And we had a community feedback session on active transport accessibility last year which highlighted some key roads that could adopt bike lane infrastructure. One of these roads is scheduled for an upgrade but no allowance for bike lanes was considered.
The road was considered a danger to vehicles because of pot holes, not because there’s barely any room to drive in a two way street. Forget cycling; there is no room to even squeeze between parked vehicles and moving cars, and a lot of them have a murderous attitude to cyclists.
We have 3 counsellors for a bike lane, and 3 against (citing exceeding budget, safety and accessibility concerns regarding loss of on street parking). There was a swinging counsellor who initially voted for the bike lane in one meeting, but then ultimately voted against in the next meeting because the bike lane went against the council code of conduct (going against majority of the resident’s wishes to keep on street parking).
I’m just frustrated… My area is so anti everything except for cars, and it’s so close to public transport and the city (less than 6kms). It’s actually ripe for some decent active transport infrastructure but unfortunately cycling, for some reason, is seen as a ‘rich’ person’s activity even though their super utes cost waaaaaaay more than what most people can afford.
At the last council meeting, there was so much hostility from the car owners, saying that getting rid of on street parking for cycling infrastructure was a waste of money, would stop deliveries and maintenance vehicles, and creates an unsafe environment where you’d have to walk 500m in the dark to your car. Any time cycling was mentioned, they’d yawn loudly or shout their opinions.
My local council has also declared ‘a climate emergency’ but actively working against cycling treating it like a hobby, rather than a legitimate form of transport. Stop the world, I want to get off.
Rant over.
Sounds like utilization isn’t quite there yet and your council is weighing benefits to the population.
Best thing is to get your bike buddies and use those lanes.
Our city recently created 400 miles of bike lanes. 3% of the population interviewed ride bikes. They are all empty except for 3-4 hotspots downtown. Its easy to drive by looking at that unutilized space and think “now that’s money well spent.”
Raise utilization and councel members will notice. 🙂 the city is happy when it’s infrastructure is used.
I’m afraid this isn’t the answer. Demanding that people use bad facilities before good ones get built is doomed. As somebody said, you can’t demand to see lots of people swimming across a river before you build a bridge.
Perhaps instead point out how people only drive their cars where there are car-driving facilities, and ask why nobody drives across fields or gardens, even though these are more direct routes, until expensive “roads” are installed. Ask why it should be different for bicycles
