Hornby Cycle Track Update – 3

Oh, lots of sturm und drang in Vancouver, where apparently things are so fine that one of the only things to argue about is a bike lane.    So we do.

Things had actually quietened down since the New Year, until an op-ed appeared in the Vancouver Sun by developer and Dunsmuir-Street hotel owner Rob MacDonald: “Downtown bike routes are a disaster”:

Here’s an apocalyptic taste:

… a substantial drop in sales revenue, in some cases upwards of 30 per cent, in most of the businesses directly impacted; job losses; business closures; shopkeepers’ life savings wiped out; falling property values, with a resulting loss of property taxes for the city; and a downtown traffic plan that is so compromised that many people won’t go downtown unless they absolutely have to, which further negatively affects the area’s economic fabric.

That generated 268 comments on Frances Bula’s blog alone.  Not to mention a whole bunch of letters to the Sun and an op-ed in response by Councillor Geoff Meggs.   A few days after that, videotape from MacDonald’s hotel got good TV play on the nightly news, presumably showing how dangerous the separated lane was. 

Rob, who comes across in person as amiable – even, as Frances says, ‘courtly’ – is also well-known for his over-the-top Left-baiting at the Urban Development Institute’s industry forecast lunch.  And as the headline on Ms. Bula’s blog suggested – “Developer with rumoured political ambitions weighs in on the bike lanes” – perhaps MacDonald was positioning himself for a run at a Council seat.  Maybe even the mayor’s job?

Could our Vancouver Rob be emulating Toronto Rob (Ford), preparing a far-right campaign to denounce a ‘War on the Car’ and the Gravy Train at City Hall?  (Someone needs to get Rob on the record: Would he, if elected, immediately dismantle the Dunsmuir and Hornby cycle tracks?  What would be the position of the NPA?)

Imagine the impact a MacDonald victory would have if Vancouver could be snatched from the Greenies.  I suspect Vision Vancouver would actually welcome such a tempting target, since there’s nothing that unites your base better than a polarizing enemy.

The blogosphere, needless to say, has exploded – at least among the dozen commenters who dominate the threads.  All it takes is a reprint of a column like Peter Ladner’s – and they’re off and spouting.

“While the owner of the Wedgewood Hotel was speaking out against the Hornby bike lane outside her front door, her employees were bidding to be the host hotel for the [VeloCity] cycling conference.” -Peter Ladner in BIV, Feb. 15-21

As the battle was engaged, Facebook pages got launched, Youtube videos got posted.  Now all it takes is a little reinforcement, like the release of stats on bike-lane use:

Bike volumes have generally been increasing on Hornby Street since the separated lanes opened in early December. In January, the mid-week average was 600 bikes per day (Nelson to Smithe). [Canadianveggie’s analysis here.]

While the arguments have been over the validity of the counts – prompting Transportation Engineer Gerry Dobrolvny to challenge anyone to come and personally check the stats (so far, no takers) – there’s something in the report even more remarkable:

…. the city has measured the impact on vehicle traffic as well. There’s been no change during the morning commute, but the bike lanes have led to a one-minute delay during the afternoon rush.

One minute!  That’s it.  Given the complexity of traffic flows, that’s actually astonishing.  And no doubt frustrating to the critics.

Meanwhile, similar controversies have been popping up around North America and Europe.  So it’s easy to forget how remarkably quickly the planning and engineering profession has essentially shifted gears when it comes to street design.

Take a close look at what’s happening in this image below – particularly on the right.

Yup, that’s a separated cycle track – Hornby style.  And where is this proposed?  For Figueroa Boulevard in Downtown LA.

Los Angeles, for God’s sake!

The safest, best-designed streets Los Angeles has ever seen—including the city’s first protected bike lanes—are coming to downtown, thanks to the Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project (or, for short, MyFigueroa). With over $30 million from a state grant managed by the Community Redevelopment Agency, the project will fund infrastructural improvements that make the experience better for walkers, bikers, and transit-riders over a three-mile stretch of Figueroa Street.

Meanwhile, in the most livable city in the world, that’s an issue that might dominate our civic election cycle.  People, it’s only a bloody bike lane.  Why the angst? 

Cycling after all is only one degree of separation from weightier issues – climate change, energy prices, obesity – but it’s not so easy to criticize the way of life that leads to them if you come from the Right.  Better to target those annoying, in-your-face two-wheelers, and the little bit of allocated asphalt they managed to claim.