As a long time resident of…

As a long time resident of Ontario, I live and work in downtown Toronto. I have chosen not to own a car, but rather take advantage of the intermodel options that exist. In any given week, I walk, ride my bike, use the TTC, use the UP Express for travel to the airport, use Uber, and on occasion, use a carshare program for bigger outings.
However, my preference is to use my bike as much as possible. As someone who is in my late 40s, riding my bike throughout the city is an amazing way to remain active, do my part for the environment, as well as getting around reasonably quickly. I travel large distances across the city to run errands, get to work, visit friends, grocery shop, go to appointments and to socialize and explore the city.
As someone who has also traveled to many cities in the world, the best cities are always the ones with robust public transit and great biking infrastructure. These create vibrant cities that are accessible to citizens and visitors alike, and also are more affordable.
I want to go on the record that having options is important to the diverse set of citizens and visitors to our cities and province, but equally important is having safe options.
The City of Toronto has made significant strides in the past 10 years to create a more connected and safe cycling infrastructure for its citizens and visitors. This has been crucial has the city grows, and also sees more people visiting. More highways and lanes of traffic are not the solution, as study after study shows that they quickly fill up and gridlock ensues. We need more, better and safer options across the breadth of transportation infrastructure.
For the province to interfere with the well considered and studied plans of the city is not acceptable. Leave the City of Toronto to study, design and deliver on the infrastructure needs of its citizens and on behalf of its visitors. That includes not meddling in the important work of building out and improving safer cycling infrastructure, which also improves the safety of all road users as well as pedestrians.