Brussel’s CycloCity
At Curbside we are a private company selling to private individuals – and this is how we tend to see things. This has its great advantages and disadvantages. While we are great believers in bicycle infastructure, we sell bikes to people that ride everyday regardless of the non-existence of infastructure and just plain deal with it (and Toronto is much safer to ride in than Paris). One of our goals was to help this cyclist by providing them real city bikes and spend the rest of our time lobbying for bike lanes.
Infastructure does not create a cycling culture – people do. In fact, as we sat in a Brussels cafe for over two hours we saw no more than seven cyclists pass by. If any Torontonian romanticizes European bike culture they should think again. The fact of the matter is that there are more cyclists riding their bikes in Toronto than Brussels, or Paris, or perhaps even London. But not Amsterdam, and certainly not other cycling cities like Copenhagen, Freiburg and Llujbana. This is why we become quite concerned when cities want to spend a load of money on grand bicycle projects. Paris is always building grand projects as seems to be its nature, but Toronto and even Montreal tend to operate their grand projects on frugal budgets. Brussels is a fine example of what happens when a bicycle program is not implemented with full-guns-blazing financial commitment. There are only 23 stations in Belgium (Paris has 1,450) and they are not terribly easy to find. Unlike Paris – where there is a station every 300m – they are not conveniently spaced apart. And this is perhaps why no one seems to use it. This stands as a warning to any copycat city that wants to invest its money into a Velib style program. In Paris the program was so effective that it actually created a bike culture – and yes, Brussels could use a bike culture. But here’s the truth of the matter: in Toronto we already have a bike culture, an amazing bike culture! And, it’s far more colourful and interesting than anything we have seen in Europe – and we’re well travelled folks. Toronto’s bicycle culture is as colourful, chaotic and complex as Toronto itself.
Do we really need a Velib program in Toronto? We’re not saying its a bad idea. But who is it for? Tourists or regular Toronto cyclists? Toronto cyclists already have bikes (in droves!) and as far as tourists go, we think more bike shops should be offering rental programs (speaking of tourists, if the Paris and Brussels programs are for tourists, they should take non-chipped North American cards!). In either case, a Velib style program will cost a dumpload of money. Since Toronto already has a healthy and vibrant cycling culture, we suggest that Toronto take a step beyond Paris in the direction of Amsterdam and start paving those bike lanes. Now that will make us a progressive city!
One Comment
- Alex Gatien replied:
I think that overall I have warmed to the idea of a bike-lending program, however I do agree that it has to be somewhat of an all or nothing venture like Paris. If it gets people on bikes who wouldn’t normally do it, then go for it. However, I don’t think it is a necessary first step in terms of building a cycling culture. Boston is currently considering a bike-lending program and it is without a doubt the worst place I have ever ridden a bike (still completely worthwhile though). Narrow, pothole stricken streets, a lot of bad sightlines and downright crazy drivers and cyclists (in the past three weeks, I have nearly been hit by more cyclists than cars) combine to make it substantially worse than Toronto.
Boston’s age makes it an interesting place with regards to transportation. Parts of the city are nearly 400 years old and while most of it is far newer, the bulk of the city was designed before the spread of the private automobile. Instead of embracing this, there has been a concerted effort to squeeze the car into every single part of the city. Thus it is not only the worst place I have ever ridden a bike, it is by far the worst place I have ever driven and parking is practically non-existent in many parts of the city. Boston recently spent a staggering $22 billion building seven and a half miles of highway and I shudder to think about what kind of alternative transportation system could have been built with that kind of funding.
I think that ultimately the key to making cities bike and pedestrian friendly isn’t so much building infrastructure to support them (bike lanes next to parked cars don’t inspire me with confidence), but rather it is through curbing car usage that we will begin to see real improvements.
One of the best things we could do to increase cycling is make it an integral part of phys ed for kids. North Americans frequently have an unfortunate tendency to view bicycles as toys instead of a viable means of transportation and changing this perception may require substantial effort or substantially higher gas prices.
Anyways, I guess this is long enough for a blog reply. Europe sounds great and let’s grab a pint when I’m back in December and talk bikes.
October 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am. Permalink.
