I am a senior who loves to…

I am a senior who loves to drive a car for long trips, but I choose to bicycle daily, year round, for short trips, to commute across Burlington, shop locally, and for recreation and exercise. Safe bicycling infrastructure is essential to my safety and I use protected bike lanes whenever possible and unprotected bike lanes when necessary.

Removing my safe bicycling infrastructure options goes against everything in the title of this act. For local trips, my bike is faster, cheaper, and reduces gridlock by taking my car out of the dense urban transportation system. It allows me to exercise while commuting or shopping and contributes to my mental health without adding a heavy carbon footprint.

Bike lanes protect people choosing to walk by providing a buffer from car traffic and by avoiding the dangerous situation of having bikes scrambling on the sidewalks. In conjunction with dedicated public transport lanes, bike share, scooters, subways, high speed rail, and LRTs, they reduce congestion and gridlock. As has been evidenced over the world and here in Canada, adding car lanes provides a blip of relief, immediately followed by increased congestion due to the dynamic of induced demand. This is why adding lanes to the 401 has not reduced congestion.

Some say that bike lanes are underutilised. This is only the case with unprotected, dangerous, narrow, white lines on the road lanes, especially if they are unconnected to a comprehensive network. Safer protected bike lanes get used for commuting and utility year round, especially if they are connected to a network and truly get people where they want to go. This is evidenced internationally in world-class cities such as London, New York, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Madrid.

People who complain that Canada's environment doesn't allow for year round cycling due to inclement weather need only look at Canadian cities such as Calgary, Victoria, Montreal, and Toronto where the protected network connected bike lanes are used in all seasons.

Local democratically elected municipal councils working with their staff and responding to public input are best able to tailor urban solutions for their unique local traffic difficulties. They need financial support from the Province, not overreach and micromanagement. This is particularly true next door in Hamilton, with the safety redesign of Main Street from one way to two way traffic, with wider pedestrian walkways and some limited protected bike infrastructure linking to existing networks. This plan was a response to the significant number of pedestrian deaths recently on this roadway. Our council has moved fast with staff to literally save lives. This act would negate all the safety of these changes.

Here in Burlington, I volunteer for the Hamilton Burlington chapter of Cycling Without Age programme. There are 60 volunteers (mostly seniors themselves) who are our pilots, bike buddies, trainers, and site managers. We use pedal electric-assist Trishaws to give shut in Seniors the right to the wind in their hair and a chance to connect again with people and nature. We service many retirement residences as well as nursing and long term care homes in Hamilton and Burlington. Safe protected bicycle infrastructure is essential to keeping our seniors safe while transporting them to and from the Waterfront trail, park trails, and shops. The effects of these connective trips are evidenced by the smiles and effusive joy communicated to family and caregivers post ride. One senior with dementia, who had not spoken in 5 years reduced his wife and co-passenger to tears when he turned and said “Thank You” to the pilot of the Trishaw! These trips are the highlight of their day and we are scrambling to keep up with the demand for our program. We have a Trishaw in Burlington, two in Hamilton (the one on the mountain is wheelchair accessible), and have just expanded into Dundas.

Our safety shouldn't be jeopardised for someone else's convenience. I respectfully request that this section of the bill be removed, and that bike lane management be left where it belongs, with the municipal governments.