Hello, I do not think it is…

Hello,

I do not think it is for the province to decide whether a bike line is appropriate or not on municipal roads. Municipal roads should be managed by the municipal government as elected by its people. I believe this will create unnecessary extra bureaucracy in which the municipal government will need to have the provincial government OK their plans for municipal roads. I also find it absurd that the province is looking to remove bike lanes that have already been installed. This is a waste of tax payer money, and would also increase the time for municipalities to be able to make necessary changes to make roads safer and more efficient for all its users.

As a cyclist, there are many roads that I do not feel I have a safe space to ride my bike. Either I ride on the sidewalk, which slows me down or risk injuring pedestrians if the sidewalk is not wide enough. Or I ride on the road - which has much more serious consequences of being hit by a car, including serious injuries or death.

Good bike lanes, such as those recently added to University in Toronto, reduce the risk to cyclists, while also ensuring a safe drive for drivers as they don't have either be stuck behind a slow moving cyclist, or risk going around the cyclist which causes the driver to change lanes, slowing traffic or worse yet causing accidents. With the University bike lane specifically, I also noticed dedicated parking spaces, which again keeps drivers and cyclists separated and safe as they aren't required to share that space, i.e. it is not uncommon to see drivers park/stop/interfere with bike lanes, which cyclists then need to navigate around and away from their bike lanes into traffic.

As a driver, I prefer dedicated bike lanes to keep my fellow cyclists safe, and to keep myself safe as I don't have to worry about one swerving to avoid debris or falling in front of my car.

Additionally, the safer our bike lanes are, the more people will actually use them, and the less gridlock we will see (with the additional bonus of healthier and greener commuters, reducing costs to our healthcare system).

Safety aside however, I do ultimately think this is a totally unnecessary waste of tax payer money by having the province involved in municipal affairs. Municipal roads should be managed by municipalities - and if that means they want to add bike lanes, it's their prerogative to do so.