I would like to express my…

I would like to express my profound disagreement with the approach being taken by the Government of Ontario to address gridlock in the province. Transportation is a key issue and I think everyone can agree that more should be done to get people moving and where they need to go. I believe that the focus should be on providing multiple options for people to get around their cities and in between cities.

The proposed legislation targets "bike lanes" as a cause of gridlock. Cars cause gridlock, not bike lanes. Bike lanes provide an additional option for people to get around their cities and at a fraction of the cost of owning a motor vehicle. In the cost of living crisis that we are facing, the Government of Ontario should be incentivizing and supporting people to make trips and even forgo car ownership. There is a variety of reasons that the Government of Ontario should be providing freedom of choice when it comes to transportation. Many people do live within walking or cycling to the places where they work, shop, go to school or meet their friends. The Province should be providing a SAFE means for those people to get to where they need to go. Divided bike lanes help make cycling safer.

I live in Ottawa Ontario, 4km from downtown where my office is. I own a car but chose to cycle to work 8 months of the year. Yes I am still biking now in November! If I were to drive, it would take me 15-20+ minutes depending on traffic to get to work (more time to find parking). It takes me 13-15minutes minutes by bike. I chose to bike because it is just as fast as driving and I avoid the hassle and financial burden (20$/ day to park). Its the obvious choice for me and I find there are immense positive physical and mental health benefits to this choice.

More people would choose to bike if they were provided with SAFE and effective bike lane network to get around their cities. I acknowledge that not everyone has this option and some people need to drive to work. That is ok, however, we need to balance out transportation modes and consider what we want our cities to look like in the future rather than looking back at how they were.

The Government of Ontario should repeal the proposed legislation and work collaboratively with municipalities on transportation issues such as gridlock. Citizens elect their city officials to make decisions around transportation and where efforts need to be spent. Local officials know best and have spent time, money and other resources coming up with future plans on how to meet their cities transportation needs.