LILLEY: City Hall needs to put safety ahead of ideology on Yonge bike lanes

Imagine watching a loved one deal with a medical emergency, say a heart attack, and emergency services can’t get to you in time because of traffic. That’s one of the main concerns of residents of an area that stretches up Yonge St, from Bloor St. to Davisville Ave.

On Monday, the city’s infrastructure and environment committee will hear a proposal to make a pilot project for bike lanes in this area permanent and residents, and businesses, don’t feel their concerns are being heard.

“There has been no consideration of residents and businesses who must live with the consequences of this ill-conceived project,” said Trevor Townsend, a local resident and part of the group Be Rational TO.

Townsend and others say they aren’t anti-bike lanes, they just don’t think that stretch of Yonge is the right place for them. Their real concern is the area between Rosedale Subway Station and St. Clair Ave. where Yonge narrows significantly compared to the areas farther south and north.

The addition of bike lanes and CafeTO patios has made traffic a big concern in the area, the road is difficult to navigate, and it takes a lot longer to travel through that stretch. There is also the fact that there are 18 landlocked streets in the area where residents have no choice but to enter and leave via Yonge.

Residents in this area say that they want to see clear data from the city on emergency response times but are being stonewalled. Requests for this data were denied, according to Be Rational TO, and the report on making the bike lanes permanent doesn’t show relevant information.

Instead of looking at whether response times were up or down in that area of Yonge, the report looks at an area encompassed by Bloor to Davisville, and Avenue Rd. to Mount Pleasant Rd. That’s a far greater area than where the bike lanes are located and where residents are expressing concern — and the report still shows an increase in response times.

In 2019, response time in the wider area measured by the city was 248 seconds, which is eight seconds above the service standard. Measured again in 2022, the response time had increased to 297 seconds, a full 57 seconds more than the service standard.

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Having stood along that stretch of Yonge at various times of the day and watched fire trucks and ambulances bogged down in bumper-to-bumper traffic, there is no doubt that the response times in areas around Summerhill Ave., for example, are much higher.

“We would like to see accurate, timely and objective data,” Townsend said.

Several residents and business owners in the area have expressed their concerns, but asked that their names not be published due to fear of repercussions. One business that expressed support for moving the bike lanes to Avenue Rd. or Mount Pleasant faced bullying by the cycling community.

Residents have said their councillors, Josh Matlow and Dianne Saxe, are not welcoming of any criticism of the project.

“Given the new ‘Strong Mayor’ powers, we also encourage you to reach out directly to Mayor John Tory,” read the snarky reply to one concerned resident from Matlow’s office.

Tory’s office said he will be watching the committee proceedings carefully and wants to see real and meaningful consultation with affected residents.

“Although city staff have made their recommendation to make the pilot project permanent, Mayor Tory understands the impact that this decision would have on residents, local businesses and traffic in the area,” said a statement from Tory’s office.

It’s not just Tory who needs to understand the impact on residents, it’s every council member who will vote on this because city staff and the local councillors appear driven by ideology and blind to the safety and other concerns of local residents.

This stretch of Yonge isn’t the right spot for these bike lanes; the staff recommendation should be rejected.