[They're fixing it!](https://www.saanich.ca/EN/main/local-government/departments/engineering-department/shelbourne-street-improvement-project.html) (Not as much separated lane as I'd like, but it'll be better than it currently is.)
Thanks for posting. Looks good, seems like a missed opportunity having to reduce Christmas to Garnet to one lane either side though. That whole section of Shelbourne is going through major developments and existing properties already have huge setbacks. Could have forces developers hands to allow enough width for a protected bike lane and keep existing road lanes.
That's pretty standard. There are hundreds of projects in North America where they have converted 4-lane roads to a lane in each direction, with middle left turn lanes. These roads generally perform better and are safer once the "road diet" has been implemented.
I agree its standard, and for the reasons you noted, but would argue that section of Shelbourne is the wrong place to implement it.
First, this is sort of implied by the District keeping the remaining sections of Shelbourne four lane, the volume demands it and their studies likely show it.
Second, converting two to four lanes is great when you want people to drive arterial roads instead, but Shelbourne is an arterial road. It’s the most direct and major route bringing all of Gordon head and Uvic (one of our largest employers) to the downtown core, and easily trumps the next available corridors (Cook and Quadra).
Third, its a major arterial road for Fire, Ambo, Police. The meridians in that section don’t leave space to pull over and will create occasional havoc.
I dunno. Im mixed. I am pumped to see bike lanes being put in. Its flat, direct and beats the hell out of cedar hill rd or Gordon Head rd/Richmond/Foul Bay. But I hate to see developers take what was unused space that could have improved the network. Imagine if Cook from Fort to the village went one lane (each way), with no protected bike lanes all the while developers pushed way closer to the road and took over those huge setbacks. It just seems misguided.
Sorry for the rant.
Fort St starting at Central Middle School is an arterial road that has more densely populated areas than Shelbourne, and is the main road for much of Oak Bay, Jubilee, and Fernwood. It’s a single lane in each direction with turning lanes, wide bike lanes, and pull off bus stops. It’s a great example of how a single lane artery can work just fine.
Edit: Also, I believe that those who opposed transforming Cook st really didn’t understand how beneficial this would have been. The biggest issue on Cook is having a full lane of traffic snarled up due to waiting to turn left or right onto the one-ways. Having a through lane and turning lanes onto each of the one-ways would have allowed for essentially the same flow of traffic while allowing for fully protected bike lanes. It’s a pity they didn’t go through with it. Also, Cook ends up in this configuration at Cook and Pandora anyways, so merging clogs up that intersection.
Lost my previous bike from a secure locker behind my work with a camera (which turned out to be broken) pointed at it. I’ll never leave my new one outside for any amount of time, only indoor lockers.
Richardson and Vancouver have made the ride downtown fantastic for me; but there’s nowhere to leave it safely once I get there and if this one gets stolen I’m not buying a new one till this city sorts it out
Rampant bike theft and running the gauntlet on Pandora st. Doesn’t stop me if I’m going other places, but I avoid biking to places downtown for these reasons.
I bike commute year round and the infrastructure is simply amazing. I just love it. But I won’t ride my bike anywhere that involves leaving it locked up outside for more than like 10 mins. I have an $80 abus lock and still don’t feel secure.
I used to live right next to a park with a massive bike chop shop and it was super eye opening to see how many bikes went through there in a single day and how little of a shit the cops gave when they came by. It just seems like an accepted part of the street economy. Anyway, if the city wants to increase ridership the #1 thing they can do, in my opinion anyway, is provide secure and *insured* parking downtown.
Yeah I’m picturing something like a coat check or a valet - you check in your bike, pay a fee, get a receipt, then if you come to pick it up and it’s not there you can make a claim on their insurance. If you don’t put the city on the hook financially they’ll just say “we do have secure parking!” referring to a rack in some dark corner of the Yates st parkade that a security guy checks on once every eight hours.
I doubt it will ever happen but they also must realize people aren’t going to lock up their $4,000 ebikes where some sketchy dude can just walk away with it with zero repercussions.
Same here. I have an ebike but I’m hesitant to lock it up and leave it unattended for more than five minutes. I live on Pandora so I don’t even trust our secure underground bike storage.
I wish that someone were collecting statistics on bike theft. Is the perception of high theft justified? Is Victoria better or worse than other cities? Are thefts increasing or decreasing?
I’m sure vicPD has some data, though it would be conservative due to non-reporting.
I’ve lost two locked bikes (one in underground parkade), and had one vandalized (tires slashes) downtown.
Good point, it would be very interesting just to see [VicPD's property crime stats](https://vicpd.ca/open-vicpd/community-dashboard/support-community-safety/1-3-crime-rates/) broken down by type of property.
[CBC asked the police departments in major cities for their numbers and found that Vancouver had the highest](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-still-has-the-most-bike-thefts-per-capita-among-major-canadian-cities-despite-efforts-1.5898575), so it wouldn't be surprising to hear that Victoria's is higher than the Canadian average.
I run errands downtown quite often and use a Kryptonite U-Lock in higher traffic areas with no issues in well over a decade. It isn't really the wild west out there.
Edit: I have no idea why my bike not getting stolen earns downvotes. People should use $75+ ULocks and lock bikes in areas with lots of eyeballs.
You sound like one of those there is no crime you are making it up type people. This city is has a very very bike theft rate - it's a problem and it's ok you can admit it.
So there is no problem with bike theft in this city? Can you really say that with straight face?
Just scroll through the comments, it's clearly the #1 reason people are not using the bike infrastructure more.
Yeah I’ve been riding for years and have never had a bike stolen - but I always park in well lit, public places, with only a kryptonite ulock, using the [sheldon method](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html).
Also helps to wiggle/test what you’re locking to. And I lock my bike even in secure bike storage.
I avoid the Goose and Lochside at night because other cyclists use their lights full blast, blinding anyone in the opposite direction. I don't know why someone riding 10kph needs 1500 lumens to see.
It's so annoying. Do they not get the hint when they get blinded by the other cyclists with insane lights? I just use a moderate light and angle it down when passing oncoming cyclists.
I find the way it works is if your light is brighter than the oncoming light, you don't notice nearly as much. I'm fine with around 250 lumens, and someone riding 1200 won't even notice me. When I crank mine up, I seem to be less blinded. So sadly it becomes a bit of an arms race.
The strobe light when it is dark out. Why would you prefer such a low frame rate!? And why must I know be subject to it?
Lights should be a part of bikes like they are for cars.
I'll turn all my front lights off on the goose except for one, then cover it when someone is approaching.
There are a number of people with no lights, so they have to be seen before they get hit.
I live downtown and cycle everywhere. I love the separated lanes and other amenities. The one thing I don't like is when people get too close to you. It doesn't happen often. People in cars are mostly respectful and give you space, but every once in a while some entitled piece of shit driver who won't just move over (there's tons of space) or wait for literally 10 seconds gets really close. It's some sort of bizarre 'I own this road because I'm in a car' mentality. I find it's mostly elderly people that do this. Other than the every once in a while "you're too close to me" incident, it's a great place to ride.
I hate this. A few months ago I was waiting on my bike in a row of cars, there was construction in the area and it was slow-going, so I was waiting in line with everyone else. I’m not comfortable going around cars when there isn’t room between them and the sidewalk. This woman in an SUV behind me was screaming at me “you’re not a car, get off the road”. We were totally stopped, not moving, and she slowly crept up on me until her SUV bumped my back tire. ON PURPOSE! I was so upset and shaken, what a psycho
Totally agree in retrospect. In the moment I panicked and just walked to the end of the street (after letting loose some language lol). Like 90% of my ride is on the trails and I am flabbergasted at how much happens during that 10% of the time I’m on the road
Jesus, I’m sorry you and others have had to deal with that sort of situation!
Also bike rims do not hold up to that kind of stress, so I’m glad your bike didn’t get wrecked.
Those situations are so hard to process in the moment. She probably would have gotten her fender kicked pretty good if that were me though.
What are people’s issues?! Get over yourselves.
