I have the following points…

I have the following points to make around this proposed initiative:

1. Traffic times with the installation of bike lanes have not increased significantly since their installation. So 'common sense' tells us their removal will not significantly reduce automobile travel times.
2. Bike lanes do not have a negative effect on emergency vehicle response times. In fact, according to emergency response personnel, they may well improve response times.
3. Ironically, given the point above, the removal of bike lanes will require increased need for emergency vehicles as auto/bike collisions (an outcome that never favours the cyclist) will without a doubt lead to more injuries and likely more cyclist deaths as well. As a cyclist in Toronto for almost 25 years, I can say this with the highest degree of confidence.
4. The cost of removing lanes relative to the projected actual benefit (a negligible reduction in automobile travel times), does not make fiscal sense. In other words, the spend is not worth the actual benefit. Therefore, it appears it is the political benefit that is driving this proposal. And political benefits do not benefit people equally. Sometimes they don't benefit people at all.
5. Claims that the construction of bike lanes have negatively altered the 'character' of Toronto's neighborhoods, are true. However, the change in character in some neighborhoods where bike lanes have been installed has been welcomed by businesses (who have seen business increase), and by residents, who have seen vehicular traffic speeds reduced, creating safer neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods do not share this view. Those would be neighborhoods that are served less efficiently by transit, and for whom, therefore, the car is viewed as the only viable means of transportation. One would expect that in these neighborhoods, bike lanes would introduce a change that is less welcome. Yet study after study have demonstrated that bike lanes have significant long-term social and economic benefits. Those benefits may not, admittedly, be realized evenly and at the same pace in every location. But those benefits will be realized by all neighborhoods over time. Bike lanes, without a doubt, introduce a culture change and by all accounts a positive one, demonstrated by cities across Canada and across the globe. The failure is not in installing the bike lanes. The failure is in removing them at the first sign of friction. It takes time. But, as noted above, if the decision is being driven by political vs. social considerations, then it should surprise no one that the decision has been made at the first sign of resistance. That may prove to be successful politics, but it is not successful leadership - socially or fiscally.

The following links support these points:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/biking-lanes-business-health-1.5165954

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/bike-lanes-impacts-1.7358319

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/bikes-and-biking/bike-lanes-…

https://bicyclepotential.org/blog/the-benefits-and-importance-of-bike-l…

https://trec.pdx.edu/news/study-finds-bike-lanes-can-provide-positive-e…

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2024/10/3/do-bike-lanes-reduce-cong…