About 50 cycling advocates cycled from the University of Victoria to Oak Bay Municipal Hall on Monday, keeping up their campaign for safe cycling routes in the municipality.
They reached the hall in advance of the 7 p.m. Oak Bay council meeting, where councillors received a report on possible changes along the McNeill Avenue corridor, which Mayor Kevin Murdoch said could range from traffic calming to bike lanes.
Monday’s ride was the second in a series of events planned on council days by Critical Mass Ride Oak Bay, said organizer Jane van Hoorn.
Van Hoorn said she was motivated by council’s decision not to open up bike lanes on Henderson Road at all times. They’re currently only open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday.
She said Oak Bay has no bike lanes that are “contiguous or continuous.”
Cyclists also want to see a crackdown on parking in bike lanes.
Coun. Hazel Braithwaite said the view of residents of Henderson Road have to be considered as well. Some have expressed concern about the availability of street parking, including when they host gatherings at their homes.
Braithwaite said the Monday-Friday hours for the Henderson Road bike lanes “seems to work pretty well right now,” but added that opening the lanes further could be a possibility at some point.
Braithwaite said as a councillor, she has to represent the “general interest of everybody,” adding locations where students ride bikes to school deserve particular attention when it comes to safety.
“We should probably be focusing a lot of our efforts on those areas,” she said. “And get buy-in for those different bike lanes.”
“We do have a really good active-transportation plan in place that is going to be implemented,” Braithwaite added. “I think that around the council table there’s good support for active transportation in our community.”
Van Hoorn countered that the plan has been “on a shelf” for 12 years.
Murdoch said he has talked to group members about their safety concerns.
“We’re all on the same page when it comes to the goals here.”
The cyclists will hold another ride when Oak Bay council meetings resume after the summer break, van Hoorn said.
jbell@timescolonist
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
