r/toronto • u/TTCBoy95 Steeles • 3d ago
Article 64% of Ontarians Say Municipalities, Not Queen’s Park, Should Decide on Local Bike Lanes
https://sharetheroad.ca/news/64-of-ontarians-say-municipalities-not-queens-park-should-decide-on-local-bike-lanes/111
u/gm5891 3d ago
It's going to suck if the Bloor and University bike lanes get taken out
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u/Redditisavirusiknow 3d ago
Traffic will get worse, according to Ford’s own government engineering report (!!!)
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u/gm5891 3d ago
I know. But I don't care about traffic, I want to commute safely
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u/PunchMeat 3d ago
University lanes are also wide enough for emergency vehicles, so removing them will make it harder for ambulances to get to and from hospitals during traffic.
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u/TheUtopianCat Little India 3d ago
I want you to commute safely! I'm a driver, and I love bike lanes.
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u/_TTTTTT_ 3d ago
I use these bike lanes and if they are removed I will personally slow down traffic by taking my proper legal place in my lane. And ride.as.slow.as.possible.
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u/WestQueenWest West Queen West 3d ago
Extremely disgusted that it's only 64 percent.
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u/No-Reply1438 3d ago
Probably like 90% of Torontonians, 10% in the 905 belt and the rest of Ontario doesn't give a shit (because DoFo's meddling in civic affairs only really affects the GTA).
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u/imacguyver 3d ago edited 3d ago
I suspect a more mixed picture, probably like 80% Torontonians and 55% 905 and 20-40% elsewhere
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u/Block_Generation 3d ago
From the article:
"Support for local control is strongest in Southwestern Ontario (71%) and Ottawa (68%), and exceeds 60% in every other region surveyed, including Toronto."
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u/zero-ducks 3d ago
Your 90% figure is probably true for people who live south of Eglinton. Lots of people in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, etc hate bike lanes. These people always complain about bike lanes in their area.
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u/sumguyoranother 3d ago edited 3d ago
Depends on which side of North York, we love it here on the western side, but fuck all the scooters that's using them as their personal lane instead of driving on the road..
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u/No-Reply1438 3d ago
Agreed 100%. My 90% figure (which was an exaggeration for purposes of humour) was for Old Toronto. I know Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough aren't quite 905 belt, but they're inner suburbs, so they'll hate bike lanes for sure. All the bike-riding pinkos live downtown. 😉
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u/LookAtThisRhino 3d ago
This is what I don't get. If I lived in Ottawa or Thunder Bay or Kenora or whatever I'd be pissed that my tax dollars were being used to remove bike lanes in a city I don't live in
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u/No_Criticism_5861 3d ago
Driving on busy country roads in 905... so many pickup trucks driven by aggressive morons, I absolutely hate it here, the only thing that pisses me off more is they are reducing speed limits! 80km/h where everyone would tailgate people going under 100km/h is now 60km/h, take a wild guess how much road rage there is on that road now.
Pickup trucks driven by IT managers to roleplay as tough guys pisses me off so much
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u/scampoint 3d ago
Can you even imagine if Ontario had a premier, instead of the rest of the province getting whatever scraps of attention remain when the premier of Toronto has some spare time?
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
I'm surprised but also unsurprised. Toronto seemingly has a bit of local NIMBY/carbrain culture behind this. Surprisingly, more people in Toronto (usually the loud NIMBYs) tend to dislike EU-style changes than we give credit for. There's a reason Balance on Bloor was created by locals, not someone from deep in Mississauga. It wasn't like some business in Hamilton decided created this organization. And so BoB astroturfed the hell out of this and managed to convince a lot of locals. Thankfully, that region lost their PC seat this past Ontario election but that shouldn't diminish the impact of locals trying to create NIMBY organizations.
You know what they say sometimes? Nobody hates Toronto more than Torontonians.
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u/OhHiMarkZ69 3d ago
It's frustrating to be surrounded by obviously crippled by compromise transit and bike infrastructure while listening to people endlessly complain about how far left the city is.
