Doug Ford and the Ontario…

Doug Ford and the Ontario Government’s decision to prevent the installation of new bike lanes and to remove existing ones, as per Bill 212, exemplifies that

• You believe that Ontarians’ lives are disposable: By preventing future bike lanes and actively removing existing bike lanes you are prioritizing convenience of some over the safety and lives of others. What you are saying is that someone saving 10 minutes on their commute is worth more than my life. How do you decide how much ‘time saved’ a human life is worth?
• You don’t care about taxpayers’ dollars: You are spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars to remove newly installed infrastructure - which already cost millions of dollars. You are flushing our money and infrastructure down the toilet, and charging us all to watch. How do your constituents outside of the GTA feel about your fiscal irresponsibility? How do you convince them that their tax dollars are better spent on this than on services that will directly and positively impact them, like housing and healthcare?
• You are short-sighted: Removing bike lanes focuses on instant-gratification without any consideration of long-term consequences. Downtown has a finite capacity to accommodate cars, and removing bike lanes is not going to address this. Cycling, on the other hand, is an alternate means of transportation that can address the problem of congestion due to car traffic in a more sustainable fashion. Instead of wasting taxpayer money on short-sighted and low-yield interventions like removing bike lanes, focus on sustainable solutions like improving transit services.
• You don’t care about evidence informed decision making: The decision to prevent and remove bike lanes ignores the research that has demonstrated their various benefits. Research shows that cycling infrastructure, like the protected bike lanes on University Ave, Bloor St and Yonge St, reduces the risk of cyclists being hit and injured by cars. It has also shown that the installation of bike lanes can actually reduce travel times by car, and improve customer traffic in local businesses. Where is the data that justifies the prevention and removal of bike lanes? Where is the data that justifies placing vulnerable road users at risk of harm?