Bike lane debate flares in New Westminster

The debate over bike lanes is back in the spotlight, this time in New Westminster, B.C.

Several businesses in uptown New Westminster say the installation of a separated bike lane on 6th Street two years ago has cut into their bottom line.

“Since they took away the parking, it has affected the businesses,” said Ghaffar Nabizadeh, who operates the Mediterranean Donair House.

“This part of the town there are lots of senior citizens. They would like to drive, stop here, do their business.”

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Nabizadeh wants to see the city emulate Ontario, where the provincial government is proposing legislation to tear out three major Toronto bike lanes it claims are causing congestion and hurting business.

“People don’t want to come here simply because of the parking. Some people have disabilities,” added Judy Brennan, who runs the New Westminster SPCA thrift store.

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“It’s not making sense.”

Others in New Westminster, however, say the city’s network of bike lanes doesn’t go far enough.

Sara Kift takes her children to school every day on a cargo e-bike she calls her “minivan.”

“We don’t own a car actually,” she said.

“A connected network is a well-used network, so I have a lot of hope. It is so great to have this bike lane here that connects us to our school that I go to every day.”

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Kift said it is easy for businesses to blame bike lanes when there are often more complex economic issues at play.

“There’s a lot of stats out there that shows business goes up when bike lanes go in,” she said.

“Right now it’s 90 per cent car, and that’s not sustainable, and it’s not the way to create a city that is an actual neighbourhood where people can walk along that strip and enjoy the businesses.”

New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone said removing bike lanes as Ontario wants to do is “a mistake.”

New Westminster, instead, is in the middle of a multi-year expansion of its cycling network.

“We have a plan over the next five or six years to build out bike routes that everyone is within 400 metres of a safe and accessible mobility route,” Johnstone said.

“It is going to take a few years to get that work done, and we are doing it sort of a block at a time.”

Johnstone added there is evidence showing bike lanes are good for local economies, and busy streets are just as often a destination for cyclists as they are for drivers.

While businesses on 6th Street say they aren’t happy with the current situation, there is local precedent for a shift in attitudes.

Nearly a decade ago, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association reversed its vocal opposition to protected bike lanes on Dunsmuir Street when evidence showed the impacts to business were minimal and both customers and employees used them.