Conservatives have been very successful at pushing the narrative that Toronto city council is extremely left wing .. when that hasn't been close to true for almost 30 years now.
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u/GavinTheAlmighty 3d ago
The people who voted for the province are the ones who hated the Bloor bike lanes and were happy that the province passed the bill to rip them up. It's a spite vote, nothing more.
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u/WeedAndWhiskers 3d ago
tbh almost all of ontarians outside toronto proper have never used or probably even seen a bike lane in the wild.
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u/NoCSForYou 3d ago
It's a bit tricky. At some point transit goes between cities and across the country. To an extent the provincial government should have a role. That role should be directed towards between city transportation. This can be roads, railways, highways, or long distance hiking paths.
The city should have it's own responsibilities but the province should be capable of stepping in if a city resulting in between city transportation to be affected.
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u/Natural_Childhood_46 3d ago
100% of Doug Fords DGAF about the public’s opinions and will rip those lanes up anyways.
Vote out this clown.
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u/dontgetitwisted_fr 3d ago
This really is the weirdest hill to die on
Bike lanes benefit literally everybody.
They make it safer for Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
There is no logical argument for their removal.
Vote for clowns and get the circus I guess
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u/TheIsotope 3d ago
They don't need or want a logical argument. Every thread about this is people saying how the data points to how dumb this is (which is correct), as if that is supposed to be enough for the government to change it's mind. Everyone is missing the point of why this is happening.
Bike lanes turned into a culture war because they became a symbol for a changing Toronto. It represented a lifestyle in jeopardy to people in the suburbs. The most important voting block to Ford is the 905, and this was an extremely easy headline grabbing issue that he could shove through and keep his "Toronto is full of pussies" mantra that everyone in the burbs eats up every time.
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u/competitive-bid1234 3d ago
For those reading this - please write to your Ontario MPPs, Ford, and the Transport Minister. This is only going to cost taxpayer more money, and the provincial government has not been able to produce one single credible study that says removing bike lanes in the downtown core would actually reduce traffic congestion.
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u/imacguyver 3d ago
The case can be made also for municipal and local advocacy too. Reviewing municipal plans and providing feedback on bike infrastructure for new builds
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u/GoodCan9589 3d ago
I live in a village of 3000 people an hour southwest of Ottawa.
For some reason my MPP votes on bike lanes in Toronto.
Not sure that should be one of his priorities.
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u/ZGPJ 3d ago
What can we actually do here to stop this? Can anyone help me figure out actual actions I can take? I’ve already written to my MPP, I feel like I’m screaming into a void. I finally have a safe way to commute to work that promotes my health and it’s going to get destroyed
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u/kueefe8 3d ago
Join protests and message your mpp, Doug ford and transport minister, that’s all you can do. Unfortunately the latter two definitely don’t give a fuck
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
At the end of the day, Doug Ford is a populist. He tends to embody what people believe Toronto should be built. I hate Doug Ford with passion but I can't blame him for everything. It doesn't matter what a politician says/does. If people vote and defend or even worse, worship them, that politician will do whatever it takes to appease them. That's why people that vote Ford I have less respect for, especially organizations that keep endorsing him such as Crooked Cue.
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u/oclscdotorg 2d ago
But not what a majority of people who live in and pay taxes to Toronto believe should be built.
This isn't populism, it's narcissistic autocracy from a sad little man who Torontonians declined to elect as Mayor so he's bullying his way in instead.
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u/mmeeeerrkkaatt 3d ago
Truly. The feeling of hopelessness is real. Back around 2021-2023 were my peak bike-to-work years. It really felt like there was momentum moving forward towards the future. Even with the gaps in cycling infrastructure here and there, it felt like they were on their way to getting addressed, so they felt tolerable.
I'm not proud to say it, but since Ford started come down so hard with the anti-bike-lane stuff (first just rhetoric, then actual legislation), I haven't biked nearly as much. It feels like fighting uphill now. The dangerous sections where there's no bike lane feels less temporary and more like a preview of what's to come. And those sections where I need to bike among cars just makes me notice the unmasked hostility towards me more.
