How The City of North Van is Beating Bikelash

Bike lanes can feel like a simple street design choice, so why do they set people off like a cultural lightning rod? We sit down with City of North Vancouver Councillor Tony Valente, who’s been on the front lines of active transportation advocacy and the backlash that comes with it, to unpack what’s really driving “bikelash” across BC and beyond.

We get into the political reality that traffic data and safety studies don’t always win the day, especially when distrust in institutions is rising and online culture wars seep into local debates. Tony shares why he prefers the term 'mobility lanes,' and how protected cycling infrastructure is bigger than bikes: it can support e-scooters, e-bikes, and seniors using low-speed mobility devices who don’t belong on sidewalks or in fast traffic. The through-line is freedom and safety, not tribal politics.

Transcript

Bike Lash And Today’s Stakes

Peter Ladner 0:04

Welcome to Bike Sense, the BC Cycling Coalition's podcast, where we talk about all things related to active transportation advocacy in BC. I'm your host, Peter Ladner, Chair of the Board of the BC Cycling Coalition. I hope you enjoy the show. Today we're going to talk about bike lash, which to my mind has two components. One is opposition to cycling improvements and bike lanes in general. And more recently, opposition to what I think are quite legitimate concerns about bad behavior by cyclists and particularly e-scooter riders. My guest is City of North Vancouver Councillor Tony Valente, who has been on the front lines of culture wars, cycling advocacy, and dealing with angry neighbors and businesses for many years in the City of North Vancouver. Tony, welcome to the podcast.

Tony Valente 1:09

Thanks very much for having me, Peter. It's great to be here with you.

Tony Valente’s Advocacy Roots

Peter Ladner 1:13

Can you describe yourself, your cycling experience and advocacy a little bit to fill in the background?

Tony Valente 1:20

Really, for me, the cycling piece started advocating for um like public space, maybe even before the cycling it was about the shipyards. And that's really how I got to be aware of kind of local government politics. But then as a result of running in the 2014 election, where I did not get elected, uh, I actually started meeting with community groups. And I went to this meeting with this group that was called Hub Cycling, uh, the local committee, and uh just found out about some of the cool things they were doing. And uh while I didn't get elected in 2014, I did very quickly thereafter become the chair of the uh of the hub cycling group for the North Shore.

Peter Ladner 1:55

Tony, I should do a personal disclosure here that you and I have ridden together in a group

Cargo Bikes And Real Errands

Peter Ladner 2:00

called the Peloton, which I don't attend all that often. But could you tell me about your latest bike ride anywhere?

Tony Valente 2:06

I would say with when it comes to cycling for me, I've got kind of two personas. I've got kind of that road cycling persona, which is the one that you're talking about, riding with Peloton. Um I've done a couple races in the spring series race. Um, not not any not any podium finishes to tell you about, Peter, but uh certainly certainly have that road cycling piece. But then if I had to tell you about my most recent ride yesterday, it was actually leaving from North Van. I took the C bus across. I had to get some stuff for uh um a uh lunch that we're gonna have on Sunday. Um so I went to Costco with my cargo bike. I've got a Marisa Mueller carry cargo bike, did my huge cargo shop or Costco shop, and then brought that back from downtown across Linesgate Bridge to North Van.

Peter Ladner 2:46

Wow, is that the bike with your name on it?

Tony Valente 2:48

That is not the bike with my name on it. That's actually an Urban Arrow shorty. Yeah, I'm starting to get to the point where I've got like a kind of, I don't want to say a fleet, but there's a there's a few different cargo bikes kicking around. Unfortunately, that Urban Arrow was damaged um um in the while being parked at work, and uh it's it's okay, but it's not quite fully functional, unfortunately.

Peter Ladner 3:07

Uh you've run in politic for political office. Uh did you run on a cycling platform?

