Bike lanes are an integral…

Bike lanes are an integral part of Toronto and the surrounding area for cyclists, as well as those who cannot drive possibly due to ineligibility for a license or financial restrictions. Cycling is also a great way to stay in shape while commuting around the city and with appropriate infrastructure can give you nearly as much freedom around the city as a car, potentially even more so! The removal of bike lanes will be a massive setback for the city, its residents, and will increase the dangers to cyclists and drivers alike.

For cyclists, there are two key reasons why bike lanes are crucial to Toronto:

1. Safety - Biking in the road alongside cars is often dangerous, especially on busy roads. Cars are very large and heavy machines that can easily crush a pedestrian or cyclist. Bikes on sidewalks are also dangerous especially in Toronto. The sidewalks are often very busy and biking in between pedestrians could result in a collision. Unlike a car, people don't have turn signals or any warnings as to where they will move next. Isolated bike lanes provide cyclists with dedicated area to cycle and often have barriers to protect them from cars and traffic.

2. Efficiency - Removing the bike lanes will not do anything to fix congestion in Toronto, instead the freed space will be taken up by more drivers choosing to take these streets. Now there are more cars but they are still just as congested. Bikes are very small and thus far more space efficient, increasing the density of people who can travel through these streets.

I am all for reducing car congestion, but this is not the way to approach it. The Ontario government should disregard the removal of bike lanes altogether and focus on improving alternate transit infrastructure instead, a much more effective way of reducing congestion. This includes bike lanes, but also streetcars, buses, and trains. For example, the Toronto streetcars could benefit from replacing the switchpoints in the tracks, as they are very old and can only be traversed at very low speeds. GO Transit could also benefit from expedited progress on the electrification upgrades and increased frequency to allow for more ridership.