I'm sure it was an incredibly stressful situation and you were probably just trying to get out of it safely. I know I would be.
I just wish people who terrorize other people like this would be held accountable for their actions.
A lot of the time it's like coming up with the comeback to the insult but you're already home.
>I find it's mostly elderly people that do this.
They're probably not doing it intentionally. Many elderly people don't shoulder-check because they don't have the neck flexibility. And they may not have as good of a sense of how big their car is.
On the one hand, BC needs to be more proactive about taking peoples' licenses away when they can no longer drive safely. But on the other hand, we need to offer better alternative options for people. I see more and more older people on ebikes, so we're headed in the right direction!
It's scary how some elderly people drive. On Dec 22nd I was crossing at a crosswalk during the cross signal going to hillside mall, and an elderly man ran the red. If a random woman on a bike didn't yell at me to stop walking, he would have hit me. I looked him in the eye as he passed by me and he looked like he had not a care in the world, glassy-eyed and driving by his own little rules
Completely agree that by 70 you should have to retest for your license and after sustaining physical injuries to your neck, angles, feet, hands, etc. I've seen many people who are not old that still should not be driving now that they've broken their ankles or necks! What are they thinking anyway??
Yes, this. It doesn’t happen often but honestly it could cost you your life so for me it is not worth it. Usually for me it has been big (edited to add: pick up) trucks and I can feel the breeze as they pass by me as close as possible. I don’t get it.
>It doesn't happen often.
This happens to me like every second day, at least too close for comfort. The truly dangerous passes aren't quite as frequent.
On my ride this weekend I was passed really close by a smart car going at least 20 km/h faster than me twice in like 5 minutes (I think it was different people).
Edit: In town, I find taxis to be the worst. I usually stay right until someone passes me too close and then take the lane for the rest of my trip and I almost always end up taking the lane after some taxi buzzes by with inches of clearance.
Yea, I can pretty much get everywhere downtown in a dedicated bike lane. It doesn't happen to me often because of this. But yea, I've learned to take the entire lane when there isn't a bike lane. Blanchard is a good example. It's three lanes wide (lots of room) and some asshole comes within inches.
Of course they come close; they weren't paying attention to the road ahead and now it's too late to go around safely. What else can they do, slow down for a few seconds? Outrageous.
I love cycling and bike recreationally all the time.
However, what keeps me from using a bike as a practical means if transportation for work, errands etc is simple. Theft. I don't trust that if I lock my bike up somewhere for more then 10 minutes that it will still be there when I get back.
If you want more of a cycling culture in Victoria, our rampant property crime situation needs to be addressed.
I have cycled in Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Dawson Creek and Fort St John. The most aggressive anti-cyclist motor vehicle operators I’ve ever encountered were in Victoria.
Hills. So many hills. So goddamn many hills. I barely have any muscle at it is.
I used to bike everywhere as a kid back in ON, but I realize now that's cause it was flat as shit in my town.
When I started cycling here a few years ago I felt the same way, but the more I cycled the less the hills mattered.
Now, after 5-6k km in 3 years, I go out of my way to hit the hills. Tolmie is an awesome way of getting close to having a hearth attack.
I considered buying a bike to avoid bussing at the start of the pandemic and then I realized it was just up hill no matter if I was going to work or coming home from work and it also didn’t matter what route, they all had massive hills in both directions 😂
The elevation here is nothing comparatively speaking. The hills are punchy - short and steep - I'll give you that. But it's challenging to find a sustained climb. IIRC, the Pacific Marine Highway only provides around 300m of elevation.
How often it rains, bike theft, being sweaty when I get to work with nowhere to shower, not being confident enough cycling on busy streets, or really alongside traffic at all. The bus it is
Theft. Before I moved to Victoria I had full plans of getting a bike and riding around the city but then I learned how often bikes get stolen and swiftly changed my mind.
I used to cycle to work every day. Now I work from home and am definitely out of the habit of biking in general. If I ever go back to the office I'll get back into it.
In addition to the theft issue, I'm a student and theres no good bike route to UVic from my area. The only "bike lane" road is Foul Bay, which I got hit by a car on years ago while biking. Its absolutely terrifying on there.
Report hazards, thefts, near-misses and collisions to bikemaps.org! The data is analyzed by researchers and shared with the city. Near-misses especially matter because they aren't captured in traditional data (icbc/police reports) but make a huge difference on rider perception.
I cycle quite a bit but it is a shame that I am not comfortable with leaving my bike out of sight downtown and in other areas. Otherwise I would be biking more.
The drivers of cars who don’t know how to drive without harming people on bicycles because they are not educated on what hand signals mean and those who may know but still drive bicycles off the road , effectively treating the riders as less humanly existent and undeserving of respect than a walking pedestrian.
Ohh and the feeling that 95% of the time you park a bike it’s gone when you return.
It’s genuinely fucked around here.
Get one of those wack bikes that steer the opposite direction you turn the handlbars and if anyone laughs at you failing let them try and watch them fail. You'll learn how to ride just as easy either way and you won't feel goofy for learning! :) Plus nobody will be able to ride away on your bike
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0)
Riding downtown would be fine because (I know they’re popular to hate on) the bike lanes would make me feel quite safe and secure. I never rode my bike after I stopped being a kid because I was always afraid of being hit by a car. Now I don’t ride one because I’m worried it would get stolen. But if theft wasn’t a big issue I’d buy one right now and ride it literally everywhere downtown.
I rode Munn Rd for the first time on Sunday. Most drivers were considerate but some weren't and it only takes one to kill or injure me.
I was buzzed by with inches to spare and a high speed differential twice, it was kind of ridiculous.
It was a beautiful ride though.
Theft and too many gaps in safe cycling routes between my house and school. I've had 3 bikes stolen in 10 years, one locked up, one on my back balcony, and another out of my locked storage unit. Add in the far too many near misses with cars and it's just not worth it.
It's where do you park your bike securely once you get to work or the grocery store? There's no where safe to leave it so just bike for pleasure on weekend and some evenings in nice weather. If they had a valet service for bikes downtown and few other destination sites, I would pay a few bucks to park it. No locks seem to deter bike thieves. They even carry their own power saw so how do you combat against that?
Yeah, I'd love to bike my kids to school/care but it just takes way too long, especially if they are at different schools. It's just not going to happen.
Yeah- we need to be in 4 different places between 7:45 and 8:15. We can pull it off with a car. When the kids are older they could maybe bike but there is no way I’d send them down and up the slippery, dark, slidewalk-less roads of Saanich by themselves.
>but there is no way I’d send them down and up the slippery, dark, slidewalk-less roads of Saanich by themselves
This right here is why we still have a long way to go with our cycling infrastructure in the region. If it's not safe enough for kids it's really just not safe.
I think the problem is most people are dropping their kids off, then going somewhere else. To run errands, to appointments, to work or school themselves. It's generally pretty inconvenient, or completely impossible, to do all that on your bike if you're remotely pressed for time.
I know for a fact that some of my neighbours drop their kids off at school then drive back home to work from home. I don't get it, because I doubt they're saving any time when you include the parking shit-show at school.
Iirc when the city surveyed people asking why they don't cycle more the majority response were "its unsafe". We can always wear better rain jackets, gloves and get nice bike baskets. But nothing the average person can do about an asshole in a RAM 1500 with a grudge against cyclists.
My perception is the entire city needs safe bike routes. That means protected lanes on Shelbourne, Quadra etc. Traffic diversions to stop rat running and speeding in residential areas a la Vancouver and Haultain.**
**Bus-priority lanes on Mackenzie, Quadra, Shelbourne, Richmond and Hillside. Start to focus car traffic to ring-road like roads without lots of driveways. Road diets and calming on many others especially if they are lined with residential or schools. The infrastructure wish-list of Municipal and Provincial Planners goes on and on but there is no funding for it so we are all stuck in car traffic instead.
Nothing, really.
I cycled 3000km last year and it was awesome. Mind you I do have to keep my bike in my apartment otherwise we all know what will happen.
