The proposal to give the…

The proposal to give the provincial government both future and retroactive decision making powers over the installation of new or removal of existing bicycle lanes is an egregious overstep of provincial authority. Not only does it fly in the face of the conversation governments more typical ideals of not overextending government reach, it puts the provincial government into a position where they are not the most properly equipped authority to make these decisions.

Local roads and how they are constructed, maintained, and adjusted should fall in the hands of the municipal government alone. This is where the most on the ground knowledge about the workings, traffic flow, and needs of a municipality's citizens exists.

Not only that, but as a resident of a municipality this provincial oversight takes what should be an issue for localized debate and discussion and makes it out of reach for the average citizen to engage in due process when it comes to matters that directly affect their lived experience in their municipality. In situations where the installation of a bicycle lanes becomes particularly contentious, it now becomes an election issue at the provincial level rather than the municipal - a change that effectively makes voting on the issue a moot point by giving the power to alter these decisions mostly to representatives who live outside and know nothing about a municipality.

Aside from all these issues that affect citizens power regardless of their view on bicycle lanes, as a daily user and someone who has read about and experienced cycling infrastructure around the world, I find the negative view of bicycle lanes these bill takes to be particularly offensive. There is endless data both here in Ontario and from cities around the world that shows taking away bicycle lanes will not improve traffic flow for more than a couple years at best. We all know this from highway building as well, the more lanes you build, the more cars will appear to fill them in. In fact there are cases even where adding bicycle lanes has improved drive times by allowing space to be created for left turn lanes so that through traffic is no longer blocked. Bicycle lanes also help calm traffic in city areas where cars are moving too fast in areas shared by pedestrians. Removing lanes will almost certainly result in increased fatalities.

Please, I implore you, put this effort, money, and focus into changes that will improve traffic. Get out mass transit projects finished and start more of them! Figure out how to encourage less car use rather than more! Bicycle lanes are not a provincial matter, but Intercity transit is. Build ways to get people moving, not just creating more spaces to eventually be clogged with more cars. This is 1950's era thinking, and the decades since have long proved the promise of highways to be a falsehood.