I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my opposition to the addendum to Bill 212, which requires the province to remove the separated bike lanes that have been installed on Bloor Street, University Avenue, and Yonge Street in the City of Toronto. I live in the Trinity Bellwoods neighborhood in the city, and I have used the separated bike lanes since their installation. I use the bike lanes several times each week to commute to work, run errands and attend events in the city center. While I own a car, population growth is making Toronto and its suburbs increasingly congested, and building additional roads and capacity to address long term demand is not feasible in congested urban areas. Cycling on separated bike lanes presents a safe and efficient alternative to driving. Removing the bike lanes on Bloor, University and Yonge will make it harder for me to commute to and from work, reduce my ability to visit and spend money at local businesses, and ride through the city with my young son, all of which I have been able to do more easily since bike lanes made it faster and safer to ride downtown.

In addition to the personal reasons that I have for opposing the removal of the bike lanes, I oppose their removal due to the apparent lack of technical justification for removing them. The City of Toronto went through a lengthy (and expensive) planning and design process that justified the installation of the separated bike lanes prior to installing them. Section 195.5 of Bill 212 implies that the Ministry of Transportation should undertake its own review and analysis prior to making a decision to remove any separated bike lanes. However, while the premier and minister of transportation have made various statements about the negative impact of these bike lanes on motor vehicle traffic, the province has not produced any studies or data that demonstrate that the bike lanes are having a negative impact on mobility within the city overall, which should be metric that determines whether the bike lanes stay or go, in my opinion. On the other hand, the City of Toronto has produced studies and data showing significant increases in cycling and use of bike share facilities - including significant increases of bike share facilities along Bloor - since the separated bike lanes were installed, which supports the notion that the bike lanes are improving mobility for many.

In the absence of a technical justification for removing the bike lanes on Bloor, University and Yonge, I oppose the the enormous expense to taxpayers that removal of the separated bike lanes will require. An analysis completed by City of Toronto's city manager indicates that removing it will cost tens of millions of dollars to remove the bike lanes - not to mention the tens of millions already spent by the city to design and build the bike lanes in the first place - and I think it would be an enormous waste of money for the province to proceed with this work at this time, without a sound rationale for doing so.

I hope the province will reconsider its decision to remove the separated bike lanes on Bloor Street, University Avenue and Yonge Street at this time and at least subject these bike lanes to a thorough and impartial review to determine their value prior to spending millions to remove some or all of what has been installed.

Thanks.