I am extremely displeased…

I am extremely displeased with this proposal for numerous reasons. If the objective of this act, is to "fight gridlock and get drivers where they need to go faster," as stated, then the proposed legislation is going about it all wrong.

First of all, bikes are traffic. Even though this act does not include them in its consideration as "drivers" and "traffic", nonetheless, bikes are vehicles on the road. That means traffic. Providing bike lanes then removes them from the flow of car traffic. Not only does this increase safety for cyclists and reduce the potential hazards for cars of mixed traffic, but also it removes slower traffic from car lanes. Without separate bike lanes, where else can bikes go but in the regular lanes of traffic? By removing bike lanes, traffic will actually slow down on roads by forcing bikes and cars together. Bikes will not suddenly disappear from streets because there are no bike lanes. Thousands of people commute and get around Toronto by bicycle every day. They will continue to do so, with or without bike lanes.

Unless, however, the thought is that by removing bike lanes, cyclists will then be forced off main roads because they are unsafe. I would be appalled to think that this act would hope to decrease the safety of our streets for all road users. That would be a dangerous precedent to set about who is given priority and consideration in this province. That only those that can afford a car, or afford to take a taxi or ride-share, are the ones that merit consideration in the use of the publicly funded roads.

Secondly, there are plenty of studies from municipalities all over the world that demonstrate that bike lanes actually reduce gridlock and increase the overall flow of traffic. Despite the current governments thoughts to the contrary, increasing lanes will only increase traffic. It happens everywhere. Induced demand will only cause traffic to get back to the stand still it is currently in. Bike lanes are not the problem. Too many cars and limited other options for road users are the joint problems. Increased funding for other options, like bike lanes, but also transit, then eases demand on roads by spreading out the ways that people use them, thereby increasing the overall flow of traffic.

Further to this point, a large part of the gridlock problem at the moment is due to construction. There is construction everywhere in the city. It is unavoidable. It seems impossible to suggest that removing bike lanes will solve the gridlock by plunging the city into further long stretches of construction along major thoroughfares.

Thirdly, the bike lanes in Toronto are already installed and paid for. The city has already spent $27 million of taxpayer money to install them. Many consultations and studies were done before installing these bikes lanes. It is not now the provinces job to turn around because they disagree with what the city decided to do. This is a municipal decision. To then take $48 million dollars more of provincial taxpayer money to change something that only effects one city is a gross misuse of public funds. Toronto's bike lanes were paid for by Toronto. It is not the rest of the tax-paying citizens of Ontario's responsibility to pay to do something that will only effect Toronto.

Not only is not the province's duty and a misuse of funds, but it is financially irresponsible when there is so much else that $48 million could be used for. That money could fund new family physicians that are so desperately needed in the province, or fund transit, or housing, or any number of real provincial priorities.

All this is to say that I strongly disapprove of this bill. As a citizen of Toronto, as a car-owning driver, as a cyclist, as someone that generally cares about smart policy decisions, I firmly believe this is a miss-step that can only be looked upon as a selfish ploy to appeal to a subset of the population, rather than a real decision based in the public good.

Please keep the bike lanes. Let us build forward together, province and city together, rather than plunging the city backwards at great cost for little-to-no-gain.