Dear representatives, As a…

Dear representatives,

As a twenty-five year old who was born in Toronto and have lived in this city my entire life, I feel the deep sense of urgency to plead you to consider the wellbeing of EVERYONE in the province, and keep all bike lanes. This is not a drivers versus cyclists war. This is about the future of the city, and having bike lanes is how we accomodate increasing populations. Using bike lanes, especially the ones that are proposed to be reomoved, have significantly bettered my wellbeing. Removing these lanes will nearly eliminate my mobility, greatly increase my time in traffic and commuting, and lower my quality of life. The congestion that drivers and cyclists alike have been dealing are often from the construction. It is not the integration of bike lanes. Removing these lanes using tax-payer dollars, that were built using tax-payer dollars, just don’t make financial nor economic sense. Bike lanes on Bloor, University, and Yonge, and alike, need to stay and I present to you the supporting points. Additionally, the decision of whether bike lanes should be built, should be decided by municipals and their representatives, who best know the roads and whether these lanes are needed- not the provincial government. Making bike lane approvals a provincial issue would create unnecessary bureaucracy for the decision making of municipal issues.

The high density population of Toronto makes commuting difficult, and whether there are bike lanes or not, drivers hae to leave a minimum of 1 meter of space between bikers and the cars. What is the width of the bike lanes? The bike lanes help maintain that safe distance using a physical/visual barrier that keeps both drivers and cyclists safe and minimize collisions. That 1 meter of space will have to be maintained in all circumstances, so how does removing the physical barrier change how much space is available for cars? These bike lanes are in the downtown core that see cyclists at all hours of the day, unlike suburbs where the presence of cyclists is rare, so it will not reduce traffic congestion. More accidents from having no physical barrier, making it easier for cars to hit cyclists, will create more congestion when medical attention is needed. This will create more strain on the healthcare system and cost more taxpayer money while decreasing the well-being of the general population. More sick and disabled people also lower economic output of this province and country.

Personally, I much prefer to be driving where there are bike lanes instead of driving in the same lane as cyclists for the safety of everyone, as well as efficiency due to not needing to slow down and pay extra attention to not hit a cyclist. And many drivers are also cyclists, especially in the city centre. Cycling is faster than driving and taking the TTC, and just makes more sense when travelling short distances, like many trips are in the city. Cycling is also used in combination with public transit for a trip, again, due to being faster than driving or taking the streetcar to a subway station or to a car that I will carpool in. It lessens the congestion when I bike in the city. If cyclists do not feel safe cycling five minutes to the grocery store, than taking a car could be the next option. If all cyclists did this, this would only create more congestion which could easily be solved by NOT removing the current bike lanes. More cyclists also fit in one bike lane than one car lane. If these cyclists became drivers, the same issue of bad car traffic congestion still persists.

Biking in the city is faster than taking the TTC and driving for me, and this has helped my physical and mental health be better than it has been in many years. It is thanks to bike lanes, that allow me greater mobility, making it easier and faster for me to commute to work, commute to quick dental appointments, spend at restaurants with friends, visit new places in the city. However, all of this is contingent on the existence of bike lanes, because it is unsafe to bike in the same lane as vehicles due to the hazards such as road rage, careless driving, and visibility issues. It is also not feasible to only bike on residential streets if the bike lanes on University, Yonge, and Bloor are removed because residential streets are often not straight like the previously mentioned streets, and would lead to much longer travel times. This eliminates one of the major benefits of biking- time efficiency. Without the current bike lanes, cycling is simply not a mode of transportation that I can rely on.

Bike Share Toronto also has data on the rapidly increasingly popular usage of their services over a few short years, and my family is one of the happy customers of this service. Their data is an indication that having the combination of bike lanes and access to bikes that are affordable and efficient, an in demand mode of transportation by citizens.

All around, removing bike lanes does not align with responsible economic efficiency nor city planning for efficient transportation of the population. Please, please keep the bike lanes to make this a livable city, and keep the development of bike lanes as a municipal issue, which would help with the efficiency of decision making.