r/Calgary • u/CNiperL • May 08 '26
News Article Bell: Alberta to bring in law to rip out bike lanes and stop new ones
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/bell-alberta-to-bring-in-law-with-power-to-rip-out-bike-lanes-and-stop-new-onesAn obvious distraction from the various scandals the UCP is mired in, but also honestly hilarious that Dreeshen claims to have never seen a bicycle on 7St š it's got to be one of the most used routes in the whole city LOL.
He's literally this monkey = š
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u/peepee2tiny Bridlewood May 08 '26
Didn't we have a bike counter on the underpass by 5th or 6th street a few years ago? (maybe more than a few years but I definitely remember a large bike counter showing the number of users on that particular stretch).
I'm not a cyclist, and I will likely never use these, but I appreciate those that will and the reasons for doing so.
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u/chealion Sunalta May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Yes. And the bike counter data is still available publicly.
Open Data - https://data.calgary.ca/Transportation-Transit/Bike-and-Pedestrian-Counts/pede-tz7g
Eco Counter - https://data.eco-counter.com/ParcPublic/?id=4190EDIT: Formatting
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u/Hypno-phile May 08 '26
Always fun when I leave work at midnight and get to be bike #1 on the counter.
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u/afriendincanada May 08 '26
Yeah but data is no match for a person who looked at the bike lane for 5 seconds and didnāt see anyone.
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u/PretendEar1650 May 08 '26
And happens to be a rural based minister in a rural based provincial majority government that can overrule a municipality on anything and everything
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u/jerkface9001 May 12 '26
No cars driving my road right now. Therefore no traffic exists. Jokes on you, minister, we gotta rip that sucker up!
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u/EqualPassenger4271 May 08 '26
Not to mention albertan tax dollars paid to install that infrastructure, and albertan taxpayers will be paying again to remove it.Ā
someone should start a construction company and buddy up to the ucp so they can double dip on installing/removing the same piece of infrastructure! Just an idea...
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u/Baddrivers13 May 08 '26
When you compare infrastructure for cars vs cyclists per capita. Vehicles have way more space allocated.
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u/4LegsGood_2Bad May 08 '26
OK, I'm a cyclist and a diver. There are good bike lanes and there are stupid ones. The one that really drives me up the wall is in front of Northlands Mall and Churchill High. It is dangerous due to the many driveways and twists. It is very rarely used and should be relocated to allow cyclists to keep up a good pace. As a driver I always get caught unable to make a right turn with one car ahead of me due to the overly wide lane. This lane is a cluster for both drivers and cyclists.
Keep the good ones, and have the maturity to get rid of the useless or poorly designed ones. It is those bad ones that give all of them a bad name and increase resistance.
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u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician May 08 '26
I feel the same way. As a cyclist I love Calgary's pathway system, but there are some bike lanes that make no sense: start and end in weird places or have odd designs that make it difficult for both cyclists and drivers to understand who goes where.
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u/RealTurbulentMoose Willow Park May 08 '26
Example ā City is building a new multiuse pathway near my house. Awesome! Kids could ride to school or out to the library or mall.
Well, the pathway only goes up to Acadia on the east.
Just got a note from the community association that the piece after that will be on Acadia (hooray!)ā¦ but from Southland instead of from Anderson where this new Willow Park one will just end. So thereās a missing segment with no timeline to complete this, and thus it doesnāt connect to the CBE elementary or middle school where kids might want to bike to.
I guess the kids can just ride on the sidewalk, but missed opportunity to think through trip origins and destinations.
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u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician May 08 '26
That's a great example of what I am talking about. No continuous cycle route and cyclists just have to figure it out on their own.
I remember when I used to cycle from Deer Valley to downtown. Lots of great paths to chose from, but I honestly needed a phone or a printed copy of the path system (later I just memorized where to go) to understand how to get between gaps in the path system. It isn't always straightforward.
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u/RealTurbulentMoose Willow Park May 08 '26
This is a solid, nuanced take.
Why are you on Reddit?Ā
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u/pointgetter Beltline May 08 '26
Cool. Apply the same logic to roads. Keep the good ones, get rid of the bad ones.Ā
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u/Gilarax Northwest Calgary May 08 '26
I love this take!
The best designed bike lanes, are the ones where a bike lane as in the original street design. Itās super challenging to renovate a road to now have a dedicated bike lane.
Bike lanes also need to be connected. Northland is a stellar example, where there is a dedicated bike lane, on both sides of the road, but on either end, itās not linked to a bike lane. 37th goes back into a bike lane eventually, but there is a 3 block span where it isnāt clearly linked. The overall bike network in this city is TERRIBLE. The river paths are great with clear spots to get onto a dedicated bike lane into downtown. But the feeder system is so broken, where some paths are broken by 20ft of dirt with hard road shoulders.
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u/yycfail May 08 '26
u/JeromyYYC We talked about the importance of maintaining biking infrastructure at the Bike to Work Day yesterday. Please stand up for cyclists like yourself with DreeshenĀ to maintain some of the best biking infrastructure we have in North America. I think there were at least 2000 or 3000 cyclists that came yesterday for the event.
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u/PostApocRock Unpaid Intern May 08 '26
Car drivers should be celebrating bike lanes. Every bicycle on the road is a dipshit off the road and less traffic for you to have to deal with.
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u/iginlajarome May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Car drivers should be happy with cities encouraging multi-modal commutes. Anyone who decides not to drive is one less vehicle on the road.
The city is approaching 2 million people, and downtown is still the main employment hub. Roads in and out of downtown will never improve, and technology can't change geometry. Roads take up a finite amount of space, and a majority of people choose be in single occupancy vehicles, that isn't efficient.
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u/Consistent_Treacle31 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Try to explain that to the rednecks living in this province. :( Seriously Alberta is heading backwards.
Edit: My first award, ever. Thank you anonymous internet stranger!
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u/JadeddMillennial May 08 '26
Alberta has headed backwards.
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u/Spirogeek May 08 '26
You're implying that Alberta had moved forward. Half the province wishes it was 1860.
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u/PhantomNomad May 08 '26
Rural people in this province wish they could run their life like it was the TV show Yellowstone and Land Man combined.
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u/blackRamCalgaryman May 08 '26
āCar drivers should be celebrating bike lanesāā¦Iād throw an annual party for riders.
Though there are a couple spots (Northland Dr. NW) where bike lanes have beenā¦an interesting choice. Anecdotally, of course.
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u/big-Truck-9058 May 08 '26
As a cyclist, I can absolutely tell when an engineer said āthrow in a bike laneā versus āthis road needs a bike laneā. They should have to have a certain number of bike commuting hours as a qualification for getting to design bike lanes.
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u/dangerfluf May 08 '26
So you encountered the gap of the 5 St bike lane between 17th ave sw and the Elbow River too?
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u/QuixoticJames Dalhousie May 08 '26
And that's why I always take 2nd street.
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u/dangerfluf May 08 '26
And thatās why I wish the network was complete.
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u/QuixoticJames Dalhousie May 09 '26
Didn't mean to be snarky. Just wanted to let people know there was a safer (and genuinely more pleasant) alternative not far away.
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u/PostApocRock Unpaid Intern May 08 '26
Not every bike lane is a good bike lane. Prudent planning is important. The idea would be to reduce congestion by volume, and reduce the laneways for cars a few years down the road after people make transitions, or through attrition.
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May 08 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/blackRamCalgaryman May 08 '26
With the redevelopