A stupid idea. The roads…

A stupid idea. The roads should be for all users not just motorists. If you want to reduce congestion then reduce the number of cars.

I live off of Montgomery Road in the Kingsway area. I own a car and drive regularly and the only time that I have seen congestion is during the rush hours. Outside of rush hour there aren't that many cars on Bloor St W. I have virtually never seen congestion during the day or at night.

First, the real problem is a lack of synchronization of the traffic lights. That should be fixed before anything else is done. I don't believe these were synchronized before the speed limit was changed from 50 km/h to 40 km/h but now it is largely impossible to get through that stretch of Bloor St W without hitting a string of red lights. I even experienced this at 4:00 a.m. where I had to wait for 5 red lights along Bloor St between Islington Ave and Prince Edward Dr when there was absolutely no one else on the road. The traffic lights at the Bloor/South Kingsway and Bloor/Jane intersections are also a mess and cause a lot of congestion. The problem is the traffic lights not the bike lanes.

Second, many of the car drivers who are driving along Bloor St are not from Toronto. They are through traffic and are never going to use the bike lanes. They likely also don't pay City of Toronto taxes. If you want to reduce congestion then you should get more cars off the road. One way to do that is to introduce a road tax for people who don't pay Toronto taxes but still want to use the roads. That would force at least some to find alternative means to get in and out of the city, such as subways, GO trains and so on. I pay Toronto taxes and I use the bike lanes. Bike lanes are for residents.

Third, putting bike lanes on secondary roads is a bad idea. You can't ride a bicycle far on a secondary road without reaching a major thoroughfare. Then to cross that thoroughfare you need a new traffic light which is only going to slow traffic on the thoroughfare further. Map out a network of cycle routes criss-crossing the city on secondary roads and then count the number of additional traffic lights that you will need. It won't be 5 or 6. There are also few secondary roads that cross the city in either east/west or north/south directions.

Fourth, Bike lanes only start to be really used when a network exists that let people get to where ever they need to get to. Such a network can't be built overnight. The city of Toronto is building the network piecemeal. As the network is expanded more people will use it. I have spent a lot of time in a European city that has a daytime population of about 1.3 million. About 15 years ago they started to create a cycling network that covered most of the city. Usage started as a trickle but now most of the bike lanes are full during the day. When I am there I use a bicycle almost exclusively for travel year round because I can get just about everywhere I need to go by bicycle. And yes, they do have winter and they do have sub-zero temperatures. You only need to look at Montreal as an example in Canada.

Fifth, it makes sense that the bike lanes on Bloor St have been extend to where the new Etobicoke Civic Centre will be built a Six Points (Bloor/Dundas/Kipling). When that is completed there will certainly be more bicycle traffic both from people needing services to city employees who will work there.

Sixth, Doug Ford should stop interfering with city of Toronto business. He ran to be mayor and he lost! The people of the city of Toronto rejected him! The people of the city of Toronto rejected his ideas! He should concentrate on those issues for which he has a mandate. He should do something to improve healthcare. He should do something to improve the education system. He should do something to improve the transportation system. And he should leave the city of Toronto the eff alone!!!