This is a ridiculous…

This is a ridiculous proposal, especially for those of us living in downtown Toronto. The priority must be to return to mass, 'low volume' transportation. And by low volume, I mean physically low volume. For example, most cars on the road have one person in them, and yet they take up, what about 8 cubic metres? A bike takes up 1, and considering a bus or a streetcar even half full, means that each person in there is taking up about 1 or 2. Just as we are moving toward more dense housing, because it makes more sense in an urban environment, we need to move toward more dense people-moving. Thus, reduce the physical volume of the vehicle transporting the person.

Reducing gridlock and saving us time actually means: funding the TTC so it can run regularly, inexpensively and reliably. Build more bike lanes, not less, and separate them from traffic so that both bicyclists AND drivers feel safer. Reduce the amount of cars in the downtown core by incentivizing carpooling.

People say, 'I never see people in the bike lane'. Well, aside from the true statistics of downtown Toronto where about 1 in 5 people regularly commute to work on a bike, the fact is that bikes are not in the lane for long, because travel is so much faster in the bike lane. We take up less room, move faster than cars and are an answer to smog, pollution and most importantly, climate change.

This is a wrongheaded move, not only because of policy, but also because it is OUTSIDE of Ford's jurisdiction. He has no right telling a community how they should manage their municipal affairs, or their transportation. It's an overreach and an attempt to pit people against one another - drivers vs cyclists. I've been there, it's not pretty.

As a final note I would like to add that two wheeled vehicles have every right to take up an entire lane. Therefore, imagine what the streets of Toronto will be like when delivery guys, skateboarders, bicyclists, electric scooterists and the assorted new modes of cheap fast urban transport compete with cars for lane space. Not only will there be more accidents, but it will slow traffic considerably. I rode my bike in downtown Toronto since 1989, when I would chop down my handlebars so I could squeeze between cars. I don't want those days to come again, but if they do, car drivers will be more miserable about it as they swerve around low-volume vehicles than they are now about separated bike lanes.