I strongly believe the…

I strongly believe the provincial government should leave the decision-making power for where to place bike lanes in a city to the municipal governments. The municipal governments have a much more in-depth and detailed understanding of their cities than the province and this understanding is critical to designing an effective transit system within a city. The provincial government should not be impeding municipalities progress on improving transit access and options for residents.

I am a 27 year old female who lives in Etobicoke Center and commutes to downtown Toronto for work 3-4 times per week. My main forms of transportation for this commute are biking and transit. Specifically, I either bike the entire commute or I bike to a subway station where I connect to Line 2. I also bike for exercise and for both activities, commuting and exercise, I seek out the bike lanes that are currently present in the city as they are safer to bike in by creating a barrier (even if it is just a painted line) from cars. In particular, the new west extension of the Bloor St bike lane has made me feel much safer while biking and greatly reduced my communing time by providing a direct connection to downtown from Etobicoke. Notably, I also own a car and drive when necessary and, as a driver, I greatly prefer to have designated bike lanes for cyclists as it separates them from the car traffic and greatly reduces unsafe behaviours (e.g., cyclists weaving between cars).

Aside from safety, bike lanes also greatly benefit me by making my commute more efficient and less expensive. Driving from Etobicoke Center to my work in downtown (17 km total) takes >1 hour and is very expensive once you consider gas and parking (at least ~$15/day to park). As a young professional who already struggles with a high cost of living in Toronto, it is not reasonable or possible to drive. Additionally, if everyone were to resort to driving (as seems to be a preferred transportation method for the provincial government based on a policy focus on removing bike lanes and building new highways), whether there is an additional lane for traffic or not, traffic will remain a problem. I have driven on Bloor St West between Kipling and Bay St many times, both before and after the bike lane was added and the difference in the commute is negligible (traffic was not good before and remains similarly bad today). This is my personal experience but data from the city supports it, showing only a 1.5-4.4 min increase in transit time (for my commute that would be >1 hour if driving already, that is a very minimal). However, now I have the option to commute safely by bike and remove a car from the road. Biking my commute takes about 50 minutes and is free (fantastic!). Or if I bike to a TTC station and get on the subway, it takes about 50 min and costs $7.70/day (also a better option both financially and for time-saving than driving).

My situation is very specific to Toronto, where I live. I believe the municipal government is best positioned and most knowledgeable on Toronto transit to decide where to place bike lanes that meet the needs of its residents. For me, it did so when the Bloor St west bike lanes were added and they have greatly improved my experience both commuting and biking.

Furthermore, the Bloor St west bike lane extension was only completed in June 2024. As a long-time biker, I was an early adopter of the extension. I strongly believe that over time, more and more people will start to use the bike lanes (as is true with many new things) and also benefit from them in regards to safety, cost, time, exercise and easier connections to subway stations.

Finally, I acknowledge that some people need to drive in certain situations (e.g., in emergencies, people who are less mobile, transporting large items) but the bike lanes and other forms of public transit help reduce the number of vehicles on the road so those that need to drive can do so. Improving public transit and increasing commuting options can improve traffic by reducing the number of cars. Increasing the number of driving lanes will, at best, delay dealing with the problem (e.g., increasing population in a confined space), and, at worst, only cause more congestion due to construction and then do nothing to improve traffic once the construction is completed due to encouraging more cars on the roads.