I am a staff member at the…

I am a staff member at the University of Toronto who uses or walks alongside the bike lanes on Bloor and University every day. I am firmly opposed to the removal of bike lanes.

In 2024, reducing gridlock and prioritizing drivers is no longer a cause worth investing into if you truly intend to improve the lives of Torontonians in a sustainable way. Sustainability is not simply environmental -- I am talking about long term improvements to pedestrian mobility, safe public transit, air quality, community, space to play, and more. Bike lanes are an essential part of the sustainable fabric of Toronto, especially along the street level of subway lines.

Adding traffic lanes to reduce gridlock is not only not based in evidence, but poses an immediate threat to the increasingly worsening air quality index in the City, frequency of traffic accidents and deaths, noise pollution, and fossil fuel consumption. There is no scientific evidence that points to removing bike lanes as a solution to these problems.

Please, be real with yourselves and the public: this project is meant to line the pockets of highway developers. With this proposal, you are brazenly ignoring the health and safety of millions of people in favour of the few, and you should be ashamed. Indigenous principles teach us to think of the seven generations before us who cultivated and gifted us this land, and to think of the seven generations after us whose world we create. You know this is a step in the wrong direction. Don't take it. Do the right thing and kill this proposal.

Signed,
A.D.