I'm opposed to removing bike…

I'm opposed to removing bike lanes along major urban roads, and I'm in favour of adding new bike lanes along both major and side streets.

A major argument that is being used to justify the proposed legislation is the high amount of congestion in the city. The solution to congestion isn't to add a few car lanes, but rather to add a large amount of bike lanes and public transit options, thus getting cars off the road. If people made a quarter of their trips by a mode other than driving (e.g. trips to the pharmacy, biking to work once a week, visiting family 10 blocks away), that would remove 25% of congestion.

I don't want my kids to get fat sitting in a car as I drive them everywhere. Instead, I want them to learn the value of physical activity while they smell the leaves in the autumn, feel the Sun in the summer, and learn to navigate slush in the winter (as I had to) as they take themselves places. Once they're old enough to explore the city on their own, I want them to be able to bike to the AGO to see the exhibits or Yonge & Dundas Square to meet friends, without my needing to worry if they will get hit by a car.

I happen to be someone who bikes already, but there are many routes I choose not to take even though they would be more convenient, because they are dangerous.

Bikes are a viable transportation option. They are already used by a large segment of Toronto's population (especially if you only consider areas of the city where decent bike infrastructure already exists), and more people would use them if it was safe and convenient. To deny people the ability to travel in the city by bike is not only unsustainable for the future of the city; it's forcing people to spend money on increasingly expensive cars and transit passes when an obvious alternative exists.

Finally, city infrastructure should be decided by municipal governments. It is not the provincial government's place to dictate where cities can or cannot build a bike lane.