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Transit & Streets
Safe Streets: Protected Bike Lanes and Quieter Streets
Quieter streets, a free city
I support action on illegally modified vehicles and aggressive driving, with clear protections for free expression. As a structural engineer, I see vehicle “vanity noise” as a public health and design problem. Sleep loss and stress fall hardest on renters, shift workers and families in our densest neighbourhoods.
As mayor, I will build traffic calming into every road reconstruction we already have scheduled. I will press Queen’s Park to make inspection orders for illegally modified vehicles the standard response, so the problem gets fixed rather than ticketed.
I support updating our bylaw to address harmful vehicle and mechanical noise, but never in a way that can be used against protest, worship or cultural life. A city’s soundscape includes its voices. I will back a provincial pilot of automated noise cameras only if they measure vehicle noise and nothing else: no audio recording, strict data limits, no use for any other purpose, and public reporting.
Quieter streets and a free city go together.
Dr. Bahira Abdulsalam, PhD, P.Eng., Candidate for Mayor of Toronto
As a structural engineer, I judge a street the way I judge any structure: does it keep people safe, does it last, and does it give the public value for its money? Protected bike lanes pass all three tests.
Research on Toronto and Vancouver streets found separated cycle tracks carry roughly one-ninth the injury risk of busy streets with no bike facility. Fewer conflicts make streets safer for drivers and pedestrians too. That is why I will defend the lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University. Ripping out infrastructure that works, then paying to rebuild it, is wasted public money.
No new contracts, no blank cheques. I will not hand out new contracts for bike lanes. Upgrades to permanent concrete will be built into road and watermain reconstruction the city has already scheduled and funded, starting with the highest-risk corridors. I will strengthen the city’s own crews, so public work is done by public workers, accountable to the public.
A network, not fragments. I will close the gaps, especially in Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York, where residents have the fewest safe options, and link trails like The Meadoway and the West Toronto Rail Path to transit.
Cycling as part of transit. Fare-free TTC makes Bike Share the natural first and last kilometre. I will grow it where it fills transit gaps, not only downtown.
Safe all year. Bike lanes cleared in winter with the same priority as roads, protected detours around construction, and action against vehicles blocking lanes. Police time belongs on Vision Zero priorities, not ticketing people on bikes.
Delivery riders are workers. App companies must answer for safe equipment, certified batteries and fair pay. I will press Ottawa for mandatory lithium-ion battery standards.
I will consult affected communities before any major street change. Streets are for people, all of them.
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