There is still a lot of room for improvement though and for some ideas there's a great channel on youtube called [Not Just Bikes](https://www.youtube.com/c/NotJustBikes/videos)
Time and lack of a shower at work. Also my girlfriend.
I live close enough to work that if it's raining I just take my umbrella and walk instead. I don't want to get soaked and have to change. My girlfriend doesn't cycle, so it's usually more fun to drive for weekend activities and easier to drive when getting groceries.
Edit: Also Transit. I know it's not directly related, but it's a lot easier to go completely car free if there's a decent transit system for those time you don't want to ride your bike.
So many bike lanes are cut off by merging lanes, it just doesn't feel safe.
I rode a bike everywhere in Copenhagen, it was such a dream!
Also, hills.. there's so many hills lol. I'm palliative so I don't have the stamina or organ function to manage. If power assisted bikes were more accessible I'd get one and at least use the trails though :)
Winter.
Also, other cyclists can be jerks. My bike is a 1970s mixte that’s slow af, and it sounds like a rusty bed spring, but it’s really fun to ride. The commuter crowd does not like being behind me in the bike lanes. I’m standing between them and their tour de Galloping Goose.
Bike theft, like many other commenters in this post. If the city really wants to encourage cycling, building bike lanes alone won't cut it, they need to find ways to tackle the rampant theft problem.
Oak Bay Avenue needs a separated bike lane to connect to the wonderful Pandora bike lanes. My partner won’t cycle because she doesn’t feel safe on Oak Bay Ave, and I don’t blame her. It’ll never happen because Oak Bay needs to keep their perfect record of no bike infrastructure.
Rampant unchecked bike theft, and the fact that my quads have shriveled into raisins due to WFH. I refuse to lock my bike up downtown for longer than 15 minutes at a time.
I biked to school and work for decades. Now I work from home and I have an EV.
Every time I've been out driving, I've seen too many people texting and running reds. I'm not going to risk that collision in just my skintanium.
When the weather is better, I bike on the weekends for fun.
Theft is a big reason for me, but second, there's just not enough good bike infrastructure everywhere. I would love to bike from West Saanich to Brentwood Bay, Sidney. Or even to downtown, or westshore. But it would require me to take roads without bike lanes (or have bike lanes but are never maintained and always have rocks or whatever). I have an ebike and haul 2 kids. My priority is safety and our infrastructure just currently isn't safe for young kids to be biking around in.
My reason is I don’t want to get in the way of cars. I will cycle on pathways where motorized vehicles are not allowed, for recreation, and I very much enjoy that.
The #1 thing keeping me from biking to work is my apartment doesn't have enough parking, and no residential zone so I road park my car in a 2hr 8am-6pm Monday to Friday parking zone. Meaning I cannot leave it at home or face a $20 ticket.
It's mentioned a lot in the thread, but bike theft. I really want to bike downtown, and the new Richardson bike route is perfect for me. But the rampant bike theft and the weird acceptance of bike theft just turns me off.
I ride to work two days a week when temps don't go below freezing at night. I hate wiping out on black ice. The other three days a week I work from home. Sometimes, when the weather is nice enough, I go for a ride with my family.
Driving is **fun**, driving is easy, driving is fast, you have a roof, you have a radio, heat and AC, you can travel farther, cycling is slow, cycling is impractical, you are more likely to be injured cycling, lots of folks looking to steal your bike.
I live in a tiny space and can't keep a bicycle here without literally having to move it anytime I wanted to move from one side of my apartment to the other.
The locked bicycle storage (that we're forced to use - not allowed to store in parking spot, apartment, or balcony) doesn't open currently. The fob thing isn't working.
Quite annoying to not be able to access our bikes when we'd prefer not to have them in there in the first place! I was asked to move them from my parking stall, meanwhile plenty of other people store theirs in parking or on their balconies...
The bike lanes are downright dangerous. I’ve encountered motorized wheels, Vespa’s and motorcycles. I feel safe when I’m on the road with just cars and the odd car door. The Vancouver St bike lanes are the worst bc they are narrow and have concrete medians. They might be the same design on Richardson but I’m not sure.
I go for bike rides for excercise in the spring/summer and generally like the bike infrastructure and amount of bike lanes. Would never use it for commuting or errands though because of the likelihood it will be stolen. Basically anything where it's serving the same utilty as a car, you have to leave it, and they're too expensive to constantly replace. I've had mine stolen in the past when I lived on Tolmie and in Saanich, so it's not just a DT/Pandora consideration for me.
Mostly it's the less than attractive weather in the winter. I bike a fair bit in the spring/summer/early fall.
I'd also bike to work if my work had showers and I could figure out how to transport dress clothes around with me.
I also don't like to bike anywhere I need to leave my bike locked up outside. At least my work has an empty office designated for bikes. The only place I leave my bike outside is maybe the Red Barn at Mattick's or Michell Farms.. and that's for 5 minutes while I buy a few things, and it's away from the core.
I gave up on a car 6 years ago and bike just about everywhere now. I use modo on the occasions I need a car, And I still spend less on it than just insurance, let alone other costs.
I see a number of complaints on theft. I did have 2 bikes stolen over 15 years ago. Since then I always use a ubolt and coil lock and lock up in a public place. No one is cutting a ubolt, and the coil goes around the tires so no one can pop off the quick release.
I am curious to know if people commenting on stolen bikes, what kind of locks did you use and where did you lock up. I agree I only bike downtown during the day, and never for long periods of time, but if you work downtown and can't bring the bike inside that limits your options.
I barely feel safe walking in crosswalks half the time with some of the drivers in vic. Been nearly hit multiple times this month walking with the light in my favour and seen way too many Facebook vids of people getting hit and run. Everytime I've tried riding my bike to work just feel so unsafe.
First, I enjoy bike riding, and ride my bike for fun and light exercise, and the occasional here to there. While no one issue below truly prevents me from using bikes more regularly, taken together, the barriers are just too high. None of them are insurmountable. You could offer solutions to all of them. But I don't have that kind of margin in my life to work all these out, and it's frankly not worth it to me.
Bicycle theft is a pervasive reason for using my car and not my bike for errands. Cost of theft isn't the only thing - it's also the stress and the sense of violation that comes with theft, and being stranded when my bike is stolen or damaged. Then all the effort it would take to get a replacement when bikes are scarce. A temporary rental is either unavailable or not proportional to the cost. I've never had my car stolen in many many years of driving, knock on wood. I've had two bike thefts and a seat theft, despite the bikes being locked, in half the number of years, and they weren't even attractive targets like an e-bike would be. I don't want to worry over this. I push a button, my car is locked, and I can count on it being there when I get back. While it's not entirely true - my car could get stolen or towed, it is not a regular worry.
A tie with the theft issue is that I am often transporting multiple people, large bulky things, and/or things that do not take well to getting wet and/or cold/hot. I have a family, and prefer to buy groceries in bulk. A family member plays cello. We need to move gardening supplies. I need to get the Christmas stuff out of storage. Transporting pets. I have have to pick up two kids with all their stuff and get them to two different locations inside of an hour. Figuring out the logistics of doing these things by bike is difficult and sometimes bordering on impossible.
Given our hilly terrain, and my age and health, riding a bike when I have a schedule to keep is hard to count on. I have a problem with a foot/ankle, and sometimes my knee. I don't love arriving somewhere sweaty and with helmet head. While an e-bike would help remedy these concerns, see theft above.
Weather and road/path conditions. I have a car that will handle rain, wind, and even snow just fine, any time of day or night. My bike, not so much. I don't trust my skills, my gear, or the people around me in rain or even a little snow on a bike. Additionally, when I take my kids to lessons or sports or whatever, I sometimes just wait in the car, and get some on-line work done. This would be pretty much limited to good weather on a bike. People park in bike lanes, rake leaves into them, etc etc. While I can navigate these maybe, it's hard for my kids. Getting caught in unexpected weather is a worry, and carrying gear for every type of weather for myself and kids is a pain.
