The bike lanes on Yonge and…

The bike lanes on Yonge and Bloor did not replace a lane of traffic. Lane capacity is determined at intersections, where these roads open up to two lanes per direction - typically one through lane and one turning lane. The previous four-lane arterial setup can be observed today on roads such as Dupont, Bathurst, and Dufferin, where the same thing happens. The bike lanes have not had as much of an impact on roadway capacity on these routes as some might suggest, and this can be observed in the city of toronto road traffic data. There are also stretches of bloor that see more bike traffic than car, so the idea that bike lanes are only used by a select few is also ridiculous.

It is also important to note that if these bike lanes are removed, cyclists will continue to use these routes, but will occupy a lane of vehicle traffic instead of the bike lane. This is needlessly dangerous for all parties involved, and will just cause further chaos with drivers being stuck behind bikes.

All in all, these changes are a bad idea. Drivers on yonge have the option of parallel routes on avenue road and mount pleasant. Drivers on bloor have parallel routes on dupont to the north and queensway, lake shore, or Gardiner to the south. Although I will concede that continuing the bike lanes south on yonge would have made more sense than university Ave.