The Great Debate

A great debate rages on in my fair city over where cyclists belong: on the road, on the sidewalk, or one specially designated bike paths. We have access to a fabulous and massive system of trails and multi-use (pedestrian and wheeled but not motorized vehicles like bikes and rollerblades) pathways through our beautiful river valley. While this system is ideal for recreational and athletic uses, it's less convenient for commuters because it's limited to the curvy path the river cuts through the city - so if you don't live or work along that path, too bad for you - and as far as I know it is not cleared of snow in the winter (I believe the pathways become cross-country skiing trails during the winter months). Currently, the city has some areas with dedicated bike paths where cyclists share the right of way with pedestrians and operate essentially as a sidewalk where bikes are permitted. There are also a number of on-road bike routes where the roads are slightly wider and bikes are expected to operate under the same rules as a motor vehicle. Then the rest of the city consists of regular roads, which cyclists are permitted to share with cars.

There are some important considerations in this debate. Safety is the biggest issue - where are most people going to be safest? That must include cyclists as well as pedestrians and drivers. Other considerations include space and money - it would be lovely if cyclists and pedestrians could each have their own path systems so there are no more bicycle-pedestrian, bicycle-car, or car-pedestrian accidents ever again, but in most urban spaces there would never be the money or space to allow for such systems (let alone what kind of confusion might arise at intersections). There are also other considerations that transportation planners would know much more about than I, but those seem to me to be the most obvious.

I've heard the argument that cyclists belong on the road because they are going much faster than pedestrians and for all intents and purposes are often treated by city bylaws as vehicles. These bylaws have then set in place the expectation that bicycles have the same rights and responsibilities as cars, so there's some predictability in terms of rights of way and behaviour on the road. On the other hand, others claim that cyclists aren't going nearly as fast as cars and are in much greater danger for injury when competing with cars for road space than they (or pedestrians) are when competing for footpath-space.

I'm not fully convinced where I stand on this issue. I don't think it's fair to equate bicycles with cars because, with the exception of competitive cyclists, most commuters are going less than one-third the speed of the cars they are sharing the roads with, and the weight difference between bicycles and cars makes them even more incomparable as modes of transportation. Further, the potential for fatalities is much greater between cyclists and cars than between cyclists and pedestrians. On sidewalks that are mostly empty of pedestrian traffic, there is no question for me that bikes should be there and not mingling with car traffic. However, the problems arise when dealing with busy, high-traffic footpaths. In my limited experience trying to navigate my bicycle through the throngs of students packed onto the common areas of my campus, I find myself wishing there were pedestrian-free roads I could take instead. The likelihood of collisions is great because people are walking in all different directions, instead of with roads where lanes keep directional traffic separate, and again because of a lack of lanes people walk in path-blocking clusters, can stop or change direction quite abruptly, and in general behave in remarkably unpredictable ways. This, combined with the very utilitarian concern of space, means that my biking speed drops dramatically and I am on constant lookout for possible collisions when I share a busy path with pedestrians. In this instance, it is without question better for bikes to be on the road.

So the debate rages on, and I follow the letters-to-the editor and op-ed articles in the newspaper with interest. I don't believe there are any easy solutions, and I'm very grateful that people are thinking about and discussing this issue. After all, wouldn't it be nice to start planning now for the transportation infrastructure decisions that will shape the future of our cities? As more people turn to bicycles as an affordable, healthy, green solution to their transportation needs, the issues at the heart of this debate will only become more critical.