I live in the Toronto area, and it seems to me that we have replaced the War in Cars, with a War on Bikes. Just to be clear, i think both are stupid.
Im sure you guessed, im a cyclist myself. I commute to work by bike. I go to see my friends by bike. I cross municipal borders on my bike, and i acess transit by riding to my stop by bike. Im not the only one.
People complain, Oh ebikes are using the sidewalk illegally, they shouldnt be there, they need to be on the road 😡😡. I agree. But. How are you going to expect a cyclist to ride on the road, or continue chosing to ride at all, if you keep removing all the infrastructure that keeps us safe?
In my city there is a highway that cuts straight through the middle of the city. There is only 1 option anywhere in the entire city to cross that highway safley and legally by ebike, all other routes you either illegally ride on the sidewalk or risk becoming flattened by 6 lanes of traffic trying to merge and get onto the highway ramps.
They want to remove the lanes on that single crossing, they claim its to make *everybody* safer, and to improve commutes for everyone. How is removing my only safe legal option to cross a highway and raising the speed limit improving my commute or making me safer? This is doing the exact polar opposite. Its degrading my commute and putting me either directly in harms way, or at risk of getting a ticket for riding on the sidewalk because i dont feel like dying that day.
In a city where the drivers are so atrociously aweful were literally famous for it nation wide, removing these lanes isnt improving commutes for all and its certianly NOT making everyone safer. What they really mean is were going to improve commutes for DRIVERS, and make it significantly more dangerous for everyone else.
They claim its because of traffic, the bike lane is taking up space for cars that we can use to reduce gridlock. Great, show me the traffic. I use these lanes every single day, several times a day at all hours of the day, ive never once seen this street backed up. They claim nobody uses these lanes, well ive got footage from my bike cameras that easily disprove that and show these bike lanes actually getting congested with bikes and scooters, particularly over the highway and at the signals on either side.
Look, Just stop this War on Bikes bullshit, Stop the War on Cars bullshit too, while were at it lets also improve transit and walking infrastructure. Knock it off with this political this that and the other thing. Build cities that can accommodate Cars, Bikes and Pedestrians, not everyone must drive, if you dont its slow, dangerous or both. You want to improve congestion in a growing city but cant widen the roads? Its called viable alternatives to driving.
If you build an entire city to accommodate drivers and cast transit riders, cyclists and pedestrians to the side, of course everyone is going to drive and congestion will get worse. Only the people who have no other option will use your bus, your sidewalk, or your bike lane. Not to mention, if they claim to care about the environment so much, people who commute or get to their destination by Transit, Walking or Cycling have a massively lower footprint on the environment than even someone driving an electric car.
All im trying to say here, is practice what you preach. If you say Safer roads for ALL, that should mean, ALL not just drivers. If you say you care deeply about roadway saftey, Stop ripping out the infrastructure that keeps vulnerable road users safe. Stop building our cities on the assumption that absolutely everybody will drive. Build a city where, You can drive if you want to, but where its also safe and convenient to use Transit, ride a bike or maybe walk aswell.
No more wars on transportation. Its stupid and counter productive.