I have a bike, a car, and I…

I have a bike, a car, and I walk and use the TTC - all modes, all the time. I have used my bike in this city for 40 years, commuting to work, to school, on errands, up to 9 months of the year.

I have learned to be hyper-aware of everything around me when I am cycling. It gets harder and harder though, to feel safe when cycling in this city. I know so many people who would love to cycle regularly, but are terrified. Effective bike lanes make it safer, and make it feel safer, which encourages more people to use bikes to get around for all kinds of purposes.

The main arteries in the downtown core are for everybody to get around, not just people in cars. For sure, there are some people and activities for which a personal vehicle is the only reasonable transportation mode. That is not what is causing congestion. It is people using cars who don't need to.

If we want to relieve congestion, the number one answer is to improve public transit. The number two answer is to stop using the roadways as an extension of construction sites. And the number three answer is to repair roadways faster and more efficiently. All the major congestion I encounter is actually due to these last two items.

You are talking about removing bike lanes on Yonge, University, and Bloor. These roadways are served by subways. You want to relieve congestion on these roads? Make the subway the most attractive way to get around. Make it faster, more frequent, with parking lots at key stops to facilitate transfers to/from cars. Make it cleaner, safer, more comfortable, more attractive. Make it reach farther, and with better connections to other transportation, to other parts of the city/region. Make sure there are clean bathrooms, elevators, and staff to help people find their way. I know, many of those things are worked on. Why undermine its success by providing more roadway?

The key thing you have to realize about providing more lanes for cars, more highways, more space for cars, is that the more you provide, the more people will use them, and the demand will ALWAYS outstrip supply. Every traffic engineer with experience will tell you that. You CANNOT get rid of congestion unless you control who or how many people in cars can use the roadways, and provide great alternatives.

Excellent public transit is the first, most important alternative.

Bikes (and some other forms of "micro" transportation) are also great (and healthy and carbon-free) alternatives. They are often as fast or faster to get from point A to B. It is much easier to find parking, and it's free. They are also a growing part of the urban economy, as vehicles for fast delivery of food and other products. Bike lanes are full of delivery bikes.

Those routes you want to remove - they are hugely popular, and they are streaming with cyclists at key points in the day. Your cycling usage data are greatly out of date, do not focus on areas where cycling makes the most sense, and do not account for the fact that cycling usage increases gradually and steadily where effective bike lanes are provided.

Stop blaming bike lanes for congestion and get to work on the real issues.