I am writing in opposition…

I am writing in opposition to this bill. This bill will not accomplish any of the stated goals.

It will not reduce pollution. The globally accepted phenomenon of induced demand says that the amount of traffic in a road system will always grow to the full capacity of the system. It also says the inverse, that removing capacity from the system will reduce the number of motor vehicles present. This means that by keeping lanes of traffic, we are keeping more cars on the road, producing more pollution in the form of exhaust, tire/brake dust, sound pollution, debris from collisions, and spills of vehicle liquids such as oil and gas. It is indisputable that more motor vehicles require more space, and once they are occupying that space they bring pollution with them.

It will not create more capacity on the roads as claimed in the details. This is because the bill only prohibits removing existing motor vehicle lanes.

It will not get Ontario moving. It's blatantly obvious that the throughput of a road isn't decided by the number of lanes, but by the number of people that can get through choke points. The number of people that can get through an intersection in a given light cycle is inversely proportional to the size of space they occupy. This is evident to anyone who spends a small amount of time at an intersection with a lot of mixed traffic. Pedestrians take up the least amount of space, and can obviously get the most people across the intersection in a single cycle. Bikes take up the second least amount of space and a hundred bikes can easily pass an intersection in a light cycle when not obstructed by cars and trucks. Whereas cars and trucks themselves take up quite a significant amount of space. For every car or truck that passes an intersection, fewer than 2 people on average pass the light. Cars and trucks are the least efficient method of moving people.

If the province truly wants to get people moving, reduce gridlock, reduce pollution, and save people money, then they should do some of the following.

1. Promote public transit by
a. Encouraging the construction and conversion of mixed traffic lanes to transit-only lanes. It makes zero sense that a transit vehicle with 20-100 people on board should get stuck for a light cycle because a single occupancy vehicle in front wants to turn left.
b. Implement full transit-signal-priority. Again, it makes no sense that a bus or streetcar should wait at a light because 2 or 3 single-occupancy vehicles were there first. The 20-100 people on the transit deserve better.

2. Promote cycling
a. A bicycle takes up dramatically less space than a private car or truck, both when in transit on the road, and for storage. There is currently anywhere between 3.2 and 4.4 parking spaces per car in Canada, per a 2021 University of Calgary study. This means a significant amount of impermeable land causing flooding, pollution from asphalt/paint, and contributing to heat islands. Additionally, since bikes are much smaller than cars, they don't get stuck in traffic like cars do. When a car blocks a lane for any reason, no cars behind them can proceed if there isn't another lane. When a bike stops for an extended period, all other bikes can simply go around them. This is why you never see bike traffic jams, they're so much more efficient.
b. It is well known that the amount of wear on a road surface, tires, paint, etc is proportional to the 4th power of the axle weight. (4th power law) This means that a 2000lb car, does 10,000x the damage to the road/infrastructure than a 200lb cyclist. This wear directly translates into particulates from worn asphalt, paint, tires, and brakes.

3. Promote not using private motor vehicles. By providing incentives to use alternative methods of transport, and disincentives for private vehicle usage, we can dramatically reduce the number of vehicles on the road, and thus the gridlock and pollution. Congestion pricing such as was recently implemented in New York City would be infinitely more productive in reducing gridlock and getting people moving than preventing people from cycling. In fact, preventing people from cycling will make gridlock worse as trips that would previously have been done by bike will now be done by car.

In conclusion. This bill will not achieve its stated goals, and will in fact make congestion and pollution worse. This bill should be thrown out entirely.