In a conversation about the Hornby cycle track with a distraught Vancouverite, who just couldn’t grasp that the urban world she thought she understood was changing in disconcerting ways, I mentioned that this kind of change took a huge step forward when New York City closed off Broadway for pedestrians and built separated cycle tracks down some of their avenues – and by and large it worked brilliantly! Which showed it could be done in North America, not just in the culturally and historically different cities of Europe.
Now, to illustrate, I would direct her to this:
Great video, I use the BX12 Select bus service on a regular basis, and it is a true success. Often it can take less time to go from Manhattan across the Bronx in the Select bus than in a personal vehicle. It seems to function like light rail, just with a different power supply : dedicated lanes free of all other traffic, limited stops at major nodes along the route and easy connection to local buses. Plus the articulated buses on the BX12 line can carry twice as many passengers as a standard local bus, and pre-paying at the stop allows people to enter the bus in the front and the back.
These little videos showing the benefits of taking space away from the automobile are all very nice, but the huge question they always leave in my mind is: “how”? I’m guessing that every little change shown in this video was the subject of fierce debate and opposition. Sure, the end result is very nice, but how in the heck do you make enough people WANT that kind of change to actually get it done? Carrots? Sticks? Appeals to emotions? Appeals to reason?
It often seems to me we need more videos that document the battles, not the lasting peace that follows.
The more videos like this showing the benefits, I expect the easier it becomes to solve the question of how. When people see results, they get on board. That, I think, is the biggest thing you can do to make people want this kind of change.
It won’t always work, of course. Not everyone will be happy, but that’s why councils need to stick to their plan and carry it out, even if there is a vocal minority that is strongly opposed.
I’m normally not someone in favour of sudden arbitrary changes like the Hornby Bike lane. But having watched the Dunsmuir lane success (I drive–unfortunately–the route every day), my hunch is this will also be popular with cyclists, esp. the type who don’t like riding in heavy traffic, as well as citizens. The city seems more “human” with the bike lane, flower pots, etc.
The number of bikes on Dunsmuir has rapidly and steadily increased, especially on drier days. And, I’ve noticed very little difference to traffic flow (except when some other construction shuts down one of the two automobile lanes). Even when traffic is slower, Dunsmuir is now more interesting to be on.