That's the word from Michael Andersen at People for Bikes, which monitors Twitter for news on protected bike lanes around the English-speaking world.
When you make it safe for people to ride bikes, people will ride bikes. Just ask Vancouver, BC. Photo: People for Bikes
Vancouver's investment in bike infrastructure paid off with a 64 percent spike in bike traffic from 2013 to this year. And Andersen says Canada as a whole has recently “crossed a tipping point."
[I]n the last six months we've watched in awe as a wave of protected bike lane chatter has been pouring out of every major English-speaking city in Canada: Victoria, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Halifax, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver.
(Note to self: add "piste cyclable" to Twitter search terms so we stop overlooking Quebec.)
Andersen says all the Twitter talk has been matched by activity on the ground:
While Canada, like the U.S. and most other countries, is far from doing all that needs to be done to make cycling “comfortable and mainstream,” Andersen says “what's happening right now is a deeply encouraging sign of how broadly a good idea can resonate once it really takes off.”
Elsewhere on the Network: Greater Greater Washington goes inside Denver’s grand new rail station, TheCityFix examines why bike share hasn’t taken hold in India, and Decatur Metro reposts a police press release begging drivers not to run over children as they head back to school.
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.