Citizens deserve choices for…

Citizens deserve choices for safe transportation and recreation that are applicable to a diverse range of needs and interests. Cities and towns understand the needs of these individuals in a way that the provincial government cannot, nor are they accountable to meeting these needs, proposing or implementing changes in the same manner as local councils, mayors etc.

Studies assessing the safety of bike lanes appear to largely have been done where the city has powers to implement and retain them. There do not appear to be evidence that provincially controlled decisions about biking are both efficient or effective in the same way. This suggests that the only model with proof that safety of all road users is augmented with use of high rates of supported cycling infrastructure is where the city/municipality is the responsible party, not the province.

I've been cycling in Toronto since moving here over 25 years ago. Although recent years have shown meaningful growth, I believe that infrastructure here, and in other municipalities lags far behind other areas of the world. Local municipalities should retain power over decisions relating to cycling infrastructure as an important way of meeting their mandate, and to provide effective accountability and agency to create and sustain healthy cities that are in tune with the needs of the people they serve directly. Addressing planetary health and the climate crisis is everyone's responsibility; centralizing the issue of bike lanes ( and other forms of transportation) with the province means there are fewer partners able to enact initiatives that benefit us all.