Tony Valente 3:15

Um so definitely that that's that's a strong vein of mine. It's probably the thing that um makes me the most passionate about what I do in the city, but I've actually always been very cautious to not let that be the only thing. And I have been accused many times of being a one-issue candidate. Um, but I don't, I I that is not the only issue for me. And I have done a lot of work to make sure that I'm applying across multiple issues, listening to what the community says. And I actually believe that the bike advocacy, because because you've worked in the community as an advocate, it actually allows me to work with people on many different issues, listen to them, understand them, and hopefully bring their opinions and perspectives to council. So, yes, people know me as the bike guy, like I hear that all the time. I'm okay with it, I'm proud of it. But I think um I'm also very cautious that council is about more than just that, and it's about also

Building A Connected Mobility Network

Tony Valente 4:05

relying on your council colleagues for things where maybe I'm not the most knowledgeable. But I do think the bike obviously gives you that background to bring to council.

Peter Ladner 4:12

What is your proudest active transportation achievement?

Tony Valente 4:17

The achievement is not quite where I'd like it to be yet. But in 2019, myself and counselor uh Milkel Roy in the City of North Van brought forward a motion about uh creating a mobility network for the city of North Van. And when I when we brought this forward, I mean my vision for that was really about seeing kind of a Victoria style build out of a connected network. Because we know that um bike lanes, and I'll talk about what I prefer to call them, which is mobility lanes, um, we know that if there's not a complete network, it's just not going to work and people aren't gonna use them. Um and so that that network is is slowly being built out, but uh it's definitely taking longer than I would like.

Peter Ladner 4:57

Recently, in the in recent, I guess it's we're

When Cycling Turns Into Ideology

Peter Ladner 5:00

into years now, the government of Ontario has introduced legislation. They're giving them the power to pull out bike lanes, and cycling Toronto fought back and went to the Supreme Court and put that. They still haven't done that yet, but now the government of Alberta is saying they want to do the same thing. You're going, you're running for election in the fall? Re-election. I am, yep, I am. How do you feel the political winds shifting, if at all, around active transportation and cycling?

Tony Valente 5:29

I think that you're seeing those things in Alberta and Ontario, and uh, and I think it's unfortunate because you know, ultimately, I think the traffic issues on the North Shore, if I can be specific about the North Shore, definitely existed before. And you're not you're not fixing the traffic issues um by taking out bike lanes. Like that is just not a realistic though, that is not where the traffic issues are. So I think to be honest, what what really concerns me about the bike lash piece is it almost has become about ideology. It's not about data. And what we actually need to rely on is data and the studies that like our staff do or staff do in cities across the province, that's that's actually what matters. And I think there's a deeper democratic piece about how we actually engage people in the things that we do in our cities, and that engagement and consultation is so important. And I feel like there's just a lack of trust generally in institutions that has really um kind of blossomed across the board.

Peter Ladner 6:23

Do you find that if people are, let's call it properly engaged and consulted, that the opposition to bike lane improvements and it and additions goes down or is is somewhat muted?

Tony Valente 6:36

I well, I I that would I think that would be very optimistic of me. I do I do think if we do the consultation right, there is a growing um and I would say majority in key in our communities. Like I've you kind of asked me like where do I see myself as like a bike candidate? And certainly people have supported me because of that. And I'll say, Peter, I've topped the polls in the last election in 2022. I I've clearly communicated what I was going to do, and I've continued to do it, and I've really stuck to my values.

Peter Ladner 7:07

I think some of what's going on has to be attributed to the online generated so-called culture wars and the the what I would consider to be uh distasteful politics that surrounds that. But why is it that when you mentioned ideol ideological rather than practical concerns, I was remembering that the when the Ontario cycling Toronto took on the Ontario government, they the court documents took government experts, their own experts, to prove that there was not a connection between increased congestion and bike lanes. So that's that's your data you're talking about. But of course, in politics, we don't work in the world of just of data. And what is it about cycling that angers people? Why is it considered a leftist, elitist, uh globalist, UN directed, all that stuff? What where do you think that comes from?

