As someone who lives near…

As someone who lives near Yonge Street, this proposal would be directly harmful to me. I use the bicycle lane frequently, and I see it heavily used by others. Aside from making bicycling more dangerous, likely increasing cycling injuries and deaths, replacing the bicycle lane with a vehicle lane would increase traffic by discouraging cycling and inducing demand. This would increase traffic-related air pollution, which is already a problem in the area and causes lung cancer, asthma in children, and other severe health issues. This is an issue we need to take seriously - it's estimated to cause 1200 deaths yearly in Canada. I'm shocked and afraid that the Ontario government would consider a proposal that would make life more dangerous for myself and others in my community just for dubious reasons of convenience.