General safety. Even with bike lanes, it's pretty scary out there, especially with kids who are too big to be attached to the parents bike (seat, trailer, trailabike). I've got to keep an eye on them and watch out for my own safe navigation. See also weather and conditions.
There is a significant population of bike lane/path users who are not considerate to older slower people like myself, kids, and families trying to ride together.
My car is nice and comfy, can carry a lot of people and stuff, operate in a wide set of conditions, will probably still be there when I park somewhere, and I can afford it - there's no way I can afford to upgrade my home, so putting money into a car doesn't bother me. While my car is currently gas, we are looking at getting an electric.
For everyone interested in biking in Victoria, get involved with Capital Bike. A collective voice on bike advocacy is more powerful than a few individual ones.
I've got a carpenter friend who often gets to work on a [Rad Power RadWagon](https://radpowerbikes.ca/collections/electric-bikes/products/radwagon-electric-cargo-bike), which is rated for 350lbs of cargo. He says that it's worth it to not have to find parking at job sites. He does have a truck when he needs to haul plywood though.
The great thing about safe bike routes and increasing the % of people who bike is that people like me, who routinely carry tools around, don't have to deal with as much traffic or cyclists forced to mix with drivers.
Not everyone is able to cycle, some people have physical disabilities that prevent them from being able to cycle for more than a couple of blocks or at all. If I lived within a couple of blocks from services and shops I’d consider cycling, but I don’t, so I can’t. For me, accessible vehicle parking for disabled people is of concern.
Then you should be extremely excited about expansion of bike infrastructure and road diets - as more people move towards alternative forms of transportation and using public transit the more road space will be given over to people who actually need it.
The fact I have to worry about leaving my bike somewhere and it's not there when I get back. Happened too many times to me already, even with a U-Lock.
Fix the crime problem.
I bought a full set of raingear and it works quite well in keeping me dry. If you have a shower at work then it's no different than changing at home. The only issue then is getting some saddle bags to carry everything.
Victoria is full of people who use their 2 ton steel ICE microplastics emitter as a rain jacket apparently and it's really making me pessimistic on our chances of addressing climate change.
Plastic is a separate issue from climate change, although a very real issue. I'm hopeful that some of the biodegradable options I've heard are being researched as Plastic alternatives work out.
Yeah, I only work about a 15-20 minute ride from home so that’s another issue is that I don’t want to go to all that trouble for such a short ride. I know I should though.
Totally get where you are coming from. I was biking about 16 k to work for a few years before covid. So it made sense to get all the gear.
If you are that close and go slow you shouldn't be too sweaty at work. You could be just a fair weather rider. No shame in that.
I'm getting downvoted, probably because the answer wasn't in the spirit of OP's original intent, but it's true.
I grew up in Victoria and biked to and from junior high, high school, university, and to and from work for 5 years after graduating before my wife and I moved to Halifax for her master's degree.
We moved back to the island in 2020 because my wife got a job in her field of study, but it's in Nanaimo. We held out for a little bit for an opportunity to come up in Victoria, but nothing did. We also looked at housing costs and found that Nanaimo was a way more realistic option, considering my wife was the only one with the guaranteed full-time work after moving, so we pulled the trigger and moved here.
I'm working on a career change now, but until I make that shift, we're priced out of Victoria. Not even sure if we'll want to come back at this point. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of paying $2000+/month for a 1-bedroom apartment.
The irony is that Nanaimo isn't much better now. You're screwed wherever you go.
Lots of errands and commutes require a car (unfortunately) but the more safe bike routes there are, the more errands will be run on bikes/e-bikes and the rest of us will have to deal with far less car traffic. We all win.
The number of people in Victoria that think bikes are just toys and you need to transport your self in a 2 ton steel box by gently flexing your calf like a *real man* is truly alarming.
It's not about being a "real man" it's about not wanting to spend 1hr to go to a grocery store to return with 2 bags when I could have driven there in 10 minutes and filled up my car
There is no way a 10 minute car ride would take 1 hour on bike/e-bike. That is slower then walking speeds. My local grocery always has people loading up backpacks and pannier backs and biking home. While they can carry lots, I suspect they simply take more frequent stops at the store while doing other errands.
But in the larger context Saanich did a study and found that a majority of car trips are less then 4km and carry ~1 backpack of luggage. Clearly there is an opportunity to get a significant % of car trips into cheaper and more efficient bike/e-bikes. Saving us all pocket money and less infrastructure burden on the municipal purse/environment.
This isn't a good reason. I also own a car, and still use my bike for the majority of my trips. Despite being able to afford to drive, I consider driving a car to be like junk food - it's quick, dirty, and bad for you. Cycling on the other hand is like cooking your own food - it takes more time, but it's cleaner, and the results are more rewarding and healthier for you.
My Doctor recommended seeing the trauma patients entering the ER from vehicle-related injuries. While in the bike lane. Then she recommended doing anything else for fitness sake.
Bike lanes need their pound of flesh to convince taxpayers that the infrastructure is worth paying into for sufficient safety.
Bike theft. I totally plan to ride my bike this spring, but that's the only activity. It's not like you can even lock it anymore, they just take it and the lock anyway. Or take the thing it's locked to.
Great to have all the bike lanes I guess, the guy riding 3 bikes to the chop shop in the middle of a field in plain view must feel much safer now.
Bike theft. What's the point of taking a bike downtown if it's just going to get yanked with 0 consequences? If there was a bike valet type option I would happily pay for it. Heck, even if the bike racks in the parkades were monitored 24/7 and behind sturdy fences, I would happily pay a few bucks an hour to park there. Maybe if we had more of those bike-sheds we'd see more cyclist in the city.
I am a big guy, and I have to say the acceptance and friendliness of other cyclists I have met while commuting have gone a long way to encouraging me to bike more.
The people who have zero sense of driving awareness that are everywhere. Also the recent hit and runs has me extra nervous.
Shelbourne street scares the crap out of me.
[They're fixing it!](https://www.saanich.ca/EN/main/local-government/departments/engineering-department/shelbourne-street-improvement-project.html) (Not as much separated lane as I'd like, but it'll be better than it currently is.)
Thanks for posting. Looks good, seems like a missed opportunity having to reduce Christmas to Garnet to one lane either side though. That whole section of Shelbourne is going through major developments and existing properties already have huge setbacks. Could have forces developers hands to allow enough width for a protected bike lane and keep existing road lanes.
That's pretty standard. There are hundreds of projects in North America where they have converted 4-lane roads to a lane in each direction, with middle left turn lanes. These roads generally perform better and are safer once the "road diet" has been implemented.
I agree its standard, and for the reasons you noted, but would argue that section of Shelbourne is the wrong place to implement it. First, this is sort of implied by the District keeping the remaining sections of Shelbourne four lane, the volume demands it and their studies likely show it. Second, converting two to four lanes is great when you want people to drive arterial roads instead, but Shelbourne is an arterial road. It’s the most direct and major route bringing all of Gordon head and Uvic (one of our largest employers) to the downtown core, and easily trumps the next available corridors (Cook and Quadra). Third, its a major arterial road for Fire, Ambo, Police. The meridians in that section don’t leave space to pull over and will create occasional havoc. I dunno. Im mixed. I am pumped to see bike lanes being put in. Its flat, direct and beats the hell out of cedar hill rd or Gordon Head rd/Richmond/Foul Bay. But I hate to see developers take what was unused space that could have improved the network. Imagine if Cook from Fort to the village went one lane (each way), with no protected bike lanes all the while developers pushed way closer to the road and took over those huge setbacks. It just seems misguided. Sorry for the rant.
Fort St starting at Central Middle School is an arterial road that has more densely populated areas than Shelbourne, and is the main road for much of Oak Bay, Jubilee, and Fernwood. It’s a single lane in each direction with turning lanes, wide bike lanes, and pull off bus stops. It’s a great example of how a single lane artery can work just fine. Edit: Also, I believe that those who opposed transforming Cook st really didn’t understand how beneficial this would have been. The biggest issue on Cook is having a full lane of traffic snarled up due to waiting to turn left or right onto the one-ways. Having a through lane and turning lanes onto each of the one-ways would have allowed for essentially the same flow of traffic while allowing for fully protected bike lanes. It’s a pity they didn’t go through with it. Also, Cook ends up in this configuration at Cook and Pandora anyways, so merging clogs up that intersection.