Tony Valente 8:05

I honestly ask myself this question quite frequently because I think, you know, if you're a conservative and you want to have a conservative view of things, to me, that means you want market efficiency. You want to use the most efficient means of getting something done, which cycling clearly is that. You know, it is the best way to get around is one of the best ways to get around for sure. Super efficient, doesn't consume a lot of resources. So I actually don't personally understand that. I don't think it's productive when cycling is like on either side of a political spectrum. And to be honest, a lot of the work that I've tried to do as an advocate for being elected

Mobility Lanes And Senior Freedom

Tony Valente 8:40

and even as being elected has been to build a wider understanding of um the benefits of infrastructure. And I know this is the BC Cycling Coalition podcast, and I know it we're talking about the infrastructure in terms of cycling. But the thing I would really like to impart on this discussion today is that the infrastructure we're building for cycling, yes, it supports bikes. But I think there's a much bigger role for it in supporting, of course, e-scooters, e-mobility. But I also think about the aging population that we have in our communities across the province, across the country. You have a number of seniors that aren't able to drive anymore, but they can use lower speed uh electric vehicles, like, you know, like even those kind of sit-down scooters that you see seniors on, those things don't fit well on the sidewalk. And they certainly don't work well on the sidewalk if you're trying to get across the town or, you know, from the next kind of two, you know, five to ten block radius. And I believe that the cycling infrastructure, that's what I was saying before. You know, we talk about bike lanes. This is not a bike lane. This is a mobility lane, and this is actually about enabling people's freedom. And I can tell you, Peter, that in North Van, I have run into a group of gentlemen. They're using their e-scooters to go from one of them lives in Lynn Valley, the other one lives in Lower Lawnsdale, the other one lives in on the eastern side of the city, North Van. And I found them over at Ambleside, um, just outside of, I was at the Coho Festival this like in September, and they were there hanging out together, able to spend time together, having the freedom to be together because they could use bike infrastructure, uh, mobility lanes to get there and be together.

Peter Ladner 10:11

How did they get there? Were they using those chairs?

Tony Valente 10:13

They were using those scooters. Yep. I have a picture. I scooters when you like a two-wheel scooter? No, it's like a sit-down scooter. Um one of them even kind of had like a Harley-esque kind of bike motorcycle look to it. Like they're pretty cool. They've got like Canadian flags on them. And you know, this is a trend that I've actually seen. I have a great uh clip from a uh kind of like a 60 Minutes from the Netherlands showing how these bike baths um are actually supporting seniors in old age homes to get out and be free. In this case, it was showing these seniors leaving from their old age home. They were headed over to the beach, they had an ice cream cone together, and this like huge kind of armada of uh sit-down scooters going together. And I think that's that's the thing. We're here trying to fight the bike lanes because we don't like you know the cyclist, but this is so much bigger than bikes. This is about freedom, this is about how cities develop uh as we move forward.

E-Scooters, E-Dirt Bikes, Rule Gaps

Peter Ladner 11:18

But let's talk about mobility because you have been, to your credit, um, one of the leaders in addressing the abuses of that mobility with the proliferation of now e-scooters. Now you have an e-scooter so-called pilot project in on the North Shore, is that right?

Tony Valente 11:36

Yeah, on the North Shore. Uh, it's certainly in the city north and the district north and that's right.

Peter Ladner 11:40

And that means there are a lot of scooters driving around, and you also have mountain bike terrain that was said to be some by some people to be the the top in the world. So you I know you have these e e-dirt bikes. Tell us about what's been happening there and your response to it.

Tony Valente 11:59

Well, I think so, I think you've actually even in that opening bit kind of explained a key part of the problem, which is it's very difficult to talk about these devices. So, like an e-bike, that to me is like a pedal powered bike, which is different from an e-motorcycle. And so there's already like an issue there because people are just saying, oh, it's an e-bike, and that clarity is not there. And then even when we say e-scooter, you know, like you said, there's multiple different types. There's the type that the seniors ride on, there's the type that we're seeing um uh kids and others using as a as a piece of transportation. And what I've tried to do is also frame this discussion, uh, at least in the city north band, where I could, around how do we make streets safer for everybody? And I don't say that in the sense of like, okay, we're banning this, um, but there are things that are illegal right now. So those e-motorcycles, I understand um some of them in some cases are being used unlicensed on the road. That is clearly illegal. And so that that's in a totally different category. Then we have the e-scooters, and there are places where you can ride them. The sidewalk is not one, but it certainly um then leads into a discussion about okay, where where's the infrastructure? And I think what we're seeing is these devices are actually replacing shorter car trips, they're making hills easier, they're supporting, in some cases, even older riders, they're giving families more options, more freedom to let their kids go when they meet the age criteria, because there is an age criteria as well. But I think what's happened is the technology is kind of moved faster than the rules. And that it's moved faster than the rules, it's certainly moved faster than the education that's happening for kids at school. Uh, and then obviously the infrastructure is the other part that's lacking

