ANSWER:
When vehicle parking is allowed in the bike lanes for the majority of the week: Mon to Fri, 7pm - 7am, and Sat & Sun 24 hrs, a total of 108 hours, 64% of the time. This is the permitted use on north Henderson Road, the main gateway to the University of Victoria to the north and Camosun College to the south.
Bicycles have exclusive use of the bike lanes for just 36% of the week (Mon-Fri: 7 am - 7 pm), a total of 60 hours.
What if vehicle traffic was subjected to similar limitations? Would we consider placing large obstacles in the vehicle travel lanes for the majority of the week, forcing them to awkwardly navigate around, posing collusion risks as they swerved in and out of oncoming traffic? Would that be deemed an acceptable level of public safety?
The Oak Bay Active Transportation Study (2011), commissioned and adopted by Oak Bay municipality, contained, among its many recommendations, only one that was underlined for emphasis.
"Henderson Road bike lanes are currently reserved for cyclists 7am-7pm Monday through Friday, otherwise they are available for on-street parking. It is recommended that the time restriction is eliminated and lanes made available to cyclists at all times. It is suggested that adjacent properties have sufficient off-street parking and additional parking is available on side streets as needed."
- Boulevard Transportation Group
These time-limited bike lanes are found only in Oak Bay.
Only in Oak Bay, you say?
Pity.
2 comments:
Why on earth would any on road tax payer subsidized free parking take precedence over the real purpose of the infrastructure which was built for the purpose of transportation of people, goods and services not car storage.
I have never understood why tax payer subsidized car storage takes precedence over the movement of people, goods and services. The space available is limited and more vehicle options should be encouraged not discouraged.
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