Local business owner on bike lanes’ impact

“How can 25,500 cars and 300 cycles be afforded the same road space?”

Sam Pappas delivered these remarks at the October 15th event with Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria, in which Sarkaria announced that Ontario will introduce legislation which, if passed, will prohibit municipalities from designating new bike lanes with provincial approval.

*****

“Thank you, Minister. Welcome everyone. My name is Sam Pappas. I’m a member of Balance on Bloor, the Kingsway Business Improvement Association, and, most importantly, a long-time resident.

I’ve lived in central Etobicoke my entire life. Operated my business for 33 years in the Kingsway. Approximately one year ago, the bike lanes arrived, and the reaction of our neighborhood was one of shock and dismay.

In all my years of living here, I have not seen anything unite the locals, like the rejection of the bike lanes. In a survey of local businesses, 100 responded, one voice their support. That’s a staggering 99% against.

As a business owner, I’ve never witnessed everyone so united in a cause. I do not know anyone that doesn’t support safe cycling, including myself. Does safe cycling include displacing other groups to make it happen?

A petition was started, the response was rapid. An extensive review of the bike lanes was asked for. Letters were written to the city councillor, the mayor, repeated attempts were made to get a meeting, no response.

We turned to the media; we were largely ignored. I sat right here with a reporter from one of the major papers of the city. We went through the issues. A firefighter and a police officer came in to talk about the effect of response times. They explained at length the difficulties they were having in responding to emergencies, major delays, rerouting the side streets that are ill equipped to handle such large trucks, they came at their own risk as concerned citizens for their community.

When the article came out, there was no mention of this critical issue. That’s when it hit me: the fix is in. Everyone wants the truth until it hurts the narrative. The bike lane layout, as you can see outside, is discriminatory to disabled and elderly who require assistance, like a walker to get around. Bloor Street has been cut off from them. You can see the barriers that they face trying to get to the sidewalk through the bike lanes.

The local fish and chips restaurant has lost many of its clients who no longer feel safe to come to Bloor Street. In a meeting held one week ago. In attendance was the mayor, Councillor Morley and Barbara Gray, GM of the Transportation Department. The city claimed that the people’s commute times went up an average of two minutes in each direction.

We have a video that we will show later that shows you the congestion, the manipulation of this data. This is manipulation of data its finest. The real number is 20 to 25 minutes.

When a motion was brought forward to Council to study emergency response times on Bloor, the Mayor and Councillor Perks voted against the motion. Common sense would suggest this will be a top priority, considering the catastrophic consequences that could result from the delay.

The first person other than Councillor Holiday to acknowledge the West bike lane expansion was a complete failure was Yvonne Baker. Yvonne is our local federal MP in his day to day knocking on doors to engage his constituents the number one issue where the bike lanes; it was so severe that he dedicated a page and a half of his newsletter on why they should be removed. This flyer is available to if anybody would like to see it.

We never expected the situation to become so severe that it would attract the attention of the provincial government. But after struggling to get our local leaders to listen or acknowledge the harm caused, we are very thankful that you are stepping in.

Let’s talk numbers before implementation: the city states that is saying that 25,500 cars use Bloor Street, representing 40,000 travelers a day. 87 cyclists used the lanes. After implementation, the cyclists now average between two to 300 a day during nice weather in the summer.

Here’s where the City gets creative. They will release data saying cycle traffic is up 200 to 300 per cent, to make it sound like a win. The reality it is 100 to 200% increase, which is essentially inconsequential. Can anyone tell me how 25,500 cars, and let’s call even 300 cycles a day, should be afforded the same amount of road space?

It gets worse. In the winter, the numbers plummet. February last year, we have a video of 10 snowplows and nine cyclists over 24-hour period. Not only is this a huge waste of taxpayers’ money, it makes it even more ridiculous for the allocation of space and resources. For city that cries poor all the time, there must be a better destination for this money, like safe transit.

In closing, I would like to talk about community. Toronto is a very large, diverse city. Each community has its own identity. Greektown, Little Italy, Bloor West Village, the Kingsway and hundreds more.

I can tell you with certainly, this has been a huge fail in our community. Businesses are hurting. Some still trying to recover from COVID. Residents feel displaced and under attack.

We need to make sure that BIAs thrive and survive. They need to survive. They serve as a community’s hub. The shitty… the CITY should invest. (laughter: I knew I was going to say that!)

The city should invest to make the BIAs more attractive and inviting. What’s currently in place is neither.

With the winter approaching, it’s time to remove the bike lanes and restore our community to what it was. I’m only advocating for my community. I would never be so arrogant to tell another community what’s best for them.

I’m sure there are parts of the city where the bike lanes work great, and I’m sure there’s other parts where they should be reconsidered. There must be an objective review of all bike lanes by an independent body.

I’m very pleased that the federal government, provincial government and the mayor agree it’s time to remove the lanes from Bloor West and have a true collaborative effort.

I’m sure we can make it better for everyone, including the cyclists.

Thank you for your time.”