Safety Toolkit For Faster Devices

Tony Valente 13:39

as well. I would say, Peter, like my position and the thing that I brought to council, which I'm happy to tell you about, uh, is not a crackdown on bikes. It's not anything goes, but it is clear rules, safer infrastructure, better education, uh, a target, targeted enforcement, you know, not blanket enforcement, uh, and then also design that separates users. So if we've got people on the street, we can't be mixing people walking with people moving on these things that are faster. And we can't have those people moving on those things that are faster, also in the car lane where the cars are doing 50 plus kilometers an hour. So the e-bike isn't the problem, I think. It's the it's the unclear rules, it's the unsafe behavior, and then the infrastructure that just needs to catch up.

Peter Ladner 14:15

Well, one of the uns one of the clarity of the rules is what is exactly an e-bike? And there are bikes out there that purport to be e-bikes, which are clearly not. They're over, they're powered way more, they go faster than 32k. They don't even have pedals, some of them, but they pretend to be e-bikes, so people can ride them without license and insurance. What are you doing? I know the RCMP on the North Shore has joined the fray here and is really working hard at educating people and enforcing. Uh, why is it that the parents are being told you shouldn't buy these bikes for your kids? Who's why aren't people bearing down on the sellers of these bikes? You're selling something that's illegal. Or is it illegal? When they sell it, it's just that's how it's used is illegal, or is the bike itself illegal?

Tony Valente 15:00

Again, I think those e-motorcycle types, so these would be e-bikes that are they're like they look like electric dirt bikes. Like those are not legal to be on the road. And uh, I think even just today there was actually an um an article on the CBC this morning um talking about how they're not legal for the for local roads. Um, there's been a real move by the North Man RCMP because this has been a problem. But the stereotype is that it's been generally youth using these e-dirt bikes. But I think there's just not clarity, uh I can only assume for the parents about what is and what isn't legal because it's become a much more complicated thing. Uh, and so I think the the confusion has has pervaded. And I think now that's why we are seeing the RCMP step up with enforcement. Um, so that's going to start educating parents. And then I think the other piece is we're starting to see the North Vancouver School District, uh, which was part actually the notice of motion I brought forward to address some of these safety issues, which I'm I'll tell you about in a second, um, really um start the education piece. And I think that's what we see in other jurisdictions. I think, you know, if you look at the Netherlands as a leader in cycling specifically, they do spend a lot of time uh with their youth training them. They have a sort of, I wouldn't quite call it a license, but like a certificate that you've been uh you've passed the uh the traffic exam. You know how to move around the city. And I think that's something that we need standardized in our province, absolutely.

Peter Ladner 16:19

And that would be a province-wide uh initiative done by what ICBC or I think province-wide makes a lot of sense because that's where your licensing happens for your vehicles.

Tony Valente 16:31

And so I think having standardization, the the issue we have typically in BC is just the difference between urban and rural, but I think when you're in those city centers now, uh, you know, across the province, of course, we've seen active transportation efforts uh all around. So I do think provincially does make sense.

Peter Ladner 16:46

Well, this is happening all over the province. There's a a woman in in Squamish, Lizanne Talmud, who's a mother of two teenage kids who's got an online petition going to um both lower the age from 16 to 14. I mean, in Alberta, I think you get a driver's license at 14. Um and and and at the same time do what you're saying, educate the kids, enforce the the rules. And her point was that it's been so liberating for her to have her kids able to move around on these e-scooters. She doesn't have to drive them everywhere, and they're free to meet up with their friends, and they're not sitting on their screens. So the bigger picture here, of course, is this is a wonderful problem to have. We are have having more options, more ways to get around that are healthier, cheaper, and more fun. But they do require bike lanes. And I think it's kind of weird that the uh people who sort of the the scooter haters are sometimes the same as the bike lane haters, and that doesn't make sense. If you want to fix the scooter problem, you've got to give them a place to go, as you say. So, what is your motion? What did you bring forward to council?

