I've lived along Bloor…

I've lived along Bloor Street for many years, and the bike lanes have been a game-changer for me.

When I was working a minimum wage job at Starbucks on Bloor, biking was the best and most affordable transportation option for me. When heading to an opening shift at 5 AM, the subway wasn't running, and the night bus or walking were not always great options for a young, solo woman. Biking meant I could easily bike away from the catcallers who cornered me when nobody else was around.

But despite this emotional safety bonus, biking itself wasn't always physically safe. I usually had to travel in the narrow "door zone" between parked cars and moving cars, which is a precarious place to be. One time, because I was so frustrated with all the people who didn't know how to park close to the curb, I took the left lane on Bloor (as is my legal right). Very quickly, I had a guy driving a pickup truck bearing down on me and honking because he felt I was blocking his way. When I moved back over to the right lane at the stoplight, he rolled down his window, called me a number of racial and sexual slurs, told me how easy it would be to make me roadkill with just a quick turn of his wheel, and then revved his engine to emphasize his point. A number of other cyclists had to come to my defense before he drove away. While this was one of the more egregious incidents, it was by no means an isolated one.

After the bike lanes were installed on Bloor in 2016, it was a dramatically different experience. There was finally space meant for cyclists. When I was in the bike lane, I wasn't "in the way" of drivers and in "their" space, or at risk of being doored by someone not paying attention, or forced onto the sidewalk because nowhere felt safe (and thus endangering pedestrians). I no longer showed up to work stressed and rattled that someone threatened to kill me on my commute before 9 AM. It's been such a blessing.

Over the last 8 years, I've seen the Bloor bike lanes become more and more popular, especially as new cycling connections were added to feed into this main throughfare. Sections that were just a little busy when they opened are now chock-full of cyclists -- but this progression takes time.

I would hate to see us go back to the days before good bike infrastructure in Toronto. I will still ride a bike to work, but will now just have to take the lane more often to ensure my own safety, which will frustrate drivers and cause a lot of conflict.