This legislation is so…

This legislation is so baffling it's difficult to know where to start.

BIKES

Congestion:
1) The only sustainable answer to traffic congestion is mode-shift. We absolutely have to increase the mode share of public transit and active transportation modes in our cities. Cycling is a key component of this strategy. Congestion in dense urban areas is inevitable for people who choose to drive a car, the only answer is to move people faster on more efficient transportation modes.

2) Under the HTA, a driver must give a cyclist 1 metre of space (3.2 ft). A cyclist will typically cycle 1-2 ft from the curb for safety (more if passing parked cars). An average car lane in an urban area is 10 ft wide. Therefore, a cyclist effectively takes up a lane of traffic regardless of whether there is bike lane infrastructure present. Drivers therefore have to lane change (on a 4-lane street) or wait behind a cyclist. Frequent lane changes also contribute to traffic congestion. In this scenario, no one is moving any faster, and cyclists are significantly less safe.

Safety:
Leading perfectly into the next point, cyclists will die without safe cycling infrastructure. And since none of the legislation passed by the province recently will actually do anything to fix congestion, people will continue to cycle as it is typically the fastest way to get around, at least in Toronto. The reduction in cycling may be enough to hurt local businesses, but likely not enough to save drivers from frequent lane changing / crawling at 20km/h behind a cyclist every couple minutes in downtowns.

Economic Growth:
We know the province is acutely aware of the economic impact of congestion on the economy. Since this won't fix congestion, those negative impacts will continue. Furthermore, bike lanes contribute to commerce as cyclists stop to shop more frequently than drivers, and less space for parking leads to more dense commercial areas. Additionally, we know that the province is keen to get employees back to the office. Give them a safe way to cycle there.

Environment:
Even with free flow traffic, bikes are infinitely better for emissions and other environmental issues than cars. Even EVs, which produce noise pollution and have a significant negative impact in their overall asset lifecycle.

Provincial Overreach:
This provincial government has spent a lot time criticizing red tape, bloated civil service, and wastes of taxpayer money in municipalities. This bill, and many others like it, spend the time and energy of the provincial assembly and provincial civil service on matters that are the jurisdiction of locally elected councils. Duplicating municipal processes and overriding the plans that municipalities have already drafted, engaged on, and published is an incredible waste of taxpayer funds at both levels of government.