So I was driving down Richmond Street yesterday at around 2:30 pm. The temperature was okay, not overly cold an not raining or anything like that.
How many people were on the separated bike lanes praised as a success by almost everyone? There was one bike rider from Parliament to University Ave. Meanwhile there was significant delays in car traffic despite the fact that it was a weekend. The staff report claimed that there were 1,640 daily riders at Richmond and Jarvis.
But how could that be if I saw 1 rider in 15 minutes then that is 4 riders in 1 hour or 96 riders in a day. And that is ignoring that there are more riders at 2:30 pm than 2:30 am. I understand it is a weekend in February(even if the weather is above average).
But I think that those explanations cannot explain this big a discrepancy.
This bike lane passed unanimously council last month.
Councilors need to start doing their own research especially if something is too good to be true. Staff are biased either from a political perspective or just a professional one. I mean if you proposed a bike lane wouldn't you want to rig the numbers to make yourself look smart for proposing it. I will be honest if I were in that situation I would do anything in my power to get the lanes approved.
I want to know if anyone messaged the cycle lobbyists informing them of the dates that the studies were done on in order to have people with a vested interest inflating the numbers?
The worst part is not one councilor even asked any questions about the obviously rigged numbers which is just an embarrassment.
I will let everyone know how many cyclists I see today as well just for clarity. But the weather is worse so I expect the number to decrease.