Temporary bike lanes a hit with cyclists, panned by drivers in survey

A new report from the Region of Waterloo shows cyclists mostly rated the temporary bike lanes put in place last summer highly while drivers felt inconvenienced.

The temporary bike lanes were approved last spring to provide more options for pedestrians and cyclists to be active during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regional staff conducted a project wrap-up survey on the temporary bike lanes with specific questions about respondents' mode of transportation, how often they used roads with these bike lanes and why they were using the road.

The bike lanes were on Westmount Road, Frederick Street in Kitchener, parts of Erb Street in Waterloo and Bridgeport Road in Waterloo. There also were bike lanes on King Street, Coronation Boulevard and Dundas Street in Cambridge, although that part of the pilot was ended early after councillors received negative feedback from people in the community.

Polarized

A report, set to be discussed at regional council's committee meeting on Tuesday, said previous surveys showed very "polarized responses" to the bike lanes.

"These previous surveys reflected a majority opinion representative of drivers for the most part, who were against temporary bike lanes and the minority opinion representative of cyclists who supported these temporary installations," the report said.

Drivers who answered the wrap-up survey said they were frustrated by perceived delays getting to their destinations. A previous report in September indicated the temporary bike lanes on Westmount Road in Kitchener, slowed down drivers by an average of 6.5 per cent.

Cyclists, on the other hand, said the lanes suited their needs. The September report showed cyclist usage across all the routes was up 41 per cent in July when compared to pre-pandemic weekday volumes.

Drivers slowed down

People who lived along streets where the bike lanes were located reported that vehicles went more slowly when the temporary bike lanes were in place.

"We thought that was a significant observation," said Steve van De Keere, director of transportation for the region.

He says while not much was surprising in the survey results, he said having the survey focus on specific users, who were asked questions based on how they used the roads, will help inform future projects including possible inclusion of bike lanes when the roads are due for repair work.

"It was nice to get that breakdown as well, so not only did we find out answers from drivers, we also asked the drivers which roads are you mostly using," he said. "We got a lot of information through the survey."

Culture shift needed

David Trueman with the group Cycle WR, which advocates for more active transportation options for people in the region, said he hopes the region sees the temporary bike lanes as a worthwhile experiment.

He says it also shows that there is a lot of work to be done to convince people — and in particular drivers — that bike lanes are worth having on the region's streets.

"We do have an uphill battle in terms of the culture shift that is required to have a greater acceptance of cyclists and pedestrians having a greater share of the space on our streets," Trueman said.

As well, he said it shouldn't be viewed as a representative sample. Generally, he said, people who feel the strongest about the issue are more likely to fill out the survey. He said other studies, including from the Ontario group Share the Road, have shown the general population of drivers accept cyclists being on the roads.

Trueman says there is an "us versus them" attitude for drivers and cyclists, and that needs to change.

He says people have to remember people on the road, whether cycling, driving or walking, have the same goal: "We're just people that need to get places."

How people responded

The region sorted the survey responses into five groups: Drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, public transit users and people who lived along roads where the temporary bike lanes were installed.

Drivers:

• There were 622 responses from drivers who gave an overall satisfaction rating of 3.5 out of 10. 
• "The top negative response was that the bike lanes did not meet their needs as a driver. Most drivers also noted that they had to drive more slowly while beside the temporary bike lines," the report said.
• Westmount Road was the most used location and 61 per cent of respondents said they felt the bike lanes delayed them while 56 per cent also indicated "they are not willing to increase travel time to include bike lanes for cyclists on the existing roadway."

Cyclists:

• There were 209 responses from cyclists who gave an overall satisfaction rating of 7.4 out of 10.
• "The top positive responses indicated that cyclists liked being able to stay off the sidewalk, they understood how to use the bike lanes, the lanes made it easy to travel quickly and they also made it easier to share the road with drivers," the report says.
• Most cyclists indicated they used the bike lanes to run errands, exercise or leisure.

Pedestrians:

• There were 191 responses from pedestrians who gave an overall satisfaction rating of 5.5 out of 10.
• "The top positive response from pedestrians was that they felt safe or comfortable walking beside the bike lanes," the report says.

Transit users:

• There were 36 responses from people who used public transit with an overall satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 10.
• The report says public transit users had a good understanding about the bike lanes but the report does not say if they reported any problems with the lanes.

People who lived near bike lanes:

• There were 47 responses from people who lived on a street where the lanes were installed with an overall satisfaction rating of 4.4 out of 10.
• "This audience understood the purpose of the bike lanes and the most positive response in this group was that they felt that the bike lanes caused traffic to drive more slowly in front of their homes," the report said.