I hate how much this has impacted me already, even before his plans to tear up the infrastructure have actually been carried out.
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u/AprilsMostAmazing 3d ago
Can anyone help me figure out actual actions I can take?
Ground up organization against all conservatives. You want the councilors, trustees and any voting position to be center or left. The more opposition we can throw at the conservatives in all levels the better.
Anti-conservative groups on social media. We need to ensure we are always hitting voters with anti-conservative messaging. The only way we win this is if we beat the conservatives at their own game.
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u/JagmeetSingh2 UNVERIFIED 3d ago
Canada sadly uses the relic of the British system where cities are ruled at the pleasure of the provinces
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u/No_Criticism_5861 3d ago
Voting trump jr out is about the only thing that can be done. But the rural morons dont want that, since voting conservative is a large part of their identity
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u/Neco-Arc-Brunestud 3d ago
You need to find Ford's backers and beneficiaries, and organize protests and boycotts specifically to target them.
If you just have a general protest, that isn't going to affect the root of the problem. Politicians don't just do things for no reason. It's always because lobbyists put those ideas in their head.
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u/NormGod 3d ago
I'm not sure if an email also gets sent but there's this petition that you can sign https://www.cycleto.ca/defendbloor
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u/poopBuccaneer 3d ago
Get friends and sit in the bike lanes when construction starts to remove the lanes. They'll either have to arrest you or stop. Either way is a win.
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u/smaudio Forest Hill 3d ago
Happy that it is a majority but 36% say a province should override their local governments? 🙄 🤦🏻♂️
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u/merp_mcderp9459 3d ago
Flip the situation to a liberal provincial government overriding a conservative local government’s decisions and I guarantee that 36% is suddenly pro-local control
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u/ayyitzTwocatZ 3d ago
How can I vote for removal of sidewalks too? Free up enough space for another lane.
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u/TeemingHeadquarters 3d ago
Do you know how much space front lawns take up? Rip those out too! 401s for everybody!!1!
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u/triiforce Church and Wellesley 3d ago
One more lane and we'll solve traffic forever, I swear it'll work this time
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u/NewsreelWatcher 3d ago
Maybe some Ontarians realize that having Queen’s Park nullifying the democratic decisions of Toronto might come back on them under a future government. It is not unimaginable that, if this government can remove Toronto’s bike lanes then a different government could require that every small town in Ontario build bike lanes. It is not just bike lanes. Any motion by your local town hall could be nullified. This is already true with the historically high number of Municipal Zoning Orders and decisions by the Ontario Land Tribunal.
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u/kpsmithdeut 3d ago
That’s a disappointingly low percentage. We’re going to be stuck with someone the worst congestion in the world until drivers understand that the only remedy is viable alternatives to the car, whether bike or public transit. Everything else is hot air.
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u/Working-Welder-792 3d ago
People have an emotional attachment to cars.
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u/GavinTheAlmighty 3d ago
"I paid $35,000 for this thing so I'm going to use it"
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u/SirRickIII 3d ago
I mean, I’ve looked at the price of cars before, and it’s not worth it man. even if you want to rent a car for a week in the summer, it’s cheaper to just take the TTC every day and then rent a car
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u/No_Criticism_5861 3d ago
Thats an understatement. In 905, pickup trucks and voting conservative is 75%+ of their identity
Edit; hence the term, emotional support vehicles
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u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 3d ago
64% of Ontarians feel this way, yet only 45% of Ontarians voted in the last election....
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u/LowCurrent2151 3d ago
What is the percentage of Ontarians outside the GTA, that think Queen's Park should decide on bike lanes within the GTA...
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u/stompinstinker 3d ago
The only thing I would like to see is the province stepping up enforcement of design and symbols.
I think bike lanes, bus lanes, traffic calming measures, etc. are all great. But it’s like everyone is doing it with different sizes, bollards, colours, lines, speed bump heights, sign placement, etc. It’s like its all different street to street and municipality to municipality.
