I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my serious concern about Bill 212, Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024. This bill would negatively affect the future of sustainable mobility in the Province of Ontario and do little to nothing to actually reduce gridlock.

Induced Demand

Study after study worldwide shows us that building additional lanes onto or creating new highways has little impact on overall congestion. The additional space for cars encourages more people to drive, and in a matter of months to years the travel times go back up to pre-expansion levels or worse. In my lifetime, the numerous expansion to highways across Ontario and in the GTA have not improved my travel times. Instead, thanks to the dramatically higher number of cars I avoid driving on 400 series highways if possible during the day for safety reasons and will even take back routes to avoid them because there are no alternative modes of transportation available. I’d much rather be on a train taking a nap but I’m forced to stare at a strip of pavement for hours at a time.

For a specific example, we can look at the recent 18 km Highway 401 expansion project between the Credit River in Mississauga and Regional Road 25 in Milton, at a taxpayer cost of $640 million, which has failed to alleviate traffic congestion on the 401. How many more times must we do the same thing, while hoping for a different outcome, before we start using taxpayer money on solutions that actually work?

Government Overreach in Municipal and Other Local Decision Making

Having grown up in Grey-Bruce and lived in both Waterloo and Toronto before moving back to the area, it is obvious that the specific transportation needs of these regions vary significantly. Locally elected governments are in the best position to address and respond to these needs because they live in the towns and counties they serve, and their staff have the expertise and data to provide prudent recommendations case by case. Whether or not you personally think bike lanes are important, requiring provincial permission to adjust lanes of traffic for the installation of bike lanes is an egregious overreach by the province into municipal governance and adds red tape to decisions that should be made by our locally elected officials.

Diverse Transportation Options

Providing a range of transportation options like buses, streetcars, subways, local and regional high speed trains, and safe walking and biking infrastructure encourages people to make different choices about how they get around, taking cars off our roads and highways and reducing gridlock.

In Toronto, investing in these options allows people to save money on transportation because they can own fewer cars or use them less (average car ownership in Canada costs over $1,300 per month, money that would be better off in people’s pockets). City staff also note that “Research and experience 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,”

Similarly in Grey-Bruce, we could be encouraging people to leave the car at home for short in-town trips and providing incentives for e-bike purchases; this would reduce air and noise pollution, save people the thousands of dollars it costs to own a car, and the light, regular exercise would improve local health metrics and give people the opportunity to meet others in their community more frequently (an important factor in community cohesion and safety as more and more new people move here).

Additionally, many people in our ageing population are going to lose their driver’s licences for medical reasons in the next decade or so. It can already be seen in Hanover as the number of mobility scooters and electric bikes is steadily increasing. Many of these people choose to ride on the road because our sidewalks are uneven or non-existent, creating a dangerous situation for all road users, increasingly so in the winter. If Hanover or Grey County wanted to install a lane separate from the pedestrian sidewalks for these people, would the province veto it because it might take space away from cars? This attitude tells our residents that how they get around only matters if they drive, that they don’t deserve transportation safety unless they drive. How must it feel, I wonder, to realise that as soon as your driver’s licence is gone you are perceived by the province to be an invalid, undeserving of the same consideration we give drivers so immediately.

Cost

Bill 212 would have the bike lanes on Bloor, Young, and University torn out to reinstall a car lane. I question the financial responsibility of a government that wants to waste the $27 million spent to install these and then spend an additional $48 million (likely more if other recent construction estimates are any indication) to reconstruct those roads when Toronto’s data show that “The reduced network capacity due to construction-related road closures is a primary factor contributing to congestion across the city.” for example, “the ongoing construction of major provincial transit projects including the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit (Line 5), Finch West Light Rail Transit (Line 6), and Ontario Line, private development activity to support population growth, and major infrastructure renewal including the Gardiner Expressway reconstruction”. Surely many more months of bonus construction to tear up bike lanes up isn’t the answer, especially when the result will be “likely minimal improvements in travel time”.

Beyond the direct cost, there is also the cost of lost business and job opportunities. A study from 2019 noted that only 10% of visitors arrived by car to businesses on Bloor West in the Korea town and Annex neighbourhoods. 18% of visitors arrived by bike, and half of all visitors arrived by walking. A new report (November 17th) from the University of Toronto calculates that should the Bloor Street bike lane be removed, “those businesses will no longer be reachable by bike to on average 88,000 potential customers. Businesses on Yonge will do even worse, and will no longer be reachable to on average 138,000 customers.” By reducing access to safe and connected cycling infrastructure “600,000 people across Toronto will have fewer destinations they can safely reach by bicycle. Of those 600,000, the average person will lose access to 84,000 job locations, making it harder for them to reach workplaces, food stores, parks, shopping and healthcare.”

There is also the as yet to be estimated cost to relocate bike lanes, if the province even permits it. Nearly any bike lane in Toronto will require shifting some space away from cars, even the side streets the province suggests they would be moved to, and it is extremely unlikely that an appropriately connected cycling network could be achieved without astronomical costs. City staff noted that a significant amount of infrastructure would need to be built to put bike lanes on side streets, including additional land acquisition, and construction disruptions to local residents. These same city staff have already spent years researching and collecting data on the best places to put high-impact bike lanes in accordance with Toronto’s long term strategic plans. If there were better places to put bike lanes, they wouldn’t be where they are. If the province has to review all new bike lane installations to replace these existing ones (requiring extra staff and time), I again question the financial responsibility of this government given such redundancy and red tape.

Environmental Protection

Bill 212 also seeks to provide exemptions from Environmental Impact Assessments for the Highway 413 Project. Having studied and completed these in university, I understand how time consuming even small ones are. However, they are a vital part of ensuring that we do not cut corners and cause undue environmental damage with our infrastructure projects.
Ontario’s own Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment, uses the government’s own data to show that Ontarians’ food, homes and health are at very high risk of harm within the next few decades — particularly if responding and adapting to a rapidly-changing climate doesn’t happen immediately. Shirking EIAs to pave over more of Ontario is an irresponsible and short-sighted measure that will impact our children and grandchild long after we are gone. Again I say, I’d rather be on a train enjoying the scenery while I read a book than driving on yet another concrete scar across our beautiful province. Let the government invest in mass transportation solutions that make sense and do less harm to the environment.