I am someone who drives to…

I am someone who drives to the nearest TTC station, I rely on both my car and public transit to safely get to work everyday and I believe we need to build BETTER and MORE protected bikes lanes…NOT TO REMOVE THEM.

1) The city has already spent millions of dollars and years building these bike lanes…how is it more cost effective to spend millions more to tear them out? How is more years of construction going to reduce congestion? How is throwing away barely used materials like plastic and concrete guardrails MORE environmentally friendly? It is not.

2) This is a gross overreach of provincial jurisdiction and will set a precedent that the federal and provincial governments can intervene where the people don’t have adequate representation. Not to mention the fact that the province will not adequately address such minor issues with the quickness that is required—the province already takes so long with basic tasks within their jurisdiction, you want to add more to that plate? Why?

3) the province states that it needs “data” to back up bike lane building decisions, but seemingly ignores the fact that every single traffic study shows that adding more lanes for vehicles does not reduce congestion or accidents. Even the new highway Ford wants to build had multiple studies saying that the highway 413 would not significantly reduce traffic—especially with the cost & environmental impact it would cause. So, on that note, where is the data and the studies (that are independently conducted & not funded by automakers) that show the opposite? Where are the studies from cities around the world whose population is even bigger than toronto’s that show more lanes = better traffic & safer streets? They do not exist. What the data actually shows time and time again that reducing road speeds, adding bike lanes, narrowing lanes, adding in barriers that are well designed & decorative reduce collisions, are more safe, and are more pleasant to use.

I am a driver, I own my own car and very proud that I do, but I am tired of cyclists not having a safe space to ride forcing them to weave in between traffic. I’m tried that their rightful frustration is taken out on their fellow commuters. I am tried that I cannot walk safely down streets simply because cars are given every right & leniency. I’m tired that the TTC buses and streetcars are stuck in the same traffic as me, stopping every 5 meters instead of having their own dedicated lanes. I’m tried that I can’t rely on any mode of transport that I have the free will to use. I want to be able to walk or drive or bus or bike or hell, even fly to where I need to go if I so chose to.

This act that has been proposed by Ford’s government will not help anyone, and is actively going to put Toronto behind other world class cities even more than it already is. We need better road design and that includes better bike lanes in the places people need to go, not shunted off to back roads where they will not be used due to the inconvenience—like building a road to nowhere. For decades North Americans haven’t relied or had even the choice other than to use their cars, the bike lanes will be used, they simply will not be jam packed on the first year they are open. They need more time and they need more than just the driver’s opinion before they are torn out.

TLDR: this act is a waste of time and resources; it should not be passed.