Ltr: In support of Bloor bike lane pilot – Toronto Star

Re: The heady dream of a Bloor bike lane, April 30

Bicycles cause climate change. This is often the gist of arguments by critics of bike lanes, including some councillors at last week’s meeting of the public works committee. A vote to approve a modest 2.4 km pilot bike lane on Bloor St. resulted in a stalemate (despite widespread community support), which means the final decision has been punted to the full city council this week.

What is this theory?

Creating bike lanes takes road space from cars, resulting in additional congestion and more tailpipe emissions, including greenhouse gases (GHGs) that cause climate change. On the other hand, when motorists are able to fly along Bloor unimpeded by bicyclists, or their safety concerns, the environment wins. (Of course, Toronto’s expressways, even though free of bike lanes, are also congested – but this is a minor flaw in the theory.)

A similar theory is applied at the provincial level, where the equation, Congestion = More GHG emissions = Climate change = The need for new or expanded highways, is often accepted. When the new or expanded highways too become clogged, a new round of highway building begins. The logical conclusion is that we can solve the climate problem by building more highways.

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Municipally, we can solve climate change (and air pollution problems) by stopping any increase in bike lanes. (Alternatively, bike lanes can be put on roads where they don’t get in the way of cars, which typically means putting bike lanes where there are no cyclists).

Real world experience has not been kind to this theory. We have a massive road system (5,500 km in Toronto alone), a tiny cycling network in cities, and huge GHG emissions. In fact, emissions from Ontario’s transportation sector are almost as high as emissions from the tar sands.

A better theory is this: More bike lanes = More Safety = More Bicyclists = Less GHG emissions = Less climate change. So fearful were some councillors on the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee that this new theory might be proven correct, that they voted (or spoke out) against the Bloor pilot bike lane, despite the recommendation of their own staff and overwhelming public support.

Let’s hope that when the full council votes on the pilot bike lane this week, they are at least willing to consider the possibility that it isn’t bicycles causing climate change but that bike lanes are good for Toronto, and good for our climate.

Albert Koehl, environmental lawyer, Founder of Bells on Bloor