Please be honest in your…

Please be honest in your assessment of bike lanes. The statistics the government is using includes smaller municipalities that don’t typically use bikes. The number of bikes on the stretches of road the Ontario government is threatening to remove, have usage between 8-12% not 1-2 as they claim, making it a very important commuting option.

If this was strictly about more space for cars than this bill would include removing street parking as these take up way more space than bike lanes and don’t contribute to the moving of traffic. In fact it blocks traffic as cars try to parallel park in spaces that are tight.

Bike lanes cannot be moved to smaller streets as there are no side streets that give riders a direct route across the city. Don’t treat bikes as a problem for traffic, a successful bike network will make traffic flow better as it gives people an option to get out of their car and take up less space leaving more space for cars down the road. There should be less cars in the city as the city grows because the current amount of cars is not sustainable as housing increases. Transit, bikes and walking are key to making it easier to make your way around the city.

Toronto should not be compared to smaller municipalities that do not have a largely centralized population where space is at a premium. For those of us that live in the city, biking is often the quickest way to get around providing there are safe spaces for bikes. While imperfect they are better than the alternative, which is forcing bikes to share the road with cars or even onto the sidewalk or worse by adding to the traffic and deciding to drive instead. A successful city requires a variety of options, including transit, cars, bikes and walking.

The government knows the real problem is the amount of construction, a lot of which are provincial projects (Ontario line, LRT lines etc) plus the Gardiner, condo developments and other street construction in the city.

The province can do their part and actually open these public transit projects which will have a positive impact and don’t distract people by blaming bikes.

By putting the blame on bikes you are risking making things more dangerous for those who choose to ride.

And this is a municipal matter not a provincial one. The government doesn’t like it when the federal government intervenes in what the province deems provincial matters so don’t do that to cities.

Thank you and please do the right thing.