Bicycle lanes in Canadian cities are an ideologically based scourge on traffic flow. Use of them in winter in Alberta is negligible, and in summer, it’s limited at best. The lanes are carved out of already-strangled urban roadways not to facilitate the movement of people but to harass them out of their motor vehicles. The push for the lanes has nothing to do with demand and everything to do with ideology.Every foot of asphalt sacrificed to a bike lane reduces the space available for cars, buses, delivery trucks, and emergency vehicles that move the overwhelming majority of people and goods. The result is longer queues, slower speeds, higher emissions from idling engines, delayed ambulances, and freight that crawls rather than flows. The lanes make it awkward for mobility-challenged people to access buildings from roadways; they cost parking space, which harms downtown businesses; and they require specialized snow removal resources.Despite the expansion of dedicated bicycle lanes and tracks in Calgary for over a decade, the number of people who commute downtown by bicycle has remained flat at less than 2%. There will always be a hardcore group of spandex aficionados who insist on riding bicycles to work, but it will always remain a static minority among commuters. Many of them ignore bike lanes and ride upon sidewalks or open roadways despite the infrastructure being purpose-built for them.Urban centres have been in decline with high vacancy rates and ailing retail and restaurant sectors. The claim that bicyclists would bring a new influx of customers and add vibrancy to downtown cores has fallen flat..If cities want to invigorate their downtowns, they must look to serve the majority of people who go there. With 98% of commuters going downtown in cars or on public transit, it only makes sense for infrastructure to reflect that.With all that being said, it’s not the role of the provincial government to intervene when cities choose to install these odious lanes.I fully agree with Minister Dreeshen that city councils have not been forthcoming with the statistics on bike lane use and that it’s a problem. Dreeshen is correct that special interest groups hold a disproportionate sway on roadway planning in city halls and that those groups will go ballistic if the government infringes upon the lanes they consider to be a right for them. But it still isn’t his role to dive into the issue legislatively.In general, Albertans have supported decentralized governance. They want decisions made closer to the constituents rather than coming from a distant capital such as Ottawa. The same principle should be applied to municipal governments. Edmonton-based legislators should not be micromanaging roadway decisions in Calgary or Lethbridge. The provincial government has enough on its plate without diving into bike lanes. Yes, the province transfers infrastructure dollars to the municipalities, and that should come with expectations. If the UCP government will continue to attach strings to those transfers, though, it will be little better than the Liberals are when they put strings on funds being transferred to provinces..The responsibility for dealing with the spread of unnecessary bike lanes lands with the citizens of the cities. Low voter turnout and apathy have led to wretched, irresponsible, ideologically driven mayors and city councils for decades. Calgary voters should still hang their heads in shame for giving Jyoti Gondek even a single term in office. Never mind giving Nenshi several terms.The only reason mayors and councils that don’t reflect the population at large in cities endure is because citizens let them. Abdicating the responsibility of cleaning up city halls to the provincial government may bring some better policies in the short term, but it reduces the control citizens have with their local levels of government.Urban bike lanes were created for ideological purposes by green-obsessed density zealots at the municipal level. The provincial opposition to the lanes shaping up is being driven by political purposes.Most people loathe bicycle lanes and are frustrated with seeing them expanding where there is no need. It’s a classic 80/20 issue for the provincial government to latch on to. They know citizens will feel little sympathy for the howling bicycle advocates as the lanes get removed. The provincial government will be able to own that victory, and it will be a populist win. It will also be a loss for local policy control, though.Removing bicycle lanes from downtown centres is the right thing to do. It’s just the wrong level of government doing it.
