We already know that taking automotive lanes out of arteries like Macleod Trail and 12 Ave for bike lanes will greatly tie up our already congested traffic in Calgary. Despite that, city planners are planning to destroy that expensive infrastructure that we paid for in order to service a handful of cycle commuters. Aside from the traffic catastrophe, how will these cycle tracks impact local businesses?
Recently Calgary’s fervent bicycle advocates have been trumpeting an opinion piece by the head of Calgary Economic Development that claims that cycle-tracks that come at the expense of automotive lanes are good for local businesses. It should be remembered that Calgary Economic Development is essentially an extension of Calgary city hall (it is funded by city hall) and it is not a group that represents businesses despite a name that may imply such. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce or the Downtown Business Association on the other hand actually do work with downtown businesses and the Downtown Business Association has already expressed concern for the agresive and poorly planned expansion of bike tracks throughout downtown.
The sources that keep claiming that bike lanes are good for business tend to be almost exclusively environmentalist and cycle advocate blogs.
When actual businesses are asked how bike lanes have impact their businesses we hear an utterly different story.
Who should we believe? Environmental activists or the business owners who are actually being impacted? Would all these business owners be lying and wanting to harm their own bottom lines? If bike lanes were so good for business, somebody had better tell all those business owners below.
In Vancouver it was found that bike lanes reduced business revenues by 11%.
The full Vancouver bike lane study is below and well worth a read. Despite their claims, it appears that cyclists are chintzy shoppers that only made up 8% of customers on the streets with separated lanes. The cost of the lanes to local businesses was estimated at $2.4 million per year in sales.
Stantec report on study of impact on business from separated bike lanes
A Toronto eatery has been terribly impacted by bike lanes. I guess the logic is the old: you have to break a few eggs….
Not good when the egg being broken by cycle ideologues is your small business.
In Halifax bike lanes have damaged small local businesses.
With a short trip down google one can easily find a myriad of these kinds of stories from Australia (where at least the weather cooperates) to the USA.
Instead of listening to actual business owners who are looking at their bottom lines, cycle advocates are citing pap from sites like “treehugger.com” (yes there really is such a site and they are using it).
If these bike lanes are so bang-up-good for businesses, why don’t we see these business owners themselves out in the streets demanding them? The answer is that business owners are bound by the hard realities of making a profit rather than the fuzzy ideologies of the anti-car set.
The Stantec report on bike lane impacts on business (linked again below) is one of the most comprehensive of it’s kind that has followed up on the placements of separated bike lanes in Canada. Every councilor should read that in full before considering accepting the insane bike lane plan that calls for closing a lane on Macleod Tr. among other critical road lanes.
Stantec report on study of impact on business from separated bike lanes
That’s not a bicycle coming, It’s a freight train.
Interrupting motor vehicle traffic is the true reason for these goddamn bike lanes. This info of all the problems caused by this idiocy will just make the likes of Pinhead and Shruh all the more determined to get what they want. After all, it’s their job to change your mindset and tell you how to conduct yourself.
ban all bikes from all roads when the falls.
Know what else is bad for business? Global warming.
The Vancouver study does not say that business revenue decreased by 11%. It says business owner’s perceptions of their revenue decrease is projected to be 11%. It also is quite clear that there are other factors that would contribute to any revenue decrease. Things like the introduction of HST, increase in off street parking taxes, fuel tax increases etc.
This study is also now more than 4 years out of date. How have things changed since then?
I recall when Saskatchewan banned smoking in restaurants & bars. The industry wailed and moaned that they would all be bankrupt in a matter of months. What really happened? There was a short term dip in sales that reverted back to the norm in a matter of months.