Starting a heated debate in Victoria is as simple as throwing the word bicycle into
your conversation. The city’s slowly expanding bike lane project has garnered some
lovers and some haters among residents. While bike lanes are an important step in
making Victoria accessible, easing vehicle congestion and greening our commutes,
it’s hard not to wonder if tax payer money could have been spent more effectively to
the benefit of a greater number or residents. The project raises concerns over cost, who
is actually benefiting and whether or not that money could have been spent more
effectively elsewhere.
This has been a fairly pricey project for the city in terms of cost benefit. The Time’s
Colonist has done the math and the price per kilometre of bike lane stands at $2.7
million per kilometre, and that figure does not take into account the possibility of
added costs as new hurdles are met in future construction. This price tag arose from
a project that was quoted at $7.75 million and then nearly doubled to $14.5 million
for it’s first phase. Given the City’s issues with the construction of the new Johnson
Street Bridge, it is understandable that many taxpayers are concerned over just how
high that price could increase over the coming years.
As a form of transportation cycling only accounts for 6.6 per cent of commuters in
Victoria according to Statistics Canada. The City of Victoria’s ridership statistics for
the Pandora lanes have over 50,000 people cited as having used the lanes in August
2017. If each individual cyclist had have been driving their own car, that equates to
a substantial amount of congestion and emissions diverted monthly. It is important to
keep in mind that that is peak season, and for the month of December 2017 ridership is
cited as being just under 23,000. Bike lanes aren’t exactly a great solution year round
thanks to Victoria’s rainy winter climate.
Given the cost and the percentage of the population using the bike lanes,
it leaves some wondering whether or not that time and money could have been
put towards improving transit systems. Victoria and surrounding municipalities
have been debating for years on how to handle congestion and improve transit
within the city itself and out towards surrounding areas. Improving public
transportation also has the benefits of aleviating congestion, and potentially
for a broader demographic than those who are cyclists. With bike lane
construction being so focused in the downtown core it can also be said that it
is a solution being provided to those who already have access to a more
substantial transit system than those residents who are located outside of this core.
The City of Victoria has the right idea, traffic congestion and emissions are
seriously detracting from all of the reasons that make Victoria such a wonderful
city to live in. So far bike lanes have not held any weight as a cost effective, widespread,
solution for communities.
