Removing bike lanes to…

Removing bike lanes to create more lanes for cars in an effort to reduce traffic is a terrible idea that is not backed by any research or evidence. It will not achieve the stated goal of the bill, and in fact will worsen the problem.

It has been proven again and again over decades of attempts and research that adding lanes does not reduce traffic, but increases it. This is a phenomenon known as induced demand. I have pasted basic information about this from Wikipedia below, but if you'd prefer to watch videos, I've added supporting links to this comment.

"In transportation planning, induced demand, also called "induced traffic" or consumption of road capacity, has become important in the debate over the expansion of transportation systems, and is often used as an argument against increasing roadway traffic capacity as a cure for congestion.[...]City planner Jeff Speck has called induced demand "the great intellectual black hole in city planning, the one professional certainty that every thoughtful person seems to acknowledge, yet almost no one is willing to act upon."

"The effect was recognised as early as 1930, when an executive of a St. Louis, Missouri, electric railway company told the Transportation Survey Commission that widening streets simply produces more traffic, and heavier congestion.[12]"

"A 2004 meta-analysis, which took in dozens of previously published studies, confirmed this. It found that: ... on average, a 10 percent increase in lane miles induces an immediate 4 percent increase in vehicle miles travelled, which climbs to 10 percent – the entire new capacity – in a few years.[20]" "

It is also illogical when you consider how much more space a car takes up on the road than a bike. Far more people can fit on the road when they're riding bikes than when they're sitting in cars. Bikes, busses, and subways are far more efficient at moving people across a city than cars are. Making biking viable, as bike lanes do, means that more people will use these modes of transportation and that will reduce the number of cars on the road. Removing bike lanes will discourage riders from biking and increase the likelihood that they will die due to proximity to large vehicles. This is evidenced by the increased use of the bike share program in the city this year.

Finally, this is such an irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars as the cost to remove and replace the existing infrastructure far outweights the initial cost to install in. As seen in our recent history:

"Toronto has removed bike lanes in the past. In 2012, after a protracted battle in council led in part by former mayor Rob Ford and Doug Ford, then a city councillor, the city opted to remove protected lanes on Jarvis Street. The lanes cost roughly $86,000 to install and about $270,000 to remove because a centre lane for vehicle traffic had to be re-added to the busy street."

If you are a fiscally responsible conservative, you should be raging at this waste of taxpayer funds.

Moving forward with this bill would be a huge step backwards that services only to harm the people living in the city of Toronto, and additionally serve as a massive waste of taxpayer dollars. If you are fiscally conservative, you should be opposed to this solely based on the lack of value derived from this project.