By Tim Schaefer, Sunnyside Resident
When the discussion about investing in bike lanes comes up, the political right seems to take a default position against it. Why? Is it only to be contrarian to the political left, where bike lanes are generally more accepted? Are conservative advocates assuming that nobody on the political right are interested in safe bike infrastructure. This seems like a short sighted position of spite towards a topic that really should be bipartisan.
Setting aside any preconceived notions or beliefs, having more bike infrastructure actually aligns greatly with conservative values. Let’s park our political biases and examine them.
Freedom. All conservatives, particularly libertarian conservatives, love freedom. Especially the freedom of choice. Today’s built environment, such as our streets and gathering places, primarily cater to people driving personal vehicles. That effectively means for most people there’s only one viable option to travel. This fundamentally goes against the principle of freedom of choice.
Some may argue if you need to bike on the street to reach a destination you are free to do that. Let’s not kid ourselves, bikes may be allowed on streets today, but if a street is busy and fast moving only the very brave will ride a bike on it because the stakes are high. Cars and trucks have become increasingly larger, and drivers are increasingly distracted. Shared streets are not a viable option for most people due to this risk of injury or death.
Fiscally Prudent. Bike infrastructure aligns greatly with fiscal conservative values. Building and maintaining vehicle infrastructure is very costly for governments. On the other hand, bike infrastructure is significantly cheaper to build and maintain. The reasons are simple, bikes just don’t need as much space and they don’t wear the surface down like heavy cars and trucks. So the smaller size requirements and less frequent maintenance makes bike infrastructure significantly less expensive for cities to build and operate which in turn means less taxes.
Good for the Economy. Calgary has for decades talked about the importance of diversifying its economy. Growing the business sector of bike sales and service is a great way to do that. Today Calgary's bike shops cater mostly to recreational users with a portion of business going to bikes as transportation. Having more people bike for transportation will grow this sector. This brings up the topic of what can be used in the bike lane and it’s not just bikes. There are ebikes, cargo bikes, scooters, trikes and various e-powered products including wheelchairs that all can be used in active mobility lanes.
Great for Main Streets. Since the 1950’s we’ve been sold the message that having our Main Streets dedicated to cars and on-street parking are good for shops and restaurants. The reality is most vehicles are just passing through without stopping and our ever-increasing size of vehicles makes on-street parking very inefficient use of space per customer. Having safe wheeling infrastructure on our main streets brings many more customers who have a higher likelihood to actually stop and spend money compared to customers in cars.
The good news is Calgary’s City Council has decided to further invest in active mobility infrastructure in its 2023-26 budget cycle. When that investment becomes reality through building safe dedicated space, let’s take a conservative perspective on them and celebrate the freedom, the fiscal prudence, the economic diversification, and the increased business it will bring to our city and our Main Streets.