My comments below refer to…

My comments below refer to Schedule 4 Part XII - Municipal By-laws and Bicycle Lanes.

Two years ago, my city installed new infrastructure on my main route to my child's daycare. Originally four lanes of car traffic, the new configuration allows for completely separated pedestrian sidewalks, protected bike lanes on each side, and three lanes of car traffic (a center turning lane and two one-way lanes for each direction).

These protected bike lanes have enabled me to safely and conveniently take my child on the four kilometre trip to our daycare using my bicycle year round. I have also been able to use my bike along this route to easily access shops, get groceries, and run errands. Moreover, driving on this route is now far more convenient as if I'm required to turn left I can use a dedicated left turn lane. It's also easier to avoid conflict with vulnerable road users as now everybody has properly allocated space.

In addition to the quality of life improvements, these bike lanes have saved our family money. We used to be a two car household, but now we only need one. This saves on gas, maintenance, insurance, monthly car payments, interest, and all of the other costs associated with car ownership. The annual savings is likely in the $6000-$12000 range, which is massive for us as we're just starting our family. We would not have been able to do go down to one car if our city had not installed this protected cycling infrastructure.

Though bike lane connectivity is improving in our city, there is still much work to be done. There are many places that are currently don't have safe cycling infrastructure. Earlier this year, somebody was struck cycling and killed. There was no bike lane, but there were four lanes of car traffic. The person killed was legally riding on the right side of the road, and the person who hit her was at fault. This incident would not have occurred if there was proper cycling lanes in this area.

I'm deeply concerned about the legislation being proposed that would greatly hinder progress being made in our city and throughout Ontario. I don't believe this will help people in Ontario, but will likely make things worse. It will make commuting more difficult and life more expensive for everybody. More people will be maimed or die on our streets by motorists. The proposed legislation risks reinforcing a car-centric approach to urban planning, prioritizing private vehicles over all other modes of transport.

The threat of removing existing cycling lanes is also very worrying. There really are not any practical side street options for our my commute without the current infrastructure. We would likely be forced into buying another car (which we really cannot afford as we're barely making ends-meet).

I hope this government will take into careful consideration these comments and the comments of everybody else who will be affected by this legislation.