As a resident of Toronto who…

As a resident of Toronto who enjoys cycling, including for basic errands like grocery shopping, the recent proposals by the Premier of Ontario to require provincial approval for new bike lanes, and especially the additional suggestion that the existing bike lanes on Bloor and Yonge Streets should be removed by provincial authority, are greatly upsetting.

First and foremost, I firmly believe that the way that municipal governments choose to regulate traffic falls outside the responsibilities of the provincial government. Even if no legislation exists to give municipalities strong enough powers to oppose provincial decisions like these, that does not mean that the province doing this would be a reasonable or fair exercise of its power. To simplify, just because the province can do it, does not mean that it should – certainly not without extensive consultation with the residents of the areas affected. The proposed legislation represents a disappointing degree of provincial overreach in municipal affairs. The Premier of Ontario is not the Mayor of Toronto, and has a mandate to serve the people of Ontario as a whole, not micromanage cities in the province at will. (Might I suggest running for mayor in the next Toronto municipal election? Perhaps that would be a more suitable job for a Premier who keeps expressing such a keen interest in municipal affairs.)

Secondly, a decision to prioritize motor vehicles at the direct expense of bicycle infrastructure would be a step backwards in terms of both safety and efficiency. I can attest from my own experience that in areas of Bloor Street without physical barriers between the bike lane and the main road, drivers do often enter the bike lane. Removing the bike lane entirely would force cyclists onto the main road, which would not only make cycling more risky, but would also slow down traffic (despite the stated purpose of this legislation being to reduce gridlock), since slower cyclists would need to share the road with faster motor vehicles. It makes perfect sense on busy streets to have separated lanes for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, since these three modes of transportation have sizeable differences in speed.

Lastly, I believe that there is a reasonable financial argument to be made against the proposal to remove existing bike lanes on several busy Toronto streets: if the intention is reducing motor vehicle traffic, then one way to do that is to encourage people to reduce usage of motor vehicles – for instance, by subsidizing public transit to improve frequency and capacity. Investing money in removing bike lanes would be wasteful when that money could clearly be put to better use in an additive rather than subtractive way. If that money goes to the TTC and/or Metrolinx instead of removing bike lanes, it could help make it easier for people to reconsider driving on streets that are already heavily-trafficked and just take the subway instead.