To whom it may concern, I am…

To whom it may concern,

I am a 22 year old engineering student at the University of Toronto, living at College and Spadina, and I’m writing today to voice my concerns about Bill 212. I have lived my entire life in Toronto, and have traveled and explored throughout the city. I wanted to start by talking about some of the ways that I use 3 streets which Bill 212 has targeted for removal of bike lanes: Bloor, College, and University. When I was living with my parents in Leaside, my daily commute took me along Bloor street from Church to Spadina, although these days I usually follow College. Outside of my commute, I use College street to visit restaurants in Little Italy, go grocery shopping, and visit High Park. I take Bloor street to my gym, to hang out at Christie Pits Park and visit my parents. Finally, I usually follow University south to get to downtown concert venues, watch Leafs games, or visit our beautiful harbourfront parks.

I regularly use either my bicycle or my car for these trips, depending on several factors such as the weather, time of day, and how I’m feeling. However, the most important factor for me is safety: when I feel safe riding my bike, I’ll usually ditch the car. The recent upgrades and additions to bike lanes on all three of these streets has vastly increased my safety and therefore willingness to take my bike on these trips rather than driving. In no uncertain terms: improvements to bike lane infrastructure vastly increases the likelihood that I leave my car behind when I travel the city. If the provincial government's goal is to reduce congestion, the simplest way to do that is to have less cars on the streets, and the simplest way to do that is to give people high quality infrastructure so they have the freedom to choose the transportation option that they want to use.

I am not alone in feeling this way. I have many friends who feel like cycling in Toronto is too unsafe because they are forced to cycle alongside cars, trucks, and cargo vehicles who frequently demonstrate disregard for the safety of cyclists trying to share their roads. Many have been victims of road rage or collisions. But these are preventable incidents. We should have infrastructure which will help people who are otherwise forced to drive, feel safe cycling.

Thank you for reading my comment, and I once again want to urge you NOT to pass Bill 212, as I believe it will increase congestion, and make cycling less safe.