I am a resident of Toronto …

I am a resident of Toronto (growing up in GYA suburbs), car driver (who commutes by car within the city), and recreational cyclist.

This bill is short cited, a waste of tax payer money, not efficient, and worst of all does not solve the problem that is the title of this bill.

Riding a bicycle is dangerous in Toronto on streets without bike lanes. Cyclists have to reside on cycling on roads with moving cars or in a small space between a parked car and moving car traffic. This creates little space to ride safely. Cars can come into the space, parked drivers can open doors and hit cyclists (this happened to me once and I ended up flipped into the air and landing in garbage cans), and pedestrians can walk out of front of bikes. This increases the chances of accidents. And also makes things unsafe for drivers and cyclists.

I currently commute within the city by car because there is no adequate bike lane infrastructure to get from my home to work. The difference for driving versus cycling is 5 min (45 vs 50 min respectively). The times I have bike have led to some risky rides with cars coming close to clipping me (despite safe and non aggressive riding style). As such I need to drive to be safe. If there were bike lanes and a safe riding commute, I would commute every day and take a car off the road. When I worked downtown, there were plenty of safe routes to take and I would cycle every day.

The major issue with traffic in the city is 1) construction blocks major routes and slows everything down. Removing bike lanes just adds more construction and makes things slower. 2) our highways are inadequate for the demand of cars, so more lanes will still lead to more traffic as cars cannot get onto the highway in peak hours. This money would be better spent figuring out solutions to get more cars off the road (bike lanes, transit). Also in the suburbs, it’s the perfect place to add bike lanes and walking lanes along all roads, there is more space and with the infrastructure there will be use.

This is not a good bill and a waste of tax payer money. Please be the efficiency party and mandates that you were elected for.