I commute to Toronto’s …

I commute to Toronto’s ‘Hospital Row’ for work, and >90% of my trips are by bike. The bike lanes are well used and the bike lock-up facilities at the hospitals are regularly filled to capacity, even now in mid-November. In addition, the Bike Share stations surrounding the hospitals are heavily used. The bike lanes are needed to protect users from serious injury and death.

University Ave was down to one lane and gridlocked for 9 months due to construction. The project is finished and the street is working very well for all users: cyclists, pedestrians, drivers, as well as the subway below. Removing the University Ave bike lane will cost taxpayers millions, cause many months of terrible construction-induced gridlock, and is unlikely to make traffic move more efficiently when completed. Many cyclists will choose to drive and this will contribute to more traffic. Removing bike lanes means more cars, more pollution, more congestion, and more frustration for all road users.

The proposal to remove bike lanes is an expensive non-solution to a non-problem, that costs taxpayers while reducing public safety.