May 12, 2010
A new 10-year cycling plan was approved by Vancouver City Council last week (May 6), with councillors unanimously voting to spend $25 million over the next two years on bike infrastructure. According to a report authored by Jerry Dobrovolny, the City’s general manager of engineering services, the plan will advance cycling as a priority mode of transportation by better integrating cyclists into the city’s transport system.
Proposed cycling upgrades include the bike route from the Canada Line Bridge to Kent Avenue in South Vancouver; routes on Heather, Ontario, and Cambie streets; a bikeway along 45th Avenue; separated bike lanes in the downtown area; and a new bike route running through the West End to downtown along Comox and Helmcken streets.
City staff hope the coming improvements will encourage more people to travel by bicycle. Currently, about four per cent of Vancouver commuters use bikes.
“We talk about eight to 80 — attracting people from [ages] eight to 80 to ride bikes,” says Arno Schortinghuis of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC). “The only way you’re going to do that is by having safe bike facilities, like protected lanes.”
While Schortinghuis supports council’s approval of the 10-year cycling plan, VACC Bike to Work program manager Erin O’Melinn points out that a strong public-awareness component is needed in order to get more commuters riding bikes. “A big part of getting people cycling for transportation in Vancouver is showing them how to ride safely, because that makes them feel more comfortable and confident on the road,” she says. “It also makes them more respectful road users, both as a cyclist and when they’re using it as a car driver or pedestrian.”
To celebrate the city’s already strong and diverse cycling community, VACC members will take part in the first-annual Velopalooza, a 10-day Vancouver cycling festival running June 4-13. Inspired by the annual Pedalpalooza festival in Portland, Oregon, Velopalooza will feature a series events and group ridess. Among them, organizer Ron Richings will lead a dedicated ride for cargo-toting cyclists, and a “gelato ride” will play out like a citywide pub crawl for those who can’t get enough of the Italian treat. “You can’t lose sight of that essential thing, that bikes are fun,” he says. “Our real focus is to get more people out riding bikes and using the facilities, but to do it by making the whole thing fun.
To kick off the Velopalooza festivities, Richings and festival organizers will hold a community bike wash (similar to a car wash) in Strathcona on Saturday, May 15, at Union Street Market (810 Union) and the Wilder Snail (799 Keefer), from 11am to 5pm.
