I have a number of concerns…

I have a number of concerns about bike lanes proposal.

Hyper-local policies have no place in provincial legislation. Residents who actually live in the affected areas are losing their say in how they live via provincial overreach, largely driven by those who do not live here.

It is essential for growing cities to enable multi-modal transportation. This include pedestrian, cycle, transit (bus/LRT/subway,etc), as well as automotive. Tipping the scales to favour only allow automotive transportation suffocates cities - businesses suffer, and renders cities undesirable places to live. Cities who yield to car traffic while not allowing other options to thrive do not fair well as they grow, and grow we must.

Toronto is a city of rails and ravines. A common pushback is to tell cyclists to 'just use the side streets'. Unfortunately, this is not possible in this city - inter-neighbourhood travel is not possible where side streets are cut off by rails and ravines/rivers. Using the through-fares is the only option, and since embracing bike lanes, I (and my kids) am now able to get around much of the city safely without having to sit in a car. How tragic is it to have to 'drive to a place where you can bike'? As important as cars are (and they will continue to be so), cities are for people and we need to make them liveable.

Look at cities like Utrecht, which wisely chose to not stiffle their city with car traffic, and instead prioritized transit, pedestrian and cycling. Cars are still there, but they are not the go-to mode of transit, as the other options are simple more efficient.

A number of BIAs in the city (particularly in the Annex) have realized that enabling cycle and pedestrian traffic is actually good for business.

I am NOT opposed to debate on bike lanes. I believe that some areas should have further and ongoing consultation at the municipal level to fine tune what works and what does not. This is, of course, NOT a provincial matter. These things need to be decided by those that live here with nimble decision-making, not hampered by provincial overreach.