A Council Motion On E-Mobility

Tony Valente 17:57

So, what I brought forward to council was really a focus on e-mobility safety. And, you know, as a council, we have in our council strategic plan like a focus on a connected city. And then we also have across the North Shore, I think this is really special for the province for transportation because of the issues we face in transportation across the board, not just on e-mobility, um, we actually have this North Shore Connects partnership, which brings together the three municipalities of the North Shore as well as our Indigenous nations uh with a focus on reducing congestion and improving transportation. So I made sure this motion not just went to the city staff, but also to that group, which is called North Shore Connects. And basically uh what this said was that given the growth in e-mobility devices, we wanted to get feedback from equity-seeking groups on their experience with our infrastructure and what they see. And then we asked for a public uh education campaign that would be presented to North Shore Connects and kind of hopefully spread out across the North Shore, but also leveraging a variety of channels, so schools, uh hub cycling, uh, as well as like RCMP uh outreach. And then it also focused on encouraging uh road user communication through voice and bells and other audio devices, uh, and then basically identifying locations for supportive enforcement. And this is actually where it was funny. Uh I called it supportive enforcement. I had a lot of feedback. We talked about culture wars, people saying enforcement's number one. That's the way we're gonna fix this. I I personally don't believe that. I don't think Prohibition has certainly didn't deal with uh alcohol in the 30s, and I don't think it does in any of this either.

Listening On Safety, Parking, Business

Peter Ladner 19:27

You would know that it's very easy to be sort of shrilly advocating for things and calling everybody a bomb and a chump who opposes you, but you also have to be able to listen. When you've been listening, what do you think are the most legitimate concerns of people who are fighting against bike lanes?

Tony Valente 19:46

Well, just tying this into the e-mobility and the scooters, I think there is a legitimate concern from people that are worried about seniors on sidewalks getting hit by somebody using the sidewalk with a scooter or other electric device that's going way faster than sidewalk pedestrians are going. Stepping back to properly answer your question, I think all of this goes back to section seven of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All of this is about the safety of persons. So you're on the sidewalk, you need to feel safe walking. We need the bike infrastructure, because bike infrastructure, again, we also know that that's the mobility infrastructure. But we need that because people need to feel safe getting where they're going with the device that they're on, which may not necessarily be a car. I think that the realistic thing is that um if we're all interested in safety, which I think everybody is, regardless of where you stand on it, that's why this makes sense.

Peter Ladner 20:38

But we do hear typically you're gonna ruin the businesses in the bike route where the data shows that doesn't necessarily happen, but I think it does happen in some cases. You've taken out critical parking spaces. Now people can't get easy access to my business. Um, of course, you're constraining traffic because you're adding to congestion. Are any of these well, I I don't want to say legitimate, but are there ways that you can be listening to that and responding to it and respecting those concerns?

Tony Valente 21:07

Oh, we well, actually, yes, that absolutely. So here let me let me also answer the question another way. Every concern that somebody brings to me, like as a counselor, like I need to be listening to that, I need to consider it. And you know, I don't think um it is productive in any way as a counselor to be like, yeah, thanks for your input. You know, that's great. We're doing this anyway. Now, um, I think that the job as a counselor is kind of having one eye to the future. I always say this, one eye to the future, and then kind of reaching back with your hand to help bring people along where we think the future is going. Doesn't mean we always get it right. And and all in that comes all this feedback from folks where, hey, you're destroying the businesses. Okay, well, why do you think that? In all of those comments, there's always something that is worth considering um to make the process better. And I think that like this is actually what I was saying at the beginning of the podcast the consultation is so critical. It doesn't mean everybody gets what they want. And I think that's kind of the challenge. But it does mean that we listen and we think about, hey, that that person thinks this for a reason. And why is that? And then we can, you know, try to incorporate that or at least give it some consideration. I'll tell you, you know, I think the real problem with a lot of the mobility infrastructure, it's not so much the infrastructure itself. I think generally that can be understood and supported. I think people are generally really afraid of the construction, which does take a lot of time and that's where you have the impacts.

