Mission’s one week experiment with bike lanes - May 2019

The 2018 municipal election resulted in major changes to the composition of Mission council. Pam Alexis, a former councilor, replaced Randy Hawes as mayor. Only two councilors were returned: Carol Hamilton and Danny Plecas. Four councilors were newly elected: Cal Crawford, Mark Davies, Ken Herar and Jag Gill. The transition period between councils carried through the winter of 2019. The next municipal election occurs on 22 October 2022.

In spring 2019, M3C hosted Mission's GoByBike week festivities. The week, 26 May - 02 June, kicked off with a community ride on Sunday followed by a pancake breakfast on Monday. The week ended with a bike rodeo at Heritage Park. However the most visible component for the week was a pop-up/temporary bike lane on the full length of 7th Avenue. The lane was set up by the municipality's Engineering Department using delineators spaced approximately every 15 feet (see photo above). The bi-directional lane was located on the north side of 7th and was about a metre wide. The location of the lane meant the temporary loss of parking on the north side for the period that the lane was operational: 7 am - 7 pm daily.

M3C played a supportive role with set up and operation of the bike lane, including daily sweeps to replace delineators that had been moved and/or signs that had come down. Michelle Fernie, Transportation Engineering Technologist, led the operation on behalf of Mission's Engineering and Public Works. Fernie's review of the project was presented in October 2019 to Mission's Traffic and Transit Committee and is available in their minutes, pages 6 and 7.

What was the impact of the pop-up bike lane? Perhaps most importantly, it demonstrated that removing a small strip of roadway for bicyclists did not produce transportation chaos. Quite the opposite. A traffic-calming effect was noticed by many, including Engineering. However, negative opinion was expressed especially by those who lost the ability to park in front of their residence. For many of these, parking is accessed by a back-yard lane. This opposition found an outlet on social media sites, especially in a community-based Facebook page: 'Mission BC and Neighbours'. High school students also lost the ability to park in front of Mission Secondary School, which also generated a degree of hostility. Anecdotal evidence is that drivers found alternative parking on streets adjacent to 7th. In any case, opponents were typically incensed over the disruption caused by the bike lane, which, they argued, saw very little bike traffic. On this point, bike counts by Engineering provide some insight. The report by Michelle Fernie, linked above, shows peak cyclist counts for three days (May 28, 30 and 31) during GoByBike week, at three points along the route. The numbers, which cover a three hour period, range from a low of 13 to a high of 22 cyclists. One of the counts, at the intersection on Horne and 7th, can be compared with a "before" value. The comparable measure in September 2017 was 21 whereas it had doubled, with the bike lane, to 40.

Finally, two observations:.
1) We noted that some cyclists on 7th avoided riding in the bike lane. These were usually cyclists travelling east who chose to ride on the south side of 7th, meaning they were cycling in the same direction as vehicular traffic. Travelling east in the bike lane required cyclists to face oncoming traffic. Although we didn't survey cyclists, our impression was that this could have discouraged use of the outside cycle lane.

2) With the exception of those who lived on the route and therefore received letters from the District advising them about the loss of parking, Mission residents had little or no advance notice that they were about to receive a temporary bike lane. In my view, this lack of advance publicity could have promoted the feeling of a top-down technocratic approach to the event. I have included reference to an article, below, which argues that without real community engagement, the construction of bike lanes have often invoked a vociferous negative response, which the authors refer to as 'bikelash'. It's debatable whether more publicity would have blunted the bikelash that appeared in Mission social media. What's clear however is the need for the public to understand the rationale for bike lanes, even temporary ones.

Wild, K., Woodward, A., Field, A., & Macmillan, A. (2018). Beyond ‘bikelash’: engaging with community opposition to cycle lanes. Mobilities, 13(4), 505–519. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2017.1408950