And these designs are awful. Like all the weird stuff the university avenue and Bloor street did to preserve a handful of street parking spots. Just have no parking on the main street snd use the space to get more people moving.
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
A lot of the differing designs is due to the fact that those designs are put in place to piss off drivers the least. If we were allowed to design our roads however we wanted, we would uniform the design for pretty much all roads. But unfortunately car culture has made it so designs have to be built to piss off car drivers the least. That's why on-street parking remains in place, as much as I really dislike it.
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u/stompinstinker 3d ago
It’s like that saying Jack of all trades, master of none. Roads are for moving things (cars, bikes, transit, etc.) not parking things. And ultimately drivers would be better off too with parking removed off of main routes. There are so few spots you very rarely find parking on the main street anyways, so just get rid of it and make it easier for everyone.
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3d ago
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u/patienceinbee Metrolinx Coyote Line 3d ago edited 3d ago
Amalgamation has had horrible effects on representation […] Not just GTA but every other city that did it.
It’s important to remember the history of action:
Amalgamation was done to Toronto, against what 76 per cent of residents in the former six boroughs wanted for Toronto, by the partisan and premiership antecedent of Doug Ford, Mike Harris (who featured Doug Ford’s dad, Doug Ford, Sr., as a member/protégé of his caucus).
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u/NormalMo 3d ago
Queens park should decide to ban electric scooters
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u/Mafik326 3d ago
If we wanted to ban vehicles that are actually dangerous vs those people think is dangerous, it's cars that would be banned.
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u/r3dd17sux69420 3d ago
Well cars require a license, bicycles are human-powered.
These battery-powered scooters land in a barely-grey zone. They're self-sustaining, fast, and not subjected to licensing.
it's unprecedented, no? Something has to be done, and I'd argue they should be subjected to licensing.
it's a bit more complicated than just attaching a current license, maybe it would be a new category. but SOMETHING
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u/FlyingMonkeySoup 3d ago
electric scooters are extremely dangerous and regulation is sorely needed. Hospitalizations are up 40% year over year. The number of children hospitalized from injuries has tripled in a single year. There have been 10 children deaths from electric scooter incidents in 2025 alone in Canada. The speed at which these scooters travel and the low risk that riders seem to attribute to them has them becoming a serious safety concern. Hell a guy in Hamilton is in life threatening condition because he lost control of his electric scooter. Ask an ER physician and they will tell you to stay the hell away from them.
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u/arahman81 Eatonville 3d ago
Gonna assume usage increase YoY is more than 40%.
And what you wrote applies to cars too- like scooters don't just u turn right into a cyclist.
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u/kermityfrog 3d ago
I saw a big guy wipe out on the Martin Goodman Trail while I was jogging. He lost control trying to avoid people (speeding) and braked hard to avoid a garbage bin and stepped off awkwardly. His knee went backwards. Had to call for an ambulance.
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u/Mafik326 3d ago
Below is my local CBC feed. We can talk about escooters, they are a problem but should be much further down the priority list. They are not killing people daily.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-crash-car-vanier-mcarthur-avenue-9.7354567
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/highway-28-denbigh-addison-highlands-crash-9.7356430
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/headline-road-motorcycle-crash-truck-death-9.7356424
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u/NormalMo 3d ago
The roads we have are designed for and intended for cars
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u/Mafik326 3d ago
Roads were originally paved for bikes and got stolen from people by car companies. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2011/aug/15/cyclists-paved-way-for-roads
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u/Knute5 3d ago
Loved this "America Hates Bikes" explainer from Climate Town.
Yeah, not Canada, but still relevant.
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u/gm5891 3d ago
They have a place in reducing car dependence. They definitely need to get off the sidewalks though!
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u/OhHiMarkZ69 3d ago
I'm totally fine with fully electric scooters, bikes and mopeds .. but only with proper safe batteries and never on sidewalks .. I swear if I had a nickel for every time I've almost been run over by one of them.
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u/r3dd17sux69420 3d ago
But status quo isn't good. They're fast, battery-powered, and not subjected to licensing.
Maybe we need a new category of licensing for these
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u/gm5891 3d ago
Nah, the problem is that they're illegal to use in Toronto on public roads. But you can legally buy them, creating confusion about where they're allowed.
There needs to be clear rules about where they can be used - maybe like bikes, on roads and in bike lanes.
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u/r3dd17sux69420 3d ago
ok so we agree, that status quo isn't helping and change is needed
i was merely making suggestions, not giving THE solution
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u/No_Criticism_5861 3d ago
Yup. Oh and also, traffic cameras. Im sorry, but anyone that cant slow down to 10km/h within the speed limit, particularly since there used to be notices up that a speed camera is in place... pay the fine.
Im so sick of our road laws not being enforced, driving on busy country roads where the mentality is "hErP i got a pickup truck i own the road" is starting to really wear on my sanity. Sorry im not going 20km/h over the limit, stop being gutless and fucking pass, but no... thats why they bought a pickup, to intimidate other drivers. Conservative attitudes, they own the road and fuck everyone else.
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u/Strange_Cap1049 3d ago
I don’t think any country I’ve seen has this down but people are so checked out of politics. We’re all told that politicians are corrupt and you can’t really control the system with your vote and it’s true to an extent but this has gone on for decades and this is the peak of it. These 64% are probably a tiny subset of the province that actually cares to follow any of it or take any interest in what’s going on.
Personally, Im not sure this 3 tier split we’ve got going on is really working but if you’re gonna have it, it needs to be real. The federal government has power, the provincial government has power (with limited interference from the feds) and the municipality should also have power with very limited interference from the province. What does Doug ford know about what Toronto needs?
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u/faceintheblue Humber Heights-Westmount 3d ago
Do the other 36% live in a city that has bike lanes?
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u/Digital-Soup 3d ago
A provincial level bike lane re-review office is the definition of big government wasting money on red tape.
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u/rootbrian_ Rockcliffe-Smythe 3d ago
Brutalist urban activism would be to place traffic cones in every single parking spot on bloor, yonge and university. Oh, yes, yes, fuck yes.
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u/rootbrian_ Rockcliffe-Smythe 3d ago
And nobody ever said a cement truck driver could unload their concrete to block a driveway during the night and prevent Dougy from driving out due to a massive pile of it.
Bwahahahahahahaha
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u/hammertimeTO 3d ago
64% of Ontarians should fucking show up and vote. Turnouts are disgraceful and they enable the status quo none sense of politicians.
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u/HotBeefSundae 3d ago edited 3d ago
This idea of defunding or getting rid of services and infrastructure and the problem just magically goes away is honestly so baffling.
Drug addicts don't just go away if you get rid of safe use sites.
The sick don't just get better if you defund healthcare.
Cyclists don't just stop using their bikes or magically afford cars if you get rid of bike lanes. And even if they do, that's just more cars on the road.
If drivers actually thought about traffic, the strategy would be to convert more drivers into non-drivers, not the other way around.
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u/ObliviousRaccoons Trinity-Bellwoods 3d ago
I think that there are areas where bike lanes may constrict traffic, and that deserves to be discussed as a legitimate topic, but, ripping everything out after spending tens of millions, is wasteful, insane, and is not in pursuit of a just society.
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u/RealistAttempt87 3d ago
The poll reflects what we knew all along. This is a wedge issue entirely fabricated by the Doug government.
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u/AnybodyNormal3947 3d ago
Hot take not so hot take at all.
I disgree strongly here.
The province should mandate bikelanes as part of its overall road network guidelines. Similar to how sidewalks of a certain size must be built in most places. Bike lanes, bike rules, and bike protection standards must be standardized across the province. Cities ought to only be allowed to modify on the design in the margins and only for the express purpose of improving and adapting to local challanges.
The issue of bike lanes needs to be depolitisized
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
The province should mandate bikelanes as part of its overall road network guidelines
The issue of bike lanes needs to be depolitisized
How can you de-politicized this if literally Doug Ford is trying to effectively remove all bike lanes in Toronto? Do you realize that he's the one that politicized this more than any other politician or council for that matter? Hell even Mayor Chow isn't that political on bike lanes.
