Photo: Gagandeep Ghuman
By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: April 6, 2013
Give Becky Bailie a choice between a car and a bike, and she would probably pick the latter.
“When I can, I try to choose my bike over my car,” she says.
And yet there are times she wishes she was driving something to throw some weight around.
It’s when she takes a right off the highway on to Mamquam Road, and finds she has to share the narrow road with cars eager to clear the intersection.
It’s when she rides a bike on a pitch-dark Loggers Lane, wondering when the road would see some lights.
Or when people honk at her on Cleveland Ave for not choosing a lane fast enough. Or when trucks rumble on Loggers Lane in downtown Squamish, and she finds no bike lanes to move into.
There are many more instances she can share.
There are bike lanes littered with signs taking up entire lanes, forcing her to swerve into the traffic. She has also had the pleasure of biking uphill where the bike lane have been ripped out.
Despite a counter-cultural push towards bikes and our reputation as an outdoor mecca, those who ride bike can still face daunting challenges in Squamish.
A splintered geography, a slow but slowly improving bike lanes are issues that still need to be tackled.
Local environmentalist Ana Santos says Squamish has improved considerably from the past five or seven years.
Bike lanes are clean and clear, and there are more bike-related signs sprouting up throughout the community.
This is the stuff that Susan Chapelle’s dreams are made of.
A bike-able, walk-able town connected by well-cared for trails, bike lanes, a shuttle bus for town, a commuter bus to the city, another HandyDART.
As the chair of the now-defunct transit committee , Chapelle has studied closely the challenge of improving transit and transportation around town.
“It’s about providing an easy transport access from one end of the town to the other,” she said.
A well-laid out pedestrian and bike trail network would be the first step in improving connectivity.
“We need better sidewalks, more bike lanes, and connectivity to our trails to reduce the car traffic,” she said.
Better bike parking, a shuttle bus to provide an alternative to expensive BC Transit, and a commuter bus to the city are some of the transit issues that Chapelle said she would like to work on.
She also said she is proud of what the council has accomplished so far.
“We have been able to focus on transit and bring it back on the agenda,” she said.
One concrete step, she said, was working with the BC transit to align the bus times with the school timing.
Another program underway is finding out what prohibits the students taking transit.
The newly hired transport coordinator, Kimberly Armour, is also working on an east-west bike connector.
Engineer Jenni Chancey, meanwhile, is meeting with school principals, and has just completed an analysis of Safe Route to Schools.
To encourage ridership, two seniors can use transit for the price of one on Tuesdays. Route changes were also recently introduced to make transit efficient.
Squamish also lobbied successfully for the gas tax for the Corridor Trail.
Yet, Chapelle said, there is much more that needs to be done to improve transit.
“If I had a lot of money, I’d invest in a shuttle bus, build bus shelters and bike lanes,” Chapelle said.
“I’d basically make transit free.”
Alexandra Suhner Isenberg says
Given the lack of jobs in this town (and therefore the lack of people commuting to local jobs by bike) I would hope that the District does not spend money on bike lanes. All the other issues (sidewalks, public transport, connections) are far more important than bike lanes.
Carrie says
I agree Alexandra, there is a huge lack of sidewalks and appropriate lighting in almost every part of town.
Jason Bechard says
‘Make transit free’, another great pipe dream from Squamish Council. Who’s going to pay the drivers wages? Who’s going to pay for fuel? Who’s going to pay insurance? Oh wait, we will just whine to the provincial government and go deeper in debt. Worked great for the Nexen lands so far hasn’t it? With this new ‘transit plan’ they once again segregated the Squamish Nation reserve south of town, not only that they left the bus stop sign right were it was, nice try covering it up with a garbage bag that has now blown away into someones yard.
How about investing in some sidewalks as mentioned above and some proper lighting of streets. Half the streets in Squamish look like a muggers paradise once the sun goes down. You wonder why people don’t go for late night strolls or why crime is so rampant at night? When you got almost total darkness to hide in anything is possible. Maybe the district needs to look into replacing all street lights with LED lighting and with the money they are going to save not using sodium bulbs put up more lighting in areas that need it. There is absolutely no reason why Squamish residents should have to stumble around in the dark when they just increased their taxes 10%
More bike lanes? The highway is one big fricken bike lane and it cuts through the middle of Squamish, what more could you want. “The newly hired transport coordinator, Kimberly Armour, is also working on an east-west bike connector.” East-West connector?? We have them already, they are called CROSSWALKS, but apparently people in Squamish have not learned their true purpose yet as you see when driving down Cleveland.
Bad enough the DOS has eliminated most street parking for bike lanes around places that have rental suites and the renters have no choice but to park on the streets. Maybe the district should go after home and condo owners and mandate that if they are going to rent housing they must provide OFF STREET parking. Instead of harassing and penalizing people that can’t do anything about it.
Anonymous says
Yes…. Lets raise taxes to build more bike lanes!! If we tax, tax, and tax more we can fulfill the dreams of the “cycle lobby”.
People give your head a shake!!