This proposal is sheer…

This proposal is sheer madness. Its main result will be to reduce freedom of choice for every resident by forcing people into vehicles. This legislation will make life worse for everyone - including motorists.

I cannot afford to drive a car as a regular form of daily transportation, so for me riding a bike is an essential part of my daily life as it allows me to access places that would be time-consuming or costly to access otherwise. This legislation will put my life in danger just for conducting my daily routine, by eliminating a safe method of getting around. I rely on the bike lane network to get to places, both for work-related purposes and businesses that I patronize. I use, in particular, the University, Bloor and Yonge bike lanes in Toronto regularly for these purposes and I consider them essential to my ability to perform my daily activities.

Without a safe bike network, I would be forced to spend money on either transit or Uber, which would disincentivize these trips for me and hurt local businesses due to my frequenting them less. Furthermore, both of these alternatives use the roads and cause traffic to worsen, not improve as the legislation naively assumes without evidence. Every bicycle on the streets means one less vehicle clogging up the roads. Even the occasional times when I do drive on the roads, the congestion is very bad on streets that don't even have bike lanes, including Yonge St in downtown Toronto and the Gardiner Expressway. The traffic is not because of bikes, but because of too many cars on the road. The removal of choice that the legislation brings about is counterproductive for everyone involved and does nothing but play to the biases of the uninformed by ignoring the true causes of traffic in favour of an easy scapegoat, namely bicycles.

Many people use these bike lanes to get around, including delivery cyclists, as well as commuters and business patrons. I note that the lanes are always heavily utilized whenever I am on them, and I can also see the University bike lanes from my residence and can verify that they are always hosting bike traffic, contrary to some misleading claims that they are sparsely used. During rush hour, I regularly see that there are almost as many bicycles going down the road as there are cars. This bike traffic represents essential commerce, productivity and mobility which will be suppressed if this legislation is put into effect, to the detriment of the local economy and the quality of life of thousands of people, including the motorists who will have to deal with even worse congestion than ever due to the resulting increase in vehicular traffic.

Moving the bike lanes to "side streets" is also not viable, as side streets do not lead to the same destinations without having to take ridiculously convoluted paths that double or triple the normal trip time - not to mention that businesses and destinations usually lie on the main street, not the side streets. If it was viable to take side streets to reach one's destination, then vehicles themselves could just as easily take those side streets and there would be no issue.

I urge the government to withdraw this disastrous legislation and to safeguard the freedom of choice of the people of Ontario. Municipal decisions should be left up to municipalities and should reflect the needs of the people who live there. This legislation is a massive waste of taxpayer money, and for the sole purpose of making life worse, not better, for everyone. I will vote against any government that actively meddles with municipal affairs to make life worse and less convenient for people and businesses, and will recommend to all family and friends to do the same.