Can't Let It Slide

Hope you had a great long weekend, and are ready for another school cycle. Here's something from my Can't Let It Slide Department.

There are four unsound complaints about the bike lanes that keep cropping up online and in the Advocate letters column about Red Deer's new bike lanes. They have even been used by some of the Advocate's own columnists. Let's debunk them now, so we can move on to a more useful discussion about safe and efficient transit in the city for everyone.

-- People weren't consulted -- This is simply not true. The consultation about bike lanes and transit in general has been going on for years, and has been one of the deepest and widest public consultations on a city project that I've seen in my many years as an Advocate editor. And I've seen (and commented) on a lot of them. Anyone who says they woke up and was surprised to find bike lanes on the streets must be an incredibly deep sleeper. Besides, the very existence of these lanes is itself part of the consultation process. Sheesh.

-- Bike lanes waste tax dollars -- Any time somebody doesn't like something City Council does, they scream "they're wasting our tax money!" and think that makes them credible. It doesn't. The roads and streets of Red Deer must have cost over a billion dollars over the years, and this year's investment in safe travel is a small sliver of a tenth of a per cent of that. Making travel through Red Deer safe, efficient and pleasant is not a waste of money. If safety and efficiency do not result from this and if the experience of getting around in our city is not enhanced, then the city will need to make changes. But don't whine about your taxes every time you have to learn something new.

-- The hiking/biking trails are enough -- They aren't, and people who need to get to work on foot or by bike know that. If trails were indeed enough, we wouldn't be having this discussion now. We'd be talking about congestion on the trails, because everyone would be using them instead of their cars. There are large gaps the recreational trails don't cover and there need to be safe on-street "bridges" across them. Half a bridge is no bridge at all. Besides, to complete their argument, it must be asked, with the thousand kilometers-plus of streets in Red Deer, cannot motorists begrudge even a couple of meters-wide strip in some small portion of the city? Neither side of this argument holds water, so let's dump it entirely.

-- Cyclists are too small a minority to make lanes worth trying -- This pilot project is not just about the present, it is about the future. Red Deer isn't inventing anything here; cycling, walking and public transit are big concerns in every city that wants to grow. Not everyone in Red Deer drives a truck (or can afford to). We are getting more diverse every year, and that diversity expresses itself in the way people choose to move. Saying that people who walk or ride aren't worth even something as small as this pilot project shows a reactionary side of Red Deer culture that is frankly not very pleasant to see.

Judge this project on its merits, not on whether it forces people to adapt to change.

Greg Neiman is a former Advocate editor. Please leave your comments here, or email greg.neiman.blog.gmail.com