The stated aim of this bill…

The stated aim of this bill is to reduce congestion. If this bill were made in good faith, it would recognise that cycling infrastructure is one of the principle ways to reduce congestion. Bike lanes encourage bike usage and create safe conditions for cycling. People use these to commute, and more recently bike delivery has created a new avenue of revenue for restaurants and other businesses. Instituting new regulations which require provincial approval for bike lanes threatens cyclist safety and encourages car usage. In Toronto, approximately 150,000 people use bike lanes to commute; were each of these people to switch to car commuting, congestion would be atrocious. By proposing this bill, the government is once again demonstrating its callous attitude towards the lives of cyclists. In the city of Toronto, five people have been killed this year, yet the province is proposing measures which contravene any possibility of improving this problem. As a regular cyclist, I see that one of the main causes of road congestion are roads shut down to enable condo construction. The rapidity of this construction is doing nothing to improve Toronto's housing crisis, since these homes are unaffordable and are not subject to the provincial cap on rental increases. If congestion is to be reduced, slowing condo construction projects is one way to do it. Since the average income of Torontonians is $40,000, the prospect of obstacles to cycling also places more financial pressure on people in a time of economic crisis. Using the Toronto transit system adds an extra $160 to a person's costs, and car usage is even more costly. As such, the provincial government should stop wasting its time creating reactionary bills which lack evidential basis, and take meaningful action to improve the conditions of working people in Ontario.