I have been a cyclist all my…

I have been a cyclist all my life, both in the rural community where I grew up, in Toronto where I attended college, and in the town I now live in Waterloo region.

For many years, I was even a 4 season cyclist.
Bike lanes are an essential part of infrastructure for the safety of all people - where there aren't safe bike lanes, those that ride bikes will instead prefer sidewalks rather than roads, as increasingly aggressive and distracted drivers endanger themselves, vulnerable roadway users such as cyclists, other drivers, and pedestrians.

Widening roads will not alleviate congestion - instead, wider roads will attract more drivers, inducing the demand on that roadway until the level of congestion is the same as it was before.

Widening roads will instead make the city roads lacking bike lanes impassable or lethally dangerous for thousands of bike, ebike, scooter, escooter, and mobility scooter users.

There have already been 30 deaths on Toronto roads in 2024 alone. 12 of those are pedestrians and 6 are cyclists.

Bike ridership has only increased, as vehicle ownership costs increase, and as people strive for active commutes that form an integral part of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

The removal of bike lanes is a terrible idea, as it will make the commutes of thousands of people less safe and ultimately guarantee a higher casualty rate.

There was a 38% decline in the rate of cyclist-motor vehicle collisions per cyclist-month after the addition of bike lanes in a given area of Toronto specifically. That same area experienced 2.6x more cyclist ridership after the addition of bike lanes, some of which directly led to a decrease in motor-vehicle traffic on the same streets, just by the availability of safe cycling infrastructure.