Toronto resident M5A 0N5 I…

Toronto resident M5A 0N5
I do not support the proposed bill.
The bill infringes on the rights of municipalities to make decisions regarding transportation on their streets and disproportionately favours personal automobile users over users of other methods of transportation. The proposed framework also does not include any scientific empirical evidence that it would actually reduce congestion in the areas it would come into effect, as opposed to other methods such as incentivizing public transport usage. Multiple-lane streets are also more dangerous for pedestrians crossing and I am concerned for the safety of our municipalities should this framework come into effect.

I am also highly opposed to using provincial taxpayer money to remove bike lanes that already exist, and were already built using taxpayer money. This frivolous use of public resources feels like a targeted attack against users of non-automobile transportation. The streets in question in the city of Toronto (Yonge, Bloor, and University) are important commuter streets and also touristic streets that see a lot of pedestrian and cyclist traffic everyday, and removing bike lanes on this street would allow for more dangerous, high speed drivers to threaten cyclists and pedestrians on these streets. Many public healthcare workers and students use bicycles daily to commute to their work at the hospital and university, and putting bike lanes on other streets will make their workplaces less accessible and will not contribute to making their commutes safer or faster.

Furthermore, I am concerned that this blatant favouring of automobile drivers will drive more people to use personal automobiles as a form of transportation rather than alternative methods of transport, which will obviously result in more cars and congestion on the road, which will actually contribute to more traffic. I am concerned that the lack of environmental assessment is not taking into account the additional impact that pollution and idling will have on the environment and our health as a result of more cars on our already busy downtown streets. Increasing car traffic will disproportionately negatively impact residents of Toronto who will be breathing in the smog and pollution in the cars, and may cause adverse health effects that further burden the economy such as asthma and cancer.

Finally, I ask why the province does not question the allowance of vehicles to block whole lanes of traffic by tightening street side parking laws, which are much more detrimental to traffic than the relatively smaller bike lanes. Target traffic by targeting the actual problem, which are other cars causing traffic congestion and accidents.

I worry that this provincial overreach will make Toronto a less safe and welcoming city for all. Thank you for your consideration.