Peter Ladner 22:30

Interesting. This is the whole uh people just don't like change quite understandably. Can you give us an example of where you've you brought people along as you say in a way that that you thought was um satisfying?

Esplanade Lessons And Hidden Parking

Tony Valente 22:44

We did a a massive project on Esplanade in North Vancouver City. Very significant approximately $7 million of investment, basically creating a separated bike lane on either side of the street between St. George's and Forbes. And I would say that there was a there and there had continued even after the project you know was kind of wrapping up there continued to be a lot of pushback. But the pushback was around like oh there's not enough parking you guys have taken out we did take out a lot of parking on Esplanade but you know that's the other thing. It's like okay if we're trying to deal with congestion I think we need to ask ourselves also why we have parking on major like a major route like that where the parking then serves kind of like a you know it's kind of like an artery and then you've got parking in there like acting like cholesterol kind of slowing down the traffic. So that that actually I think improved the driving experience. And so I think I had a lot of folks including my neighbors I live in the area commenting and complaining about things like the just the destruction of parking of course it turns out we did a huge study staff did a massive study and there's about 2,000 underutilized parking stalls underground and yes you have to pay for those but that were not being used that we had been built throughout the area because of course it's easier to park on the street when that's available. So it's kind of making those trade-offs very visible to folks I think that is critical.

Elections, Millennials, And Family Riding

Peter Ladner 24:05

You're going into an election coming up at what point do you think the political winds shift in your favor? Is there a critical mass of let's say mobility users who will now be supporting these initiatives does it take like Victoria's now got is it 14% of trips taken by active transportation modes? At some point you would think that if these are successful and these e-scooters and so on are so popular that it would be politically advantageous to be supporting that. Do you find that or what would it take for that to be a big advantage?

Tony Valente 24:48

I mean I think for me personally like this has always been a part of my brand to some extent because it's coming from that hub cycling and advocacy background. So I mean I've made it work already for two elections. Like people put me here to to do this stuff. I I firmly believe that it's a core part of kind of who I am politically and you know like I said last time I was the top of the polls as a counselor so uh I must be doing something right and this is part of it. Having said that I am really excited about seeing where we get to in this election with millennials really sharing their voice. You know in the 2018 election I I was not the youngest elected to council but I was the second youngest. I am now the youngest on council. How old are you? I I'm 44 right now. So I'm not not that young but but I'm not you know not that old either. That's what I tell myself. And I have to say this election I'm really excited because I do see a lot of local folks young folks like younger than me 10 years younger than me 15 younger than me very keen to get into the political process and I think you're going to see some really exciting perspectives brought to council which I think is going to be great. Having said that I have spent you know my political eight years in office I think kind of balancing and being respectful to if you want boomers but then also trying to bring that millennial perspective and put the two together in a productive way. And I while I'm excited about the the views that can come to council and I think it's going to be great I also fear more polarization when I think really we need to find the ways to work together.

Peter Ladner 26:23

So are millennials more in favor and and and using more active transportation modes to get around I think there is a greater tendency to that.

Tony Valente 26:33

Yeah I think this next younger generation I think has more propensity to that. In the old days it was like oh well I had kids so now I need to get a minivan um you know the minivan kind of flex move of power now is actually the cargo bike it was even uh there was even an economist article kind of about this and like being able to take your kids to school and do the urban commute with your kids on the back of the bike like that is status.

Peter Ladner 26:59

So do you take your kids to school on a bike on a cargo bike?

Tony Valente 27:02

I I don't have kids. I have taken my cat to the vet though cargo bike. I'm not sure he was super excited about it. There was a lot of meowing going on I see success when I see a bunch of families riding their bikes to school or wherever they're going. And I can tell you actually this week you know June 3rd was World Bike Day um a UN declared uh day and there was a group here in the city of North Van community group the uh parent advisory committee at Queen Mary School got together and did a World Bike Day bike ride. It was a short ride we went around Victoria Park and then up to one of our other parks Mahan like wow there must have been 60 people there between parents and kids on some kids on their small bikes some kids riding on cargo bikes like that's powerful I think politically that's that's a huge group that's saying hey we want to be safe and feel safe in our community and I I'd love to be part of that. So it was great.

