Cycling popularity sees drastic rise in year since bike-lane launch

Thestar.com
June 14, 2018
Kashmala Fida

The city’s much loved -- and debated -- downtown bike grid, officially turns one on Saturday.

It’s been a year since the city opened what would become a 7.8-kilometre network of protected lanes that have given cyclists unprecedented room to move in the core -- delighting cyclists, angering some drivers and sparking an almost doubling in ridership.

“It’s still incredible to me that we successfully planned, designed, installed and launched an education campaign in under nine months,” said Olga Messinis, the city’s project manager for the downtown bike network.

The protected lanes now separate cyclists from traffic and pedestrians in most parts of downtown and some surrounding areas. Protected bike lanes are fenced, whereas unprotected bike lanes are only marked using paint on the roads.

According to the Downtown Bike Grid Monitoring website, the number of cyclists has increased by 81 per cent in May compared to a year ago.

Messinis said over the last year people have shared their experiences on how the bike network has “positively” changed the way they move around downtown.

“This was really important because we have a lot of communities that are within a short distance, under that five kilometre radius, where the downtown could be easily accessible by bike,” she said.

“It was something that we were lacking so it was really important to provide that safe infrastructure so we could increase the possibility and the option for people to be able to choose cycling over taking a car.”

The planning for prioritizing cycling began in 2009 when city council approved the bike transportation plan, which called for installing close to 500 kilometres of on-street cycling infrastructure within the next 10 to 20 years. The plan was to encourage Edmontonians to choose “cycling as a safe, healthy and efficient alternative to driving.”

Council approved in 2016 a budget of $7.5 million to begin the project and $625,000 per year for upkeep.

Construction began in April 2017 and on June 16, 2017 the first portion of the downtown bike network, 100 Ave. from 109 St. to 103 St., was opened to the public.

Ever since then, Erin Pollock noticed her commute time reduced by 10 minutes. Coming from a family that mainly travels by bike, she said the bike lanes have been extremely helpful.

“My four year old now goes out with her dad and bikes on the bike lanes and it’s so easy from our house to the farmer’s market,” she said. “And she can bike by herself.”

Pollock takes the 83 Ave. bike lane but often comes downtown for meetings. She said ever since the bike grid opened, she has noticed more female cyclists.

“I used to see people but they were never women. For the most part they were young males,” she said. “I very rarely saw women biking on my route.”

Pollock started winter biking this year, which she was previously hesitant on doing. Max Amerongen, vice-chair for Paths for People, also started winter biking.

“It’s been so exciting to see what the city has done so far ... I hope we continue the momentum and keep building out,” he said. “I think next year is going to be really crucial for that. To see if the city is committed to keeping going on that.”

But not everyone is a fan. Last July, Star Edmonton spoke to businesses built around the bike lanes, some of whom felt that they’d added to traffic and parking problems downtown.

Reached again this week, Mahoney Kassab, owner of Creperie Cafe on 103 St., hasn’t changed his mind, arguing that bigger streets are needed as he notices slow-moving traffic especially during events at Rogers Place.

“It’s wasting,” he said. “If you come sit down outside and see how many bikes pass by, maybe three or four bikes, is it worth it?”

But Messinis counters that the idea that the traffic jams are caused by bike lanes is an urban myth.

“We didn’t take away parking on 103 St.,” she said. “We maintained it on both sides of the street. One of the things that I should caution, depending on where you look at 103 Street, there is some construction going on for Encore Tower and the LRT that’s impacting traffic flow.”

Mike Rees, who works for a drywall company, started cycling five weeks ago but he is not a huge fan of bike lanes.

“I’ve been a driver my whole life. As a driver I find bike lanes to be an almost unbearable nuisance. As a cyclist I really don’t find that it makes a difference to me,” he said. “But they are going to significantly increase driver frustration especially in these small areas where the streets weren’t very wide to begin with.”

Messinis said despite the frustration of some drivers, everyone wins when cities build more transportation options.

The bike grid is still in the pilot phase. The first portion of the bike lanes opened last spring, but since the grid is opening up in intervals, the city will continue to evaluate until the fall.

Challenges remain, Messinis said, including making sure “people were informed and educated about what all the signage meant and infrastructure meant for people on bikes, people on foot and people that were driving.”

“We knew it wasn’t going to take one summer of educating people so we are still out there,” she said.

Overall, she said they haven’t concluded whether it was a success or not -- but she’s feeling optimistic.

“In terms of the numbers, increased ridership we are showing some success there.”

She said the city is reviewing the bike strategy and how to grow it in the future.

“So it’s not a question of if expand it’s really a question of when and what that looks like according to our next update,” she said, adding that the next update will be at the end of the year.