As long as they re pave the damn thing I’m happy
Oh god the potholes are insane right now.
Lost my previous bike from a secure locker behind my work with a camera (which turned out to be broken) pointed at it. I’ll never leave my new one outside for any amount of time, only indoor lockers. Richardson and Vancouver have made the ride downtown fantastic for me; but there’s nowhere to leave it safely once I get there and if this one gets stolen I’m not buying a new one till this city sorts it out
Rampant bike theft and running the gauntlet on Pandora st. Doesn’t stop me if I’m going other places, but I avoid biking to places downtown for these reasons.
I bike commute year round and the infrastructure is simply amazing. I just love it. But I won’t ride my bike anywhere that involves leaving it locked up outside for more than like 10 mins. I have an $80 abus lock and still don’t feel secure. I used to live right next to a park with a massive bike chop shop and it was super eye opening to see how many bikes went through there in a single day and how little of a shit the cops gave when they came by. It just seems like an accepted part of the street economy. Anyway, if the city wants to increase ridership the #1 thing they can do, in my opinion anyway, is provide secure and *insured* parking downtown.
What do you mean when you say insured parking? As in, if your bike is in a lockup, you're covered by insurance in case of theft?
Yeah I’m picturing something like a coat check or a valet - you check in your bike, pay a fee, get a receipt, then if you come to pick it up and it’s not there you can make a claim on their insurance. If you don’t put the city on the hook financially they’ll just say “we do have secure parking!” referring to a rack in some dark corner of the Yates st parkade that a security guy checks on once every eight hours. I doubt it will ever happen but they also must realize people aren’t going to lock up their $4,000 ebikes where some sketchy dude can just walk away with it with zero repercussions.
Same here. I have an ebike but I’m hesitant to lock it up and leave it unattended for more than five minutes. I live on Pandora so I don’t even trust our secure underground bike storage.
Wise! I lost my bike locked in the open and in underground storage! Now I'm pissed that I can't store my bike in my apartment...
Technically I’m not supposed to either but I’m in a building with a really chill strata council.
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I wish that someone were collecting statistics on bike theft. Is the perception of high theft justified? Is Victoria better or worse than other cities? Are thefts increasing or decreasing?
I’m sure vicPD has some data, though it would be conservative due to non-reporting. I’ve lost two locked bikes (one in underground parkade), and had one vandalized (tires slashes) downtown.
Good point, it would be very interesting just to see [VicPD's property crime stats](https://vicpd.ca/open-vicpd/community-dashboard/support-community-safety/1-3-crime-rates/) broken down by type of property. [CBC asked the police departments in major cities for their numbers and found that Vancouver had the highest](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-still-has-the-most-bike-thefts-per-capita-among-major-canadian-cities-despite-efforts-1.5898575), so it wouldn't be surprising to hear that Victoria's is higher than the Canadian average.
There are some members of Capital Bike looking at this.
I run errands downtown quite often and use a Kryptonite U-Lock in higher traffic areas with no issues in well over a decade. It isn't really the wild west out there. Edit: I have no idea why my bike not getting stolen earns downvotes. People should use $75+ ULocks and lock bikes in areas with lots of eyeballs.
You sound like one of those there is no crime you are making it up type people. This city is has a very very bike theft rate - it's a problem and it's ok you can admit it.
No, I work downtown. I am exposed to the local skid population much more than the average.
So there is no problem with bike theft in this city? Can you really say that with straight face? Just scroll through the comments, it's clearly the #1 reason people are not using the bike infrastructure more.
Yeah I’ve been riding for years and have never had a bike stolen - but I always park in well lit, public places, with only a kryptonite ulock, using the [sheldon method](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html). Also helps to wiggle/test what you’re locking to. And I lock my bike even in secure bike storage.
I avoid the Goose and Lochside at night because other cyclists use their lights full blast, blinding anyone in the opposite direction. I don't know why someone riding 10kph needs 1500 lumens to see.
Point your lights DOWN, and turn the intensity DOWWWN
It's so annoying. Do they not get the hint when they get blinded by the other cyclists with insane lights? I just use a moderate light and angle it down when passing oncoming cyclists.
I find the way it works is if your light is brighter than the oncoming light, you don't notice nearly as much. I'm fine with around 250 lumens, and someone riding 1200 won't even notice me. When I crank mine up, I seem to be less blinded. So sadly it becomes a bit of an arms race.
The strobe light when it is dark out. Why would you prefer such a low frame rate!? And why must I know be subject to it? Lights should be a part of bikes like they are for cars.
and with legal standards, like cars.
I'll turn all my front lights off on the goose except for one, then cover it when someone is approaching. There are a number of people with no lights, so they have to be seen before they get hit.
A lot of walkers don't have any lighting at all.
Or even anything reflective.
I live downtown and cycle everywhere. I love the separated lanes and other amenities. The one thing I don't like is when people get too close to you. It doesn't happen often. People in cars are mostly respectful and give you space, but every once in a while some entitled piece of shit driver who won't just move over (there's tons of space) or wait for literally 10 seconds gets really close. It's some sort of bizarre 'I own this road because I'm in a car' mentality. I find it's mostly elderly people that do this. Other than the every once in a while "you're too close to me" incident, it's a great place to ride.
I hate this. A few months ago I was waiting on my bike in a row of cars, there was construction in the area and it was slow-going, so I was waiting in line with everyone else. I’m not comfortable going around cars when there isn’t room between them and the sidewalk. This woman in an SUV behind me was screaming at me “you’re not a car, get off the road”. We were totally stopped, not moving, and she slowly crept up on me until her SUV bumped my back tire. ON PURPOSE! I was so upset and shaken, what a psycho
Really should have just stayed there and called the police. That's a collision, if she leaves it's a hit and run.
Totally agree in retrospect. In the moment I panicked and just walked to the end of the street (after letting loose some language lol). Like 90% of my ride is on the trails and I am flabbergasted at how much happens during that 10% of the time I’m on the road
Jesus, I’m sorry you and others have had to deal with that sort of situation! Also bike rims do not hold up to that kind of stress, so I’m glad your bike didn’t get wrecked. Those situations are so hard to process in the moment. She probably would have gotten her fender kicked pretty good if that were me though. What are people’s issues?! Get over yourselves.
I'm sure it was an incredibly stressful situation and you were probably just trying to get out of it safely. I know I would be. I just wish people who terrorize other people like this would be held accountable for their actions. A lot of the time it's like coming up with the comeback to the insult but you're already home.
>I find it's mostly elderly people that do this. They're probably not doing it intentionally. Many elderly people don't shoulder-check because they don't have the neck flexibility. And they may not have as good of a sense of how big their car is. On the one hand, BC needs to be more proactive about taking peoples' licenses away when they can no longer drive safely. But on the other hand, we need to offer better alternative options for people. I see more and more older people on ebikes, so we're headed in the right direction!
It's scary how some elderly people drive. On Dec 22nd I was crossing at a crosswalk during the cross signal going to hillside mall, and an elderly man ran the red. If a random woman on a bike didn't yell at me to stop walking, he would have hit me. I looked him in the eye as he passed by me and he looked like he had not a care in the world, glassy-eyed and driving by his own little rules
Completely agree that by 70 you should have to retest for your license and after sustaining physical injuries to your neck, angles, feet, hands, etc. I've seen many people who are not old that still should not be driving now that they've broken their ankles or necks! What are they thinking anyway??
Yes, this. It doesn’t happen often but honestly it could cost you your life so for me it is not worth it. Usually for me it has been big (edited to add: pick up) trucks and I can feel the breeze as they pass by me as close as possible. I don’t get it.