Peter Ladner 27:54

Is there anything else you you think our listeners should know about where the political winds are blowing on active transportation.

Transit Links And Complete Networks

Tony Valente 28:02

This bike lash piece is happening but I think I I would encourage listeners to engage those folks in discussion like yeah it can be frustrating but like we need to find a way to discuss and work together. There's no solution to traffic in terms of building more lanes so we do need to provide the options and I think by providing multiple options and I mean now we talked a lot about mobility lanes and active transportation of course uh we didn't talk a lot about um what we're doing from a public transit perspective in on the North Shore having those mobility lanes then connecting them to traffic for some of those longer trips and then having um bike share at the other side where you can use that to get where you're going that is the other piece of this puzzle that's going to help enable us. And I think as we start to make this transportation network a complete network, you know, not just about cars, but about public transit, about uh active transit, like that is part of the keys to addressing housing as well because of course it it makes everything more connected between housing and and where you work.

Peter Ladner 28:58

And you don't need as many parking places and but the big breakthrough I think for for let's say for young families is if they can not have to buy or get rid of the

Car Share As The Second-Car Exit

Peter Ladner 29:08

second car. And to your point it's not just about having a cargo bike it's also about having the option to uh have a bike share car sharing proper transit uh the do you think that car sharing is a big piece of the whole active transportation uh initiative I totally do and actually let me tell you a personal story about that you know when I first got elected in addition to my elected role I also worked uh in South Burnaby so and my wife at the time this is pre-COVID worked at UBC so we had two cars like I drove to South Burnaby she drove to UBC every day and after getting elected I actually changed my role I ended up working downtown so right away like I didn't I promised myself I was not going to take the car to go to work anymore and and that was enabled because of the location but I had no problem getting rid of our second car because I knew that I had an Evo membership and actually I had I really liked Car2Go too by the way I I love the smart cars and I I miss it.

Tony Valente 30:05

But uh I have this Evo membership and that that gave me the confidence to get rid of the second car because I knew even if I did need a vehicle I could get one and the other thing that's interesting about car share is like sometimes my block was like oh you know it's it's really expensive to use the Evo. And then I started kind of reasoning that out I'm like do you know how much like insurance is for the car that's sitting outside every year? It's like two to three thousand dollars and it's just sitting there. You know how many Evo trips I can make with two to three thousand dollars in a year so I I think you're right on Peter like I I do think that that is a key part of the the equation as well and I'm glad we touch on it. I actually understand there's going to be a uh car sharing conference in the city of North Vancouver in October which I should plug and make sure I get you information about as well.

Peter Ladner 30:49

Well it better not conflict with our active transportation summit in Victoria October 28th to 30th. Hopefully not we want you there Tony we you're the kind of person we need there well thank you so much for doing this thank you so much for all your good work and all the more power to you and your colleagues who are fighting the good fight for what we all think uh will improve people's lives and let's make them safe as well so thanks Tony thank you it's my pleasure to be here with you it's uh always great to talk

Closing Thanks And Listener Requests

Peter Ladner 31:25

you've been listening to Bike Sense an original podcast from the BC Cycling Coalition if you like the podcast we'd be grateful if you could leave us a rating of whatever platform you use. You can also subscribe so you don't miss future episodes if you have comments or suggestions for future episodes email me at peter.ladner at bccycling.ca You can help us amplify BC Cycling Coalition's voice by simply becoming a free member at bccycling.ca

An E-Bike, A Bus, And Relief

Peter Ladner 32:40

I had a north for a moment just a couple days ago I I went for a massage in in Gundarde I rode my e-bike over there and then I was so worked over I didn't want to ride back so I just stepped outside there's a bike there was a bus stop right outside her place. The bus came within two minutes I put my bike on the bus and got my all the way into town without having to do the the trek over the bridge. So yeah Yeah