Holidays are over.
Back on the beat.
Dare I write about bike lanes to warm up the typing fingers?
Sure, why not.
Apparently, it’s an issue that still has wheels, so to speak, and keeps on rolling from election campaign to election campaign.
I’ll begin with the squabble over the city’s installation of a $30,000 bike counter to count cyclists using the separated bike lane on the Burrard Bridge. This move comes under the bike-friendly Vision Vancouver administration seeking a third majority at city hall.
Which means, of course, there will be pushback from the NPA.
I give you a tweet from NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe: “$30k bike scoreboards + campaign = partisan politics on taxpayer dime that wouldn’t pass any ethics test.”
Which may or may not be true.
That’s up to voters to decide Nov. 15.
The simple fact is cyclists are using the bridge more than there were when the bike lane opened to great controversy in June 2009, according to statistics posted on the city’s website.
This is a fact Mayor Gregor Robertson boasted about in 2010, saying the bridge saw a 24 per cent increase in cyclists one year after the lane was installed.
Last week, the city issued a release saying the Burrard Bridge bike lane marked its fifth year in use and has seen more than five million trips since its installation. OK, so I think we get it — cyclists are using the lane.
But apparently issuing press releases about statistics and regularly posting them on the city’s website are not getting enough attention. So now we have a $30,000 bike counter at the west end of the bridge to publicly display the stats.
Except, as I discovered when I got close and personal with the counter Wednesday, the counter isn’t working. In fact, it’s wrapped in what looks like a series of black plastic garbage bags.
What gives?
According to a city communications staffer, the counter is still being tested to ensure it is properly counting the bikes. It’s expected to be up and running sometime this month, said the staffer, who adheres to the city’s ridiculous media policy where staffers provide information “on background” and request their names not be published.
Why was it installed?
“In addition to counting cyclists on both sides of the road, these types of counters are popular around the world and help to encourage additional cycling by normalizing the behavior,” said the staffer in an email. “People who may have only been thinking about getting on their bike may see that thousands of other people have taken that route in a day and feel more encouraged to try cycling it themselves.”
So when will the city be installing counters to track number of pedestrians and cars?
"The city gathers information on pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle volumes throughout the city as part of its commitment to understanding transportation patterns and ensuring that any infrastructure upgrades are achieving the intended goal," the staffer wrote. "Currently, there are no plans to add additional visible counters on any type."
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