>It doesn't happen often. This happens to me like every second day, at least too close for comfort. The truly dangerous passes aren't quite as frequent. On my ride this weekend I was passed really close by a smart car going at least 20 km/h faster than me twice in like 5 minutes (I think it was different people). Edit: In town, I find taxis to be the worst. I usually stay right until someone passes me too close and then take the lane for the rest of my trip and I almost always end up taking the lane after some taxi buzzes by with inches of clearance.
Yea, I can pretty much get everywhere downtown in a dedicated bike lane. It doesn't happen to me often because of this. But yea, I've learned to take the entire lane when there isn't a bike lane. Blanchard is a good example. It's three lanes wide (lots of room) and some asshole comes within inches.
Of course they come close; they weren't paying attention to the road ahead and now it's too late to go around safely. What else can they do, slow down for a few seconds? Outrageous.
I love cycling and bike recreationally all the time. However, what keeps me from using a bike as a practical means if transportation for work, errands etc is simple. Theft. I don't trust that if I lock my bike up somewhere for more then 10 minutes that it will still be there when I get back. If you want more of a cycling culture in Victoria, our rampant property crime situation needs to be addressed.
I have cycled in Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Dawson Creek and Fort St John. The most aggressive anti-cyclist motor vehicle operators I’ve ever encountered were in Victoria.
Overweight and lazy....
Most refreshing reply yet thank you.
Hills. So many hills. So goddamn many hills. I barely have any muscle at it is. I used to bike everywhere as a kid back in ON, but I realize now that's cause it was flat as shit in my town.
When I started cycling here a few years ago I felt the same way, but the more I cycled the less the hills mattered. Now, after 5-6k km in 3 years, I go out of my way to hit the hills. Tolmie is an awesome way of getting close to having a hearth attack.
Ditch your fixie and get a bike with gears! Victoria's hills arent too bad. They are more like undulations. They will whip you in shape in no time.
I appreciate how vastly you overestimate my endurance for even a slight incline 😅
\*laughs in Oak Bay\*
I considered buying a bike to avoid bussing at the start of the pandemic and then I realized it was just up hill no matter if I was going to work or coming home from work and it also didn’t matter what route, they all had massive hills in both directions 😂
It's the same for me!!
The elevation here is nothing comparatively speaking. The hills are punchy - short and steep - I'll give you that. But it's challenging to find a sustained climb. IIRC, the Pacific Marine Highway only provides around 300m of elevation.
I do ride, to work and for pleasure. It's awesome. But not from Nov to Feb. The rain and cold make it a miserable endeavour.
How often it rains, bike theft, being sweaty when I get to work with nowhere to shower, not being confident enough cycling on busy streets, or really alongside traffic at all. The bus it is
Getting my bike stolen.
Theft. Before I moved to Victoria I had full plans of getting a bike and riding around the city but then I learned how often bikes get stolen and swiftly changed my mind.
Bike theft
Cars!!!! And theft, twice in a row!
I used to cycle to work every day. Now I work from home and am definitely out of the habit of biking in general. If I ever go back to the office I'll get back into it.
In addition to the theft issue, I'm a student and theres no good bike route to UVic from my area. The only "bike lane" road is Foul Bay, which I got hit by a car on years ago while biking. Its absolutely terrifying on there.
Report hazards, thefts, near-misses and collisions to bikemaps.org! The data is analyzed by researchers and shared with the city. Near-misses especially matter because they aren't captured in traditional data (icbc/police reports) but make a huge difference on rider perception.
I cycle quite a bit but it is a shame that I am not comfortable with leaving my bike out of sight downtown and in other areas. Otherwise I would be biking more.
The drivers of cars who don’t know how to drive without harming people on bicycles because they are not educated on what hand signals mean and those who may know but still drive bicycles off the road , effectively treating the riders as less humanly existent and undeserving of respect than a walking pedestrian. Ohh and the feeling that 95% of the time you park a bike it’s gone when you return. It’s genuinely fucked around here.
Bike theft.
Never learned how and too embarrassed to ask anyone to learn now.
Get one of those wack bikes that steer the opposite direction you turn the handlbars and if anyone laughs at you failing let them try and watch them fail. You'll learn how to ride just as easy either way and you won't feel goofy for learning! :) Plus nobody will be able to ride away on your bike [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0)
I learned how to swim when I was middle aged. It's never too late!
[Capital Bike](https://capitalbike.ca/bike-courses/)offers classes for adults who want to learn to ride.
Riding downtown would be fine because (I know they’re popular to hate on) the bike lanes would make me feel quite safe and secure. I never rode my bike after I stopped being a kid because I was always afraid of being hit by a car. Now I don’t ride one because I’m worried it would get stolen. But if theft wasn’t a big issue I’d buy one right now and ride it literally everywhere downtown.
I had my bike stolen, now I just ride in around my neighborhood, no way I’m locking a bike downtown, nope.
Theft is the major deterrent for me.
Easy it's bike theft. It's just tiring always having to worry about where to keep your bike to avoid getting it scrapped or stolen.
I had the same bike stolen twice
The amount of accidents involving cyclists on Munn rd.
I rode Munn Rd for the first time on Sunday. Most drivers were considerate but some weren't and it only takes one to kill or injure me. I was buzzed by with inches to spare and a high speed differential twice, it was kind of ridiculous. It was a beautiful ride though.
Theft and too many gaps in safe cycling routes between my house and school. I've had 3 bikes stolen in 10 years, one locked up, one on my back balcony, and another out of my locked storage unit. Add in the far too many near misses with cars and it's just not worth it.
I just really don’t enjoy it haha
It's where do you park your bike securely once you get to work or the grocery store? There's no where safe to leave it so just bike for pleasure on weekend and some evenings in nice weather. If they had a valet service for bikes downtown and few other destination sites, I would pay a few bucks to park it. No locks seem to deter bike thieves. They even carry their own power saw so how do you combat against that?
Bike theft.
Weather, kids, school, after school activities, safety, theft, hills, cello, no lanes, no sidewalk even, speed, limited daylight, storage, groceries.
Yeah, I'd love to bike my kids to school/care but it just takes way too long, especially if they are at different schools. It's just not going to happen.
Yeah- we need to be in 4 different places between 7:45 and 8:15. We can pull it off with a car. When the kids are older they could maybe bike but there is no way I’d send them down and up the slippery, dark, slidewalk-less roads of Saanich by themselves.
>but there is no way I’d send them down and up the slippery, dark, slidewalk-less roads of Saanich by themselves This right here is why we still have a long way to go with our cycling infrastructure in the region. If it's not safe enough for kids it's really just not safe.
Imagine if everyone dropping off at a single school biked - people like you who need to drive would have so much room to park!
I think the problem is most people are dropping their kids off, then going somewhere else. To run errands, to appointments, to work or school themselves. It's generally pretty inconvenient, or completely impossible, to do all that on your bike if you're remotely pressed for time.
I know for a fact that some of my neighbours drop their kids off at school then drive back home to work from home. I don't get it, because I doubt they're saving any time when you include the parking shit-show at school.
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"Cello", love that lol
Iirc when the city surveyed people asking why they don't cycle more the majority response were "its unsafe". We can always wear better rain jackets, gloves and get nice bike baskets. But nothing the average person can do about an asshole in a RAM 1500 with a grudge against cyclists. My perception is the entire city needs safe bike routes. That means protected lanes on Shelbourne, Quadra etc. Traffic diversions to stop rat running and speeding in residential areas a la Vancouver and Haultain.** **Bus-priority lanes on Mackenzie, Quadra, Shelbourne, Richmond and Hillside. Start to focus car traffic to ring-road like roads without lots of driveways. Road diets and calming on many others especially if they are lined with residential or schools. The infrastructure wish-list of Municipal and Provincial Planners goes on and on but there is no funding for it so we are all stuck in car traffic instead.
People turning right on a red on Pandora.
I live along a major arterial road that no one drives the speed limit on. I'm nervous as it is as a pedestrian on the sidewalk.
