Quote:
Originally Posted by whatnext
That is irrelevant. Money squandered is money squandered. Some posters seem to be wilfully misinterpreting the article's premise, which is that it's a bad idea to build bike routes in places that don't make sense and/or will never attract more than a fringe audience. His argument is not "Canada doesn't need more bike lanes".
I realize its hard for cycling zealots to accept, but there are many people who have zero interest in getting on a bike and building bike paths in areas where they are unlikely to ever get much useage is a waste.
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The author's point is a red herring. Nitpicking over a few ostensibly "unneeded" bike lanes (a debatable point in and of itself) is irrelevant in the context of a country with the crappiest cycling infrastructure in the first world (save for the notable exception of Montreal).
Your ideological blinders are preventing you from understanding the whole picture. It's fine if lots of people don't want to ride a bike along busy city streets, bike lanes or no. But lots of people do want to, and will if it is safer. The hard evidence is already out there that increasing bicycle use in a city brings exponential benefits in virtually every metric there is, and there are literally no drawbacks to increased bicycle use. Literally:
none.
Yes, of course bike lanes need to be done right. The half-hearted way they are done now is frustrating. But these are growing pains. What's critical is that they are being put in, and that more, and more, and more are needed. Only a complete and utter tool like Rob Ford would ever remove a cycling lane in this day and age.