Penticton City Council鈥檚 decision to silence talk on separated bike lanes for the next three years has caught the attention of an award-winning Vancouver journalist who turned the whole thing into a TikTok video.
CBC journalist Justin McElroy, who has been covering the bike lane fiasco in Stanley Park for the past three years found Penticton鈥檚 pedalling halt to bike lanes as a welcome resolve to what is a very controversial topic in B.C.
McElroy writes, 鈥淧enticton banning all debate on separated bike lanes for three years is certainly a choice but when you watch the Vancouver Park [board] vote five times in three years on a single bike lane, with no conclusion in sight, you can see the appeal.鈥�
A Penticton city council resolution last week brought an end to any new bike lanes for the next three years. It also brought an end to a very long and controversial chapter in Penticton鈥檚 history, or has it? Paying for the last leg of the Lake to Lake bike lane is in the 2024 budget which is still being deliberated on.
City council in Penticton, B.C., has come up with a new solution to the drawn-out debates over bike lanes that can cause huge divisions in local government: don't let them happen at all. Justin McElroy reports.
McElroy also notes in the video that council鈥檚 4-3 decision to halt all new bike lanes came to 鈥榯he chagrin鈥� of the mayor who has been a proponent of the bike lanes both as a city councillor and now as mayor.
The Lake to Lake bike lane has divided this town, cost politicians their jobs and continues to enrage the public who have fought against the $8 million Triple-A path with protests, petitions and letters to the editor. The last leg of the barrier bike lane is yet to be completed on South Main at a price tag of $2.3 million for that portion. The city has applied for a grant to cover some of the costs.
There is over $810,000 in the 2024 budget for the South Main phase. Council is currently seeking input into the budget that is proposing an 8.7 per cent tax increase and a large utility rise in cost.
In his video, McElroy points out that bike lanes are talked about even more in Vancouver.
鈥淚t鈥檚 another example that installing bike lanes anywhere in B.C. continues to be a bumpy road,鈥� said McElroy.
