I strongly oppose the…

I strongly oppose the proposed amendment to Bill 212 that will give the Province oversight over the installation of bike lanes in municipalities and the authority to remove bike lanes installed in Toronto.

The restriction and removal of municipal bike lanes, in addition to being a waste of tax dollars and a jurisdictional overreach on the part of the Province, would obviously actively harm the environment by incentivizing more Ontarians to choose car travel over far more space efficient and carbon neutral modes of travel, like cycling. Furthermore, although creating more lanes for cars to use might slightly reduce congestion on those roads over the short-term, immediately after the removal of the bike lanes; due to the well-studied phenomenon of induced demand (https://www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand/), it is virtually assured that congestion will return as more people are incentivized to use cars as their primary mode of transportation. Therefore, it would be far better, in terms of easing traffic congestion within Ontario’s dense urban centers, to encourage more people to ride bicycles through the implementation of safe, curb protected cycling lanes.

In fact, there is a great deal of evidence that bike lanes reduce traffic congestion by making it more feasible for citizens to choose cycling, a far less space-intensive mode of transportation, over driving (https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-03-bicycle-path-data…; https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-03-bicycle-path-data…; https://content.tfl.gov.uk/understanding-and-managing-congestion-in-lon…). The unfortunate fact of the matter is that cars are not a viable way to move dense urban populations around within urban cores – there is simply not enough space in urban cores to accommodate the number of cars that would be needed to allow the majority of urban residents (as well as those commuting into and visiting the city) to use cars as their primary mode of transportation.

Cities such as New York and London are working to greatly expand their cycling networks because evidence shows that this is a great benefit in terms of public health and efficient traffic circulation (https://content.tfl.gov.uk/understanding-and-managing-congestion-in-lon…). Bike lanes also lead to the increased profits for businesses on the roads where bike lanes are installed (https://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/10/06/salt-lake-city-cuts-car-parking-…; https://content.tfl.gov.uk/walking-cycling-economic-benefits-summary-pa…)– for example, the first protected bike lane in Manhattan resulted in a 49% increase in revenue for businesses located next to the cycling route (https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-03-bicycle-path-data…; https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2014-09-03-bicycle-path-data…). Given that Toronto is growing in population and seeking to become a world class city on par with cities such as New York and London, it stands to reason that we should be emulating their evidence-based solutions to traffic problems, rather than doing the opposite and moving Toronto backwards, as seems to be the aim of Bill 212, at least as it relates to cycling lanes.

Bike lanes also protect the livelihoods of Ontarians by protecting cyclists and pedestrians from vehicular manslaughter (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091724000013), facilitating physical fitness in the midst of an obesity epidemic, and reducing carbon emissions, thereby improving urban air quality and slowing climate change. Therefore, entering this amendment into force and removing bike lanes will virtually guarantee that more Ontarians will die unnecessarily, and will also contribute to the need for increased spending on healthcare and climate change mitigations, without producing any long-term benefit in terms of traffic circulation.

Given the rapidly increasing ridership and expansion of Toronto’s Bike Share program , as well as statistics indicating that bike lanes are well used and usage continues to grow (https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2023/pa/bgrd/backgroundfile-240804…), it is clear that a growing number of Torontonians are choosing cycling as a primary mode of transportation as infrastructure additions and improvements make this choice safer and more convenient. Additionally, given the cost-of-living crisis affecting all of Ontario, and particularly Toronto, it is important that low-cost means of transportation, like cycling are supported to allow people unable to afford a car a viable means to get around the city.