I live and work in downtown…

I live and work in downtown Toronto. I own a car, so am intimately familiar with the traffic issues. I also frequently use the bicycles provided by Toronto Bike Share as this often allows for a quicker trip to parts of the city. I can say, unequivocally, as both a driver and a biker that there should be fewer - not more - bureaucratic barriers to building bike lanes in Toronto. When biking, I do my utmost to limit my travels to roads that have bike lanes. However, this is impossible if I chose to bike home from the downtown core, as at some point I must travel southbound on Jarvis St. towards the Gardiner. During rush hour, Jarvis is always jammed with agitated drivers waiting to get onto the Gardiner. When I pass by them on a bike, I frequently have to dodge cars either drifting towards the sidewalk or just plainly cutting me off. I am constantly scared that one of these interactions will go poorly, as a collision could have lifelong repercussions for my health. Surely, the benefit of decreasing a driver's commute time by a few minutes, by limiting the number of bike lanes, cannot be worth the trade-off of potentially life-altering injuries for a biker? Furthermore, if the Province truly wants to relieve congestion issues, it seems more sensible to provide travelers with other, faster alternatives to driving: would not any increase in lane capacity for cars quickly be absorbed by more people choosing to drive, instead of taking an alternative form of transit?