Quote:
Originally Posted by shreddog
My recent experience commuting in Canada was Vancouver, which I'd say may be the gold standard for Canada (not wishing to start a fight here). If Copenhagen/Amsterdam are the gold standard for Europe, I'd put them at 100, Vancouver at 50 and Brussels around 70-75. Some parts of the city are better than others.
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Having biked extensively in Vancouver, Toronto and (to a lesser extent) Montreal, I'd say Vancouver's infrastructure is easily the worst of the bunch at this point (though still not terrible). Its reputation as a bike-friendly city is largely a legacy view: it was a pioneer of bike lanes in North America, and 15-20 years ago it was absolutely the gold standard. It seems to be resting on its laurels though, and hasn't really built much new infrastructure of note in recent years. Meanwhile, other cities have quietly been making impressive improvements to their own bike networks.
Kilgore's criticisms are fair: Vancouver lacks dedicated infrastructure outside of the downtown peninsula & recreational trails, has few bike lines on commercial streets & major thoroughfares, has issues with gaps in the connectivity of the system, and routes that are often meandering; while its roads can otherwise be quite unfriendly to cyclists.
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In other news, the redesigned intersection of the Bloor & St. George bike lanes in Toronto has been completed, which looks to be a big improvement:
https://x.com/cityoftoronto/status/1827382964235207075?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7C
https://www.blogto.com/city/2024/08/bloor-st-george-closure/
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