Is Doug Ford about to step in and tell municipalities they can’t replace car lanes with bike lanes?
We should all hope so!
A story from CBC broke the news that the Ford government is looking at legislative changes that would limit the ability for municipalities to expand bike lanes. The original story from CBC used terms like banning bike lanes and claimed cities and towns would be prevented from putting bike lanes where cars currently ride.
The way CBC described the proposal was highly negative.
CBC immediately turned to “experts” who, of course, all see things the same way they do and called the idea “extreme” and a “mistake.” When it comes to issues like bike lanes, there is no such thing as too many for CBC – there are only too many roads, too many parking spaces and too many cars.
Officially, the government wasn’t saying much about the story or the claim they are set to ban bike lanes replacing car lanes.
“We examine a multitude of proposals when it comes to congestion management,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said when asked about the issue at a news conference Friday.
Behind the scenes, Ford’s political advisors first attempted to play down the proposal. They claimed this leak of the draft proposal to CBC went further than they were willing to go.
The idea, currently part of an omnibus bill that will be put before the legislature when they resume sitting on Oct. 21, is that municipalities will need to provide justification for changing car lanes to bike lanes. Without providing details, Ford’s team said there would be a requirement to show data and a need for such changes as a way to curb bike lane enthusiasm at municipal councils across the province.
As the day wore on though, Ford’s team realized they may have a political winner on their hands if they were to put forward a stronger position. Now, that stronger position is under consideration.
Limiting when and where car lanes can be converted to bike lanes won’t be popular with the urban planner class. The move will find many critics among municipal politicians and the media members who cover municipal affairs, but it would be wildly popular with voters across the political spectrum.
Whether in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London or elsewhere in the province, the number one issue I hear about in any decent sized town is how bad traffic is becoming.
There very much is a war on the car being carried out by councils and urban planners. They seem determined to ensure driving becomes insufferable to the point where people give up out of frustration.
There isn’t a revolt against the existence of bike lanes but rather against bike lanes above all else.
The line I hear time and again is that people support bike lanes where they make sense but now they are being put where they don’t make sense. As an example, in Toronto there was a compromise several years ago to put bike lanes on Yonge St., north of Bloor St., rather than putting them on Avenue Rd.
Those bike lanes have reduced Yonge to one lane in each direction, snarled traffic and made passage for emergency vehicles precarious at best.
Now, council has just approved more than 100 km of additional bike lanes, including putting them on Avenue Rd., the area they voted not to place them in the past. Bike lanes don’t just populate downtown streets where they might make sense but are now in suburban areas where few people use them.
The entire bike lane issue has gotten out of control.
If the Ford government were to come out with rules to limit the rampant expansion of bike lanes, to limit them to areas where they make sense, it would be incredibly popular politically. Councils aren’t listening to their citizens, they are listening to a highly organized cycling lobby and ignoring or demonizing anyone who drives a car.
This needs to change, so let’s hope Ford does the right thing.