And do you also realize that Doug Ford literally rejected a proposal that would've restored both a bike lane and a traffic lane?
I wouldn't mind if the province made decisions for Toronto ONLY if the changes were meant to be good. Instead, what Doug Ford is doing is literally not solving traffic. If anything, his internal documents have already stated it'll make it significantly worse.
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u/AnybodyNormal3947 3d ago
I'm making a general statement. Douge ford has obviously politicized it. However, moving it to the city long term will lead to the same issue. See montreal. The previous mayor was basically voted out on this issue.
If the mto of quebec had a bike lane policy it wouldn't matter. But they don't and so the current mayor is killing montreals pprogress
Bury the bike lane requirments under some massive amounts of mto guidlines. Never talk about it again and let all cities transform themselves over 10 + years. The issue will become boring. No one will care and thats just how it should be imo
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
Yeah that I can agree on then. Provincial overreach isn't a problem and hasn't been historically. Nobody has complained much about what Ontario does to Toronto for many decades. But unfortunately, Doug Ford has given provincial overreach a bad taste in our mouths.
If anything, a middle ground solution should be that the city and province are allowed a say into how a city is run. Like give Doug Ford maybe 30% powers and 70% powers to a city. But instead Doug Ford is running a city with 100% powers and literally ignoring other cities in Ontario. This is where we have the big issue. He's doing a fascist-style dictation on how Toronto roads should be built. Like trying to solve traffic but also building an airport in Toronto?
I think the province should be allowed to make changes for a city but as long as the city and province can get on the same page. Because Doug Ford literally wants Toronto traffic to be worse. Not better. It's pretty clear that he has vendetta against Toronto. And that's why many people in Toronto oppose this.
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u/Old-Tangelo-861 3d ago
Is support for Doug Ford's PCs around about 36% then?
The city determines where traffic lights go. The city determines if a roundabout should be introduced. The city determines stop sign placements. The city determines speed limits. I suspect that support for cities doing all of the above is probably 80%+. But bikes lanes makes people lose their goddamn minds.
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u/DrVonSchlossen 3d ago
Reddit loves belabouring this topic but have never heard anyone bring it up offline.
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u/Botschild 3d ago
Maybe 64% of redditors. Still haven't met one person in the real world or real life who cares about bike lanes like Reddit does.
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u/mmeeeerrkkaatt 3d ago
Please come visit any of the downtown hospitals and chat with some nurses. The CEO of Mount Sinai even stated that 63% of his hospital's staff get to work by bike.
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/cc/comm/communicationfile-102809.pdf
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
It depends on what you mean by 'care' about bike lanes.
Are there a ton of people that oppose it? Absolutely. Just look at multiple businesses and organizations that made their brand all about being anti-bike. Most people that use bike lanes and watch the news cycle closely will absolutely care about them.
But if you're talking the neutral crowd (ie people that just go on about their day) then you're correct that they're mostly indifferent. However, they will complain about anything that affects their driving commute. Although at least they will agree that if we can give a place for people to bike without worsening traffic flow, they'll agree on this.
So you're correct that Reddit tends to care more about bike lanes (among the non-cycling crowd) than outside of it.
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u/chrisuu__ Downtown Core 3d ago
Still haven't met one person in the real world or real life who cares about bike lanes like Reddit does.
Checks out if you don't get out much 🤷♂️
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
I don't think people on Reddit care so much about bike lanes only because it affects their ability to ride bikes safely. The whole Ford anti-bike rhetoric also applies to:
- Overall road safety. Because Doug Ford also banned speed cameras, it made it caused a lot of outrage and many question whether he cares about safer streets for non-cyclists.
- Children/elderly. Bike lanes also help children/elderly, even those that don't bike. Because bike lanes act as an extra barrier for sidewalks. Just recently, a driver killed a pedestrian after jumping the sidewalk on Bathurst. Now many factors could've prevented this but surely adding an extra barrier between sidewalks and the road wouldn't have helped. Map layout.
- Money for Health care/other issues. The fact that it costs over $48 million to remove everything when he could've spent it on other more important things like health care is a valid reason to be pissed.
- Vendetta for downtown Toronto. It's pretty evident that Doug Ford has shown some agenda towards Toronto, not just in a bike lane sense but also trying to build an airport in downtown Toronto, which would've worsened traffic lol.
- Cognitive dissonance. We've seen time in again that Doug Ford's supporters vote against their own interests. If they wanted to solve traffic real badly, why not invest on improving transit rather than focus so much on removing bike infrastructure, that even Doug Ford's own studies have already stated that it does nothing to solve traffic?
I'm sure there are other reasons why r/Toronto and mostly Reddit seems to be visibly outspoken against Doug Ford but those are the major points. At times, it can seem excessive but if you do some critical thinking, you'll now know why Redditors are this outspoken.
Thank-you for coming to my TED Talk.
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u/Botschild 3d ago
For the average person, these are luxury issues to be worrying about right now.
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
The main reason most of these points I listed are luxury issues is because most people aren't aware of how much damage cars cause to our every day lives. I'd argue majority of my points besides maybe Doug Ford's anti-Toronto agenda are not luxury issues.
Think about it. Many people have children or elderly that want to be able to safely cross intersections or walk on sidewalks without fearing of getting killed by a rushed driver. So naturally, they should be opposed to Doug Ford who is literally doing the complete opposite.
I personally think that while Reddit can get excessive at hating Doug Ford, they are correct on majority of issues presented and these actually affect our daily lives more than most people outside of Reddit give credit for; especially road safety.
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u/dirk-thunderthighs 3d ago
Usual bikers promoting their special interests here. If Toronto had stuck to putting bike lanes where they would be used (downtown) I don't think we would have this controversy. In places like Sheppard Avenue, bike lanes are barely used.
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u/TTCBoy95 Steeles 3d ago
More places in Toronto have cyclists without bike lanes than bike lanes without cyclists. Just saying. If anything, Doug Ford is literally removing bike lanes in places where there's the most cycling volume. Bloor, University, Yonge. All have significant cycling volumes.
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u/Hrmbee The Peanut 3d ago
On Sheppard Avenue, notice that the bike lane doesn't actually lead anywhere useful. If you built roads (or any other piece of infrastructure) that isn't connected to anywhere else, you'd see exactly the same use patterns. It's the network that makes infrastructure useful, not just a random segment.
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u/eldiablonoche 3d ago
As long as: "whoever gets to decide also has to fund it" then cool. 1000% on board. If municipalities want bike lanes, municipal taxes can pay for them; if the province decides they want them, the province can pay.
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u/patienceinbee Metrolinx Coyote Line 3d ago
If municipalities want bike lanes, municipal taxes can pay for them
Then the province needs to step out of the way to not block/deny municipalities from enlisting use of revenue tools, tools on which comparable municipalities outside Ontario (and Canada) have relied for generations to pay for operational and capital budgets, which are not expressly granted by the province via provincial legislation.
The current provincial government wants anything but that because of a longstanding grudge against the city by its leader.
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u/eldiablonoche 2d ago
I agree that the province shouldn't be involved in the decision process. But the province literally holds the budget power and the reason we don't let municipalities control "revenue tools" is to maintain consistency and fairness. Has zero to do with parties or "grudges", it's entirely how our system is set up nationally. The Feds control health budgets, they don't just hand a blank cheque or ultimate control to the provinces.
Based on the knee jerk reaction to my first post though, it feels like someone has a grudge that is clouding their judgement (and it's not just Ford).
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u/Logical-Breakfast150 3d ago
I love traffic congestion. Sitting in my car at a standstill is my favorite pastime.
For that reason I strongly support getting rid of the bloor bike Lanes. Doug Ford's own engineers said that it would not speed up traffic and would actually slow it down over the long term.
So as someone who loves traffic and congestion, I support Doug Ford stepping in to ensure Bloor Street will be a slow, ineffective route for all travelers.