic, as we see around the world with induced demand.

Often one of the key arguments for removing bike lanes is that they are always empty and not being used. If we look only at constant traffic we could use the same argument for other methods of transportation or services. Many parts of the network of bike paths are not fully connected yet, and it would be like saying we should remove Highway 401 because it is not being fully utilized across the entire province. If we continue to improve the network it will allow more people to use the network which will continue to reduce car traffic on the roads. For example, as I live near The Queensway, and while there are streets like Royal York and Lakeshore that can be utilized as part of the bike network, cycling downtown for work would take me well out of my way and add a lot of extra time compared to if I had a direct route down The Queensway that would lead to existing networks on Queen street or King, it would make my trip comparable to the amount of time it would take to travel via GO, or even driving when there is traffic. This would also allow me to experience the shops and locations along my route to and from work, with it being a lot easier to stop and park my bike than it would be if I were in my car, which is good for local businesses and neighborhoods instead of people using roads as nothing more than thoroughfares.

We talk about government overreach in Canadian politics often, yet how can we on one hand be unhappy when the Federal Government wishes to step around the Province's wishes, but be okay with the Province deciding what should be done at the Municipal level? Removing the bike lanes not only will cause more traffic in the short term as all the previous infrastructure has to be ripped up and redone to re-create a new lane for cars, but it will be a financial burden on cities in a time when citizens are already having a tough time and our tax dollars are not going as far as we need in more important aspects. We would also be removing accessible transportation options for those who cannot or do not want to drive, such as teenagers, and making our cities only in favour of those who decide to be in a car.

Thank you,
Ty