I am strongly opposed to the…

I am strongly opposed to the amendment to Bill 212 that adds a Framework for bike lanes that require removal of a traffic lane.

As a Torontonian who has lived in the Bay-Cloverhill and Rosedale neighbourhoods, I see the effect that bike lanes have on traffic on Bloor, Yonge, and University Ave, and the effects have only been positive!

New riders, including myself (I've recently brought a bike to the city), make use of these lanes and feel safe travelling around the city of Toronto in a eco friendly and healthy way. When I'm biking, I plan my routes around streets that don't have bikes lanes on them, and I elect to use roads with bikes.

I have only seen positive things stemming from these bike lanes, even other bike lanes that replace a previous lane of traffic. Any hint that car congestion would be remediated by putting a lane back is totally shortsighted and frankly wrong. Congestion existed before these bike lanes, and will exist after, if the root causes of congestion are not tackled.

Millions of dollars have been spent, concrete poured, construction completed on these lanes, and the province wants to spend more and tear it all out? Does that sound like good governmental policy to you? Not to me.

That doesn't even bring in the fact that this bill is an extreme overreach of the provincial government into the territory of municipalities to dictate and control how a city or town wants to organize it's roadways. Premier Ford, the premier of the most populous province, and the 2nd largest by area, must spend his focus on 3 bikes lanes in one city of the province? That doesn't seem like good governmental policy to me.

Given these points, I am writing in strong opposition to Bill 212.