It’s Bike Month in Canada and communities across the country are organizing events designed to promote the use of bicycles as a method of transportation. Cycling is becoming more popular particularly in places where there are dedicated bike lanes.
“Canada is doing very well,” said Matt Lerner, co-founder of walkscore.com. “Vancouver was the most bikeable city in Canada and Vancouver has done a great job of putting in new separated cycle tracks where the bicyclists are separated from the traffic and everyone can feel safe biking.”Young and old are on the bike paths in that western city and that, he noted, is the mark of a “truly bikeable city.”
Safety is the most important issue for most people who consider cycling, according to Lerner. Painted bike paths are good, but barriers that keep cars separate from bicycles are better and safer.
Montreal was one of the first cities in North America to introduce a bike sharing program, where anyone can go to one of several bike stations and make an automated payment, use a bike, and then return it at another location in the city. Biking has become popular there.
Toronto lags behind in bike use, Lerner said, because one of the mayors was “anti-bike” and plans that had been made to create bike infrastructure were rolled back.
Cities benefit from bike infrastructure, says activist
It’s in a city’s own interest to create bike paths said Lerner. “One of the goals of a great city is to have a great economy. To have a great economy you have to attract the best and brightest people. And what the best and brightest people graduating from universities want right now is a walkable city with lots of transportation options…
“In order for a city to really thrive, biking is an important ingredient in the transportation mix.”
Cycling is good for people’s health and for the environment and that too, can reduce government costs.
Weather can be an issue in Canada where the climate can be very cold and snowy in winter. However, Lerner noted that biking is popular in Montreal in spite of the weather, and in Vancouver where it rains a lot.
In Copenhagen, Denmark one-third of the people bike to work. In North America only 10% do but Lerner thinks that number will increase as cities do more to make cycling safe on their streets.
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