As a Food delivery courier…

As a Food delivery courier myself, for me personally, a network of safe and connected bikeways is incredibly important and imperative for my livelihood and safety. I’ve worked as a courier before Toronto’s extended bike lane network, and after, and I can say without a doubt I feel infinitely safer with the bike lanes. Safer for vehicle motorists, as well as cyclists and micro-mobility users, as everybody’s lives are in danger when motorists are forced into the same roads with no separated lanes or protections. It is next to impossible for me to do my work safely without a legitimate bike lane network. Removing bike lanes is incredibly dangerous and puts my life at risk daily. And I can say with certainty from my experience, the bike lanes on main roads get used extensively and in large numbers, as it’s not just cyclists, but micro-mobility users of any kind using the bike lanes. And with the popularity and prominence of delivery apps, these lanes will only be required and used more and more in the coming years. Please do not make the mistake of removing these new lanes, as I am certain they will be re-instated in the near future. Simple waste of taxpayer dollars, time and resources. And incredible confusion during removal periods.

Mayor Chow and Toronto City Council formally expressed their opposition to Bill 212, and asked the province to withdraw the proposed amendments and work collaboratively with cities to address congestion and road safety.
Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Ontario Professional Planners Institute, Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, and Ontario Traffic Council have all come out against Bill 212.
120 physicians and researchers wrote a joint letter opposing Bill 212.

The words “safety” and “health” do not appear anywhere in the bike lane sections of Bill 212, and the only consideration to approve or remove bike lanes would be “the orderly movement of motor vehicle traffic”.
It is false that only 1.2% of people bike to work in Toronto, and according to the province’s still confidential data nearly 10% of all trips in the city that end in downtown Toronto are taken by bike or other micro-mobility vehicle.
For bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge, there are no feasible parallel alternate routes that wouldn’t also result in the conversion of motor vehicle lanes.
The estimated financial impact is $48 million in additional costs to provincial taxpayers for the removal of bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge.
You don’t need to be a public health expert or transportation policy expert to understand that Bill 212 will not solve congestion and will put lives at risk.