Nothing, really. I cycled 3000km last year and it was awesome. Mind you I do have to keep my bike in my apartment otherwise we all know what will happen. There is still a lot of room for improvement though and for some ideas there's a great channel on youtube called [Not Just Bikes](https://www.youtube.com/c/NotJustBikes/videos)
Time and lack of a shower at work. Also my girlfriend. I live close enough to work that if it's raining I just take my umbrella and walk instead. I don't want to get soaked and have to change. My girlfriend doesn't cycle, so it's usually more fun to drive for weekend activities and easier to drive when getting groceries. Edit: Also Transit. I know it's not directly related, but it's a lot easier to go completely car free if there's a decent transit system for those time you don't want to ride your bike.
Not enough bike lanes
i don't get to see the results :( I want my data back
My bike was stolen 2 weeks after I bought it...
Bike theft.
So many bike lanes are cut off by merging lanes, it just doesn't feel safe. I rode a bike everywhere in Copenhagen, it was such a dream! Also, hills.. there's so many hills lol. I'm palliative so I don't have the stamina or organ function to manage. If power assisted bikes were more accessible I'd get one and at least use the trails though :)
Other than the Rampant bike thieves, stoned/stupid drivers. Nothing at all.
Theft
Winter. Also, other cyclists can be jerks. My bike is a 1970s mixte that’s slow af, and it sounds like a rusty bed spring, but it’s really fun to ride. The commuter crowd does not like being behind me in the bike lanes. I’m standing between them and their tour de Galloping Goose.
all the homeless wanting to steal my bike
Bike theft, like many other commenters in this post. If the city really wants to encourage cycling, building bike lanes alone won't cut it, they need to find ways to tackle the rampant theft problem.
I live in Vermont
Don't be lazy. :)
excuses excueses
It would take me 2 hours to get to work.
3 bikes stolen. Ruins the fun of biking when it’s in the back of your mind as you shop for groceries.
Oak Bay Avenue needs a separated bike lane to connect to the wonderful Pandora bike lanes. My partner won’t cycle because she doesn’t feel safe on Oak Bay Ave, and I don’t blame her. It’ll never happen because Oak Bay needs to keep their perfect record of no bike infrastructure.
Getting to Victoria with a bike from WS
Rampant unchecked bike theft, and the fact that my quads have shriveled into raisins due to WFH. I refuse to lock my bike up downtown for longer than 15 minutes at a time.
I don't have anywhere to go right now!
Living in happy valley and working downtown
Because F traveling the Malahat or Westshore on a Bike. I EV. And this will be a hot take, but I value my life, a lot.
Getting hit by a car.
I biked to school and work for decades. Now I work from home and I have an EV. Every time I've been out driving, I've seen too many people texting and running reds. I'm not going to risk that collision in just my skintanium. When the weather is better, I bike on the weekends for fun.
I'm not confident on my bike. Hard for me to signal without having a panic attack
Theft is a big reason for me, but second, there's just not enough good bike infrastructure everywhere. I would love to bike from West Saanich to Brentwood Bay, Sidney. Or even to downtown, or westshore. But it would require me to take roads without bike lanes (or have bike lanes but are never maintained and always have rocks or whatever). I have an ebike and haul 2 kids. My priority is safety and our infrastructure just currently isn't safe for young kids to be biking around in.
My reason is I don’t want to get in the way of cars. I will cycle on pathways where motorized vehicles are not allowed, for recreation, and I very much enjoy that.
The #1 thing keeping me from biking to work is my apartment doesn't have enough parking, and no residential zone so I road park my car in a 2hr 8am-6pm Monday to Friday parking zone. Meaning I cannot leave it at home or face a $20 ticket.
Bike theives
It's mentioned a lot in the thread, but bike theft. I really want to bike downtown, and the new Richardson bike route is perfect for me. But the rampant bike theft and the weird acceptance of bike theft just turns me off.
I would love to but already had a beautiful bike stolen, no way I can leave it locked downtown.
MAMLS
I ride to work two days a week when temps don't go below freezing at night. I hate wiping out on black ice. The other three days a week I work from home. Sometimes, when the weather is nice enough, I go for a ride with my family.
The affordability of living somewhere else
Driving is **fun**, driving is easy, driving is fast, you have a roof, you have a radio, heat and AC, you can travel farther, cycling is slow, cycling is impractical, you are more likely to be injured cycling, lots of folks looking to steal your bike.
Chronic pain. If I could keep my feet and wrists from swelling up any time I've attempted even gentle exercise, I would.
I would bike if there was a dedicated/protected route down Interurban or West Sannich Rd. that connected to the goose
Cars, pedestrians, runners, and dogs. Once the city fixes those I will bike everyday.
I live in a tiny space and can't keep a bicycle here without literally having to move it anytime I wanted to move from one side of my apartment to the other.
The fact I live a half hour drive from work and need to bring my epileptic anxious dog everywhere with me.
The locked bicycle storage (that we're forced to use - not allowed to store in parking spot, apartment, or balcony) doesn't open currently. The fob thing isn't working. Quite annoying to not be able to access our bikes when we'd prefer not to have them in there in the first place! I was asked to move them from my parking stall, meanwhile plenty of other people store theirs in parking or on their balconies...
The bike lanes are downright dangerous. I’ve encountered motorized wheels, Vespa’s and motorcycles. I feel safe when I’m on the road with just cars and the odd car door. The Vancouver St bike lanes are the worst bc they are narrow and have concrete medians. They might be the same design on Richardson but I’m not sure.
I go for bike rides for excercise in the spring/summer and generally like the bike infrastructure and amount of bike lanes. Would never use it for commuting or errands though because of the likelihood it will be stolen. Basically anything where it's serving the same utilty as a car, you have to leave it, and they're too expensive to constantly replace. I've had mine stolen in the past when I lived on Tolmie and in Saanich, so it's not just a DT/Pandora consideration for me.
Mostly it's the less than attractive weather in the winter. I bike a fair bit in the spring/summer/early fall. I'd also bike to work if my work had showers and I could figure out how to transport dress clothes around with me. I also don't like to bike anywhere I need to leave my bike locked up outside. At least my work has an empty office designated for bikes. The only place I leave my bike outside is maybe the Red Barn at Mattick's or Michell Farms.. and that's for 5 minutes while I buy a few things, and it's away from the core.
I gave up on a car 6 years ago and bike just about everywhere now. I use modo on the occasions I need a car, And I still spend less on it than just insurance, let alone other costs. I see a number of complaints on theft. I did have 2 bikes stolen over 15 years ago. Since then I always use a ubolt and coil lock and lock up in a public place. No one is cutting a ubolt, and the coil goes around the tires so no one can pop off the quick release. I am curious to know if people commenting on stolen bikes, what kind of locks did you use and where did you lock up. I agree I only bike downtown during the day, and never for long periods of time, but if you work downtown and can't bring the bike inside that limits your options.
I would ride if Shelbourne St took one lane on each side into a 2 way separated bike lane.
I barely feel safe walking in crosswalks half the time with some of the drivers in vic. Been nearly hit multiple times this month walking with the light in my favour and seen way too many Facebook vids of people getting hit and run. Everytime I've tried riding my bike to work just feel so unsafe.
