I am very much against this…

I am very much against this legislation. This will take away the ability of countless municipalities to implement meaningful planning decisions that promotes pedestrian and cycling thoroughfares which make our cities more interesting. Furthermore there is no evidence that reducing bike lanes improves congestion and traffic, in fact studies show it leads to more cars on the roads.

Bike lanes, particularly those in Toronto on Bloor street SAVE lives. Numerous cyclists have been killed this year on Bloor and Avenue where bike lanes were blocked or non existent along stretches of the road. Taking away bike lanes will put more cyclists on the road with cars rather than giving them a dedicated (and protected) lane. I don’t think the Ford government wants to be remembered for more deaths on the road, and believe me that is exactly how this administration will be remembered for enacting such legislation.

I ask that before jumping to such an extreme overreach of provincial power, rather look at enacting legislation that examines the impact of improving traffic signalling in Toronto, increasing rush hour times that prevent parking on major thoroughfares (thus freeing up additional lanes), create efforts to coordinate construction efforts on major thoroughfares across toronto and finally put additional funding toward improving the TTC (and maybe start by eliminating the outdated late start times for the subway on Sundays).

There are many creative ways we can improve congestion in our biggest cities, attacking cyclists is not the way forward.