Do we really need more
bike lanes? Or is this a waste of time and money for the sake of appearance. A
lot of arguments have been made that the new bike lanes being built simply
aren’t needed. That the amount of people actually commuting using bicycles isn’t
at all proportionate to the amount of bike lanes and the inconvenience they
cause for others. Two main inconveniences being reduced parking space, and more
congested auto-mobile traffic.
Others say that one of the main reasons there aren’t more people riding bikes is because there traditionally haven’t been enough safe and accessible avenues for people to commute using bikes, and by building these new bike lanes it will create more bicycle traffic which has many benefits. Things like less noise and air pollution, healthier lifestyles, and a reduction in the congested auto-mobile traffic, ironically something the other side claims is being caused by the bike lanes. According to an article in the Times Colonist, if these new bike lanes increase bicycle trips by just 20 per cent, and half of that replaces driving, then there would be almost 400 less trips by car downtown.
However, these arguments are mostly working on assumptions and optimism. According to an article in the Vancouver Island Free Daily, the cost of this new bike lane network has almost doubled from its original estimate. If you’re going to spend what is now around 14 million dollars on a project you really need to be confident that it is actually needed. The idea that more people would be riding bikes if only we had more lanes is one that should be addressed and given more thought. However, going as far as to spend 14 million dollars and cause inconvenience for many other citizens of Victoria for something that might not even be necessary seems quite irresponsible.
Perhaps a few smaller bike lane networks should have been implemented and given time to grow and be studied before calling for a complete city-wide overhaul to the bike lane system. This may also have helped the on-going budget problems. Having a much smaller scale project would have made it much easier to manage estimates, and would cause a lot less backlash from the community if they needed to be raised. Going forward we can only hope that more money and resources aren’t poured into this project without first stepping back and researching the new bike lanes. That way we can properly determine if they are indeed necessary, and react accordingly from there.
Others say that one of the main reasons there aren’t more people riding bikes is because there traditionally haven’t been enough safe and accessible avenues for people to commute using bikes, and by building these new bike lanes it will create more bicycle traffic which has many benefits. Things like less noise and air pollution, healthier lifestyles, and a reduction in the congested auto-mobile traffic, ironically something the other side claims is being caused by the bike lanes. According to an article in the Times Colonist, if these new bike lanes increase bicycle trips by just 20 per cent, and half of that replaces driving, then there would be almost 400 less trips by car downtown.
However, these arguments are mostly working on assumptions and optimism. According to an article in the Vancouver Island Free Daily, the cost of this new bike lane network has almost doubled from its original estimate. If you’re going to spend what is now around 14 million dollars on a project you really need to be confident that it is actually needed. The idea that more people would be riding bikes if only we had more lanes is one that should be addressed and given more thought. However, going as far as to spend 14 million dollars and cause inconvenience for many other citizens of Victoria for something that might not even be necessary seems quite irresponsible.
Perhaps a few smaller bike lane networks should have been implemented and given time to grow and be studied before calling for a complete city-wide overhaul to the bike lane system. This may also have helped the on-going budget problems. Having a much smaller scale project would have made it much easier to manage estimates, and would cause a lot less backlash from the community if they needed to be raised. Going forward we can only hope that more money and resources aren’t poured into this project without first stepping back and researching the new bike lanes. That way we can properly determine if they are indeed necessary, and react accordingly from there.
Thanks Braedyn.
ReplyDeleteNice work Braedyn. You make some really good points here. I definitely agree with you about testing the smaller bike lanes to see how things go before constructing a huge city-wide bike lane system. That would have made much more sense than going all out at once like what the city of Victoria decided to do. - Daniel Tolsma
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