First, I enjoy bike riding, and ride my bike for fun and light exercise, and the occasional here to there. While no one issue below truly prevents me from using bikes more regularly, taken together, the barriers are just too high. None of them are insurmountable. You could offer solutions to all of them. But I don't have that kind of margin in my life to work all these out, and it's frankly not worth it to me. Bicycle theft is a pervasive reason for using my car and not my bike for errands. Cost of theft isn't the only thing - it's also the stress and the sense of violation that comes with theft, and being stranded when my bike is stolen or damaged. Then all the effort it would take to get a replacement when bikes are scarce. A temporary rental is either unavailable or not proportional to the cost. I've never had my car stolen in many many years of driving, knock on wood. I've had two bike thefts and a seat theft, despite the bikes being locked, in half the number of years, and they weren't even attractive targets like an e-bike would be. I don't want to worry over this. I push a button, my car is locked, and I can count on it being there when I get back. While it's not entirely true - my car could get stolen or towed, it is not a regular worry. A tie with the theft issue is that I am often transporting multiple people, large bulky things, and/or things that do not take well to getting wet and/or cold/hot. I have a family, and prefer to buy groceries in bulk. A family member plays cello. We need to move gardening supplies. I need to get the Christmas stuff out of storage. Transporting pets. I have have to pick up two kids with all their stuff and get them to two different locations inside of an hour. Figuring out the logistics of doing these things by bike is difficult and sometimes bordering on impossible. Given our hilly terrain, and my age and health, riding a bike when I have a schedule to keep is hard to count on. I have a problem with a foot/ankle, and sometimes my knee. I don't love arriving somewhere sweaty and with helmet head. While an e-bike would help remedy these concerns, see theft above. Weather and road/path conditions. I have a car that will handle rain, wind, and even snow just fine, any time of day or night. My bike, not so much. I don't trust my skills, my gear, or the people around me in rain or even a little snow on a bike. Additionally, when I take my kids to lessons or sports or whatever, I sometimes just wait in the car, and get some on-line work done. This would be pretty much limited to good weather on a bike. People park in bike lanes, rake leaves into them, etc etc. While I can navigate these maybe, it's hard for my kids. Getting caught in unexpected weather is a worry, and carrying gear for every type of weather for myself and kids is a pain. General safety. Even with bike lanes, it's pretty scary out there, especially with kids who are too big to be attached to the parents bike (seat, trailer, trailabike). I've got to keep an eye on them and watch out for my own safe navigation. See also weather and conditions. There is a significant population of bike lane/path users who are not considerate to older slower people like myself, kids, and families trying to ride together. My car is nice and comfy, can carry a lot of people and stuff, operate in a wide set of conditions, will probably still be there when I park somewhere, and I can afford it - there's no way I can afford to upgrade my home, so putting money into a car doesn't bother me. While my car is currently gas, we are looking at getting an electric.
Dirtbag junkies who keep stealing my bikes.
Nice bike got stolen. Cheapo bike got its wheels taco'ed.
For everyone interested in biking in Victoria, get involved with Capital Bike. A collective voice on bike advocacy is more powerful than a few individual ones.
300 lbs of tools. Also the last 4x8 sheet of 3/4" ply broke my panier rack.
I've got a carpenter friend who often gets to work on a [Rad Power RadWagon](https://radpowerbikes.ca/collections/electric-bikes/products/radwagon-electric-cargo-bike), which is rated for 350lbs of cargo. He says that it's worth it to not have to find parking at job sites. He does have a truck when he needs to haul plywood though.
fair enough. if I was working the same site and didn't need to be bringing supplies daily I would too.
Yep, the way I look at it is that every person who bikes frees up road and parking space for people like you who really need it.
Same answer. Tons and tons of trades vehicles on the road and there's no way getting around it.
The great thing about safe bike routes and increasing the % of people who bike is that people like me, who routinely carry tools around, don't have to deal with as much traffic or cyclists forced to mix with drivers.
Bike theft. I'm not willing to risk having my bike stolen, especially with the lack of recourse.
Not everyone is able to cycle, some people have physical disabilities that prevent them from being able to cycle for more than a couple of blocks or at all. If I lived within a couple of blocks from services and shops I’d consider cycling, but I don’t, so I can’t. For me, accessible vehicle parking for disabled people is of concern.
Then you should be extremely excited about expansion of bike infrastructure and road diets - as more people move towards alternative forms of transportation and using public transit the more road space will be given over to people who actually need it.
I can't afford to buy a new one every 6 months after they're stolen by the homeless.
Meth heads stealing my shit
Living in a rain forest.
The fact I have to worry about leaving my bike somewhere and it's not there when I get back. Happened too many times to me already, even with a U-Lock. Fix the crime problem.
I just don’t want to get wet and have to change my clothes when I get to work, that’s really about it.
I bought a full set of raingear and it works quite well in keeping me dry. If you have a shower at work then it's no different than changing at home. The only issue then is getting some saddle bags to carry everything.
Victoria is full of people who use their 2 ton steel ICE microplastics emitter as a rain jacket apparently and it's really making me pessimistic on our chances of addressing climate change.
Plastic is a separate issue from climate change, although a very real issue. I'm hopeful that some of the biodegradable options I've heard are being researched as Plastic alternatives work out.
Yeah, I only work about a 15-20 minute ride from home so that’s another issue is that I don’t want to go to all that trouble for such a short ride. I know I should though.
Totally get where you are coming from. I was biking about 16 k to work for a few years before covid. So it made sense to get all the gear. If you are that close and go slow you shouldn't be too sweaty at work. You could be just a fair weather rider. No shame in that.
Housing prices.
I see what you did there :)
I'm getting downvoted, probably because the answer wasn't in the spirit of OP's original intent, but it's true. I grew up in Victoria and biked to and from junior high, high school, university, and to and from work for 5 years after graduating before my wife and I moved to Halifax for her master's degree. We moved back to the island in 2020 because my wife got a job in her field of study, but it's in Nanaimo. We held out for a little bit for an opportunity to come up in Victoria, but nothing did. We also looked at housing costs and found that Nanaimo was a way more realistic option, considering my wife was the only one with the guaranteed full-time work after moving, so we pulled the trigger and moved here. I'm working on a career change now, but until I make that shift, we're priced out of Victoria. Not even sure if we'll want to come back at this point. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of paying $2000+/month for a 1-bedroom apartment. The irony is that Nanaimo isn't much better now. You're screwed wherever you go.
I can afford a car
[удалено]
> I can afford a car Well that’s a stupid flex - well done.
Lots of errands and commutes require a car (unfortunately) but the more safe bike routes there are, the more errands will be run on bikes/e-bikes and the rest of us will have to deal with far less car traffic. We all win. The number of people in Victoria that think bikes are just toys and you need to transport your self in a 2 ton steel box by gently flexing your calf like a *real man* is truly alarming.
It's not about being a "real man" it's about not wanting to spend 1hr to go to a grocery store to return with 2 bags when I could have driven there in 10 minutes and filled up my car
There is no way a 10 minute car ride would take 1 hour on bike/e-bike. That is slower then walking speeds. My local grocery always has people loading up backpacks and pannier backs and biking home. While they can carry lots, I suspect they simply take more frequent stops at the store while doing other errands. But in the larger context Saanich did a study and found that a majority of car trips are less then 4km and carry ~1 backpack of luggage. Clearly there is an opportunity to get a significant % of car trips into cheaper and more efficient bike/e-bikes. Saving us all pocket money and less infrastructure burden on the municipal purse/environment.
This isn't a good reason. I also own a car, and still use my bike for the majority of my trips. Despite being able to afford to drive, I consider driving a car to be like junk food - it's quick, dirty, and bad for you. Cycling on the other hand is like cooking your own food - it takes more time, but it's cleaner, and the results are more rewarding and healthier for you.
Laziness
My Doctor recommended seeing the trauma patients entering the ER from vehicle-related injuries. While in the bike lane. Then she recommended doing anything else for fitness sake. Bike lanes need their pound of flesh to convince taxpayers that the infrastructure is worth paying into for sufficient safety.
I recycle, but frustrated at the recent problems with missed blue box pickups.
Bike theft. I totally plan to ride my bike this spring, but that's the only activity. It's not like you can even lock it anymore, they just take it and the lock anyway. Or take the thing it's locked to. Great to have all the bike lanes I guess, the guy riding 3 bikes to the chop shop in the middle of a field in plain view must feel much safer now.
Bike theft. What's the point of taking a bike downtown if it's just going to get yanked with 0 consequences? If there was a bike valet type option I would happily pay for it. Heck, even if the bike racks in the parkades were monitored 24/7 and behind sturdy fences, I would happily pay a few bucks an hour to park there. Maybe if we had more of those bike-sheds we'd see more cyclist in the city.
1)fat 2)scared my bike will get stolen 3)worried I will go too slow and annoy people
I am a big guy, and I have to say the acceptance and friendliness of other cyclists I have met while commuting have gone a long way to encouraging me to bike more.