[supafamous]

Gregor Robertson gets a lot of grief around these parts (and I'm increasingly skeptical that he gets the housing crisis based on his public comments) but he was bold and right to push hard to get bike lanes built in Vancouver. Robertson failed at some things but unlike most mayors he actually had a vision for what the city could be and pushed to make it happen and some of the changes have paid off.

This comes from a LinkedIn post from the Dutch Cycling Embassy's International relations manager: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cbrun...xH5oTm_qmx6jiE

When newly-elected Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson started converting car lanes to bike lanes in 2009, pundits claimed it was political suicide. In 2018, he stepped down after three terms as the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. So what can this tale teach us about so-called "bikelash"?

Robertson first proposed reallocating one travel lane from cars to bikes on the Burrard Bridge, and the blowback began. Media outlets published scathing editorials. Residents voiced their vehement opposition at council meetings. Business leaders said he was choking the lifeblood out of the downtown.

To his credit, Mayor Moonbeam (as he was dubbed) forged ahead: “A few loud critics can make anything look controversial. I recall the media doing full coverage of the opening, choppers overhead, filming the impending chaos. And it was much ado about nothing. It had zero impact on traffic from day one.”

Knowing that a single route doesn't a bike network make, Robertson spent the next nine years—and two successful reelection campaigns—building a “AAA” (“All Ages and Abilities”) network of infrastructure across the city, with a heavy focus on physical separation, especially on the downtown peninsula.

Interestingly, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, who had previously opposed the infrastructure, eventually reversed their position and became one of the city’s most vocal cycling proponents, calling protected bike lanes “the way of the future” and a “win–win–win for all users”.

Throughout all of this pushback and opposition, Vancouver experienced an authentic bike boom, with the mode share increasing by nearly 300%. An impressive 10% of trips to work are now made by bike, one of the highest rates in North America. Women now make nearly half of all cycling trips in the city.

Today, Vancouver is well on its way to having a complete, citywide AAA network. When asked whether or not the fight was worth it, Robertson is confident that he is on the right side of history: “The media overinflated how controversial it was. Change is always challenging, but was the right thing to do.”