David Kinch
Bike Lanes
Feb 27 2018
The bike lane system should be
expanded in Victoria. The planned system with two-way bike lanes on Pandora
Avenue, Fort Street (between Cook and Wharf), Wharf Street (between Johnson
street bridge and Government Street), Humboldt (between Government and Douglas),
and one-way protected bike lanes on both sides of Coot Street (between Pandora
and Pakington) is referred to as a “minimum grid” by city council.
This means that that we have not yet
constructed the minimum amount of bike lanes for us to really start feeling the
benefits. After a real system of bike
lanes is built, we will understand their usefulness and more young families
will feel safe biking downtown.
The money being used on building
the bike lanes comes from gas tax money as apposed to property tax. This gas tax should be used to fund
transportation alternatives.
People who are buying gasoline are
using cars, and cars cost the city much more than bikes. Roads are more expensive than bike lanes;
especially if the damage caused by vehicles is accounted for. Cars are expensive and bad for the
environment.
Cars are extremely helpful and vital
but are overused inside the city. Cars
cause thousands of deaths every year in Canada.
Bikes are a safe and cheap option when a car is not necessary.
The push back from bike lanes is understandable. Change is never easy to accept. Investing in our future and planning for a
city’s future needs is a tough sell to voters.
Folks in Vancouver had similar feeling
towards their bike lane system. Now,
they love it. We need to be an innovator
and do what is best for our city and best for our environment.
This means more than a “minimum grid”. We need to build a substantial system.
Expanding outside of the downtown core will be cheaper per km than our original
system. The amount of new traffic lights
and changes to road systems will be significantly less when installing bike
lanes outside of the compact downtown core.
We need to expand our bike lane
network for financial and practical reasons which will have great benefits for
our city in the long term
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