Last week, the Ontario government tabled Bill 212, a piece of legislation being referred to as the “Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024”.
The bill has sparked some controversy by placing cyclists in the crosshairs, with some accusing the Ford government of political overreach as the bill would give the province the power to veto new bike lanes and even remove existing ones.
“Prescribed municipalities would be required to seek provincial approval to allow for the implementation of new bicycle lanes (“bike lanes”) that require the removal of an existing lane of traffic,” the proposal from the Ontario government reads.
“Approval will be based on a set of specified criteria, to be set out in guidance and/or regulation.”
The framework would also allow the provincial government to request information on existing bike lanes where an existing vehicle lane was removed, and that municipalities would have to prove new bike lanes won’t negatively impact vehicular traffic.
The news has so far been met with pushback from cyclists and active transportation proponents in communities throughout Ontario, but according to some – the Ontario government isn’t all too worried about pleasing them.
Roger Healey, President of Kingston Coalition for Active Transportation (KCAT), said he was in disbelief upon seeing the legislation that was tabled, but that it’s quite obviously a way for the government to address hot-button issues with their suburban, Toronto area base.
“If you picture suburban Toronto drivers trying to drive downtown or through town, they’re the ones, you hear all the headlines about how annoyed they are with traffic jams,” Healey said.
“They wanted to kind of throw a little carrot to them.”
While the right to veto or even remove bike lanes has been making headlines, it’s only a small section of legislation that actually focuses more on accelerating the building of highways like Highway 413, which has been a controversial project because of its high cost and environmental impacts.
Healey says based on the way the bill is packaged, he doesn’t expect the Ford government to be very serious about clamping down on bike lanes.
He says he thinks it’s a way to “disperse” anger about the bill, as removing bike lanes wouldn’t have a significant impact on easing traffic, and would really be an expensive undertaking.
“It’s a bit of a smokescreen because the second part, or the big part of the bill is pushing Highway 413 through,” Healey said.
“Reversing bike lanes and getting rid of bike lanes, ejust the cost alone of that, to remove infrastructure that’s already there is very expensive.The optics of it would be bad if it actually happened, but I think they don’t want people to focus on Highway 413, so they’re spreading the risk and trying to divert people.”
Healey says bike lanes take up such a miniscule amount of road coverage in Toronto and other cities, and in fact the government would be moving in the wrong direction by removing bike lanes, as more cyclists would find themselves driving and adding to the congestion.
In Kingston, he says during the closure of the LaSalle Causeway many people avoided traffic jams entirely by biking across the Waabaan Crossing.
Ultimately, even if the legislation passes, Healey says he has a hard time seeing the government actively trying to crack down on bike lanes in cities like Kingston.
He says there’s some concern from cities like Ottawa and Hamilton, but it’s mostly just a way to try to appease suburban Toronto commuters.
“I don’t think beyond any of those big cities there’s much concern that Queen’s Park will turn its attention to Kingston or places of that size,” Healey said.
“I’m not saying it’s nothing to worry about, but I’m saying the risk of it being an issue are smaller… Kingston has approved in 2018 an active transportation master plan that spelled out and mapped out what areas are going to be dealt with… I think it would be hard for the provincial government to change those plans that were agreed to within the city.”
He adds however, that the provincial government has done similar in the past.
If the Ford government was serious about reducing congestion for drivers in Toronto, Healey says improving alternative options like public transit would be the smarter route.
“it’s been proven by even Toronto economists… basically published a paper proving what they call the law of induced demand. So if you just widen roadways and build more roadways, they just get filled up almost immediately,” Healey said.
“So if a government tries to use evidence-based decision-making, they’re really flipping it on its head and using decision-based evidence-making.”
Bill 212 is open for consultation until November 20.
