Submission By: Women in…

Submission By: Women in Urbanism Canada

On October 21, 2024, the Honourable Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation, introduced Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 in the Ontario Legislature. Bill 212 is an omnibus bill that would introduce and amend several pieces of legislation. This submission focuses on Schedule 4: Amendments to the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), specifically as they relate to the province's proposed Bike Lane Framework.

Within this framework:
• Municipalities would be required to seek Provincial approval to allow for new bike lane construction where the design for the bicycle lane would reduce the number of marked lanes available for travel by motor vehicle traffic.
• Municipalities would be required to submit information to the Ministry about existing bicycle lanes, where the addition of the existing bicycle lane reduced the number of marked lanes for motor vehicle travel. Municipalities would be compelled to collect and provide information about existing bike lanes on a set / periodic basis.

Women in Urbanism Canada, is a women identified and led community working to transform Canadian cities into more equitable, enjoyable, and sustainable places for everyone. We inform, inspire and mobilize women identified and led transformations in Canadian cities. As such, Women in Urbanism Canada resolutely believes this legislation would have negative impacts on countless women, girls, gender-diverse people, and their intersections of age, ability, class, and race, as they navigate their communities by bicycle and other mobility devices. Women in Urbanism Canada strongly encourages you to discard Schedule 4, of Bill 212 - the Bike Lane Framework of the legislation, and highly invest in active transportation infrastructure for everyone. The cost to taxpayers in municipalities should be concerning to your government at this conjecture, and even moreso, the costs of lost lives due to unsafe road ways cannot be understated. Data from the City of Toronto indicated that In the past ten years (2015 – 2024 to-date), 28 people have been killed and 380 people have been seriously injured while cycling in the City of Toronto. 68% of these collisions took place on streets without safe cycling accommodations.

Through Bill 212, the Province has stated they are seeking to "fight gridlock and get drivers where they need to go faster" but research and experiences from across North America and around the world have shown that a connected and safe cycling network is a key part of mitigating traffic congestion in a growing city, while improving safety and mobility. People who rely on motor vehicle travel also benefit from bikeways when enough other people choose to leave their car at home. It is well-documented that small reductions in the number of vehicles on a road can produce large improvements in traffic flow. Investing in convenient alternatives to driving, such as bikeways and public transit, is a necessary component of a successful traffic congestion management strategy. Those traveling by car also benefit from bikeways due to the increased safety and comfort when people cycling are not operating in mixed traffic.

This proposed legislation also risks reinforcing a car-centric approach to urban planning that prioritizes vehicles over pedestrians and cyclists. Limiting bike lane installation and removing environmental assessment processes for major highway projects does nothing to reduce gridlock. In fact, it actively ignores the growing demand for more affordable, sustainable, safe, and diverse transportation options.

Transportation and Equity

Many people across the province rely on cycling as an essential mode of travel, including in areas currently underserved by safe cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Many studies in urban centres across the province have identified the lack of safe cycling infrastructure in their neighborhoods as an important, unmet mobility need. The absence of bikeways has a disproportionately negative impact on low-income communities, seniors, women and gender-diverse people, Indigenous, Black and other communities of people of colour.

Canada's first large-scale count of people cycling by gender, age, and race found that there were twice as many men cycling than women. Numerous studies on this gender gap have cited safety concerns as the number one reason women do not cycle and/or do not cycle as frequently as men. Research has shown that women may actually be at greater risk while cycling. A field experiment found that drivers were significantly more likely to pass a woman cycling within 3 feet than a man cycling, with 73% of the studies’ reported encroachments happening to women. Furthermore, this experiment found that passing distance was greatest on roads with protected bicycle facilities, with none of the reported encroachments occurring on the protected bike lane. In another study, women were found to be almost twice as likely as men to be the victims in ‘near miss’ incidents while cycling. Women already face unequal access to transportation options, as they are less likely than men to own a personal vehicle or to travel by car. Supporting more women to cycle and travel by other safe and sustainable means helps to reduce congestion, saves families money, and supports local businesses.

This proposed legislation would not help to address this cycling gender gap, but would instead expand it further. If the bill slows down, stops, or even goes as far as reversing the implementation of cycling infrastructure, this would cause significant harm to people of all ages, races, and genders, and would be most harmful to those who already face transportation barriers.

We hope you’ll reconsider how this bill would impact women, girls, youth, gender diverse people, seniors, low income, racialized and persons with disabilities as well as everyone else, before you hit the gas on this dangerous legislation.

Resources:

Bicycles, Gender, and Risk: Driver Behaviors When Passing Cyclists https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/bicycles-gender-and-risk/

Pedal Poll/Sondo Vélo 2021: A Community Science Project on Who Cycles in Canada
Investigating the rates and impacts of near misses and related incidents among UK cyclists - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140515002236

National Travel Survey England 2014 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uplo…

Men and women make different travel choices — understanding those is key to achieving pollution and climate targets
https://www-politico-eu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.politico.eu/article/…

Transportation in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro https://www.lincolninst.edu/sites/default/files/pubfiles/koch_wp13jk1.p…

More women commute by public transit than men, census data shows https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/11/29/more-women-commute-by-publi…