Healthy, carbon-free, easy to park, the humble bicycle has become one of the few winners in the COVID-19 lockdown. With businesses shut and people staying home, fearful of infecting or being infected, cycling emerged as the safest mode of transportation โ not to mention the most popular vehicle for food deliveries, trips to the store or escaping home for a mental health break.
Across Canada, cyclists are enjoying new respect. Calgary city officials started closing major roads on weekends to give walkers and cyclists more room to roam. Vancouver banned cars from Stanley Park Drive, the picturesque road through the cityโs famous park, and partially closed nearby Beach Avenue to make more room for humans. Toronto is fast-tracking plans for 40 kilometres of new lanes. Montreal announced plans to add 327 kilometres of bicycle paths and pedestrian lanes this summer. Abroad, France is creating 650 kilometres of cycleways and offering โฌ50 per person for bike repairs.
The bicycleโs shining moment may have been in April, when both Toronto and the province of Quebec named bike shops โessential services,โ enabling them to stay open during the lockdown.
Vรฉlo Quรฉbec, a non-profit that promotes cycling, made a strong case for the exemption. โItโs a way of travelling where you can keep physical distance from each other,โ said VQ president Suzanne Lareau. โThe number-one reason people donโt ride bikes in the city is because theyโre afraid of the cars, but from one day to the next, that problem disappeared. So itโs important to remember that biking is a great form of transport, even in a pandemic.โ
Even bike mechanics have become heroes, braving infection risks as they handle other peopleโs bike parts. โWeโre on the front lines because everyone wants their bike [repaired],โ one store owner told the Montreal Gazette. โWeโre trying to be extra careful, but itโs scary.โ
The same bike boom is happening around the world. The number of bicycles crossing New York Cityโs East River bridges doubled following the COVID shutdown. Bogotรก, Colombia, added 76 kilometres of bike lanes to provide additional cycling capacity. Berlin has already widened some roads to make room for cyclists. According to The Guardian, 133 other German cities submitted applications for more โpop-upโ bike lanes.
Celebrity urbanist Richard Florida is urging cities to expand bike lanes and encourage bike- and scooter-sharing programs โ not just during the lockdown, but for the long haul.
The Netherlandsโ reserved bicycle โhighways,โ and their inner-city bicycle corridors that can be opened to vehicles at the press of a button in case of emergency, demonstrate that North American cities have a long way to go to catch up to Europeโs pedal-powered infrastructure.
For individuals, cycling โmeans cheaper travel and better health,โ says Chris Heaton-Harris, the U.K.โs transport minister. โFor business, it means increased productivity and increased footfall in shops. And for society as a whole it means lower congestion, better air quality and vibrant, attractive places and communities.โ
A version of this story appeared in the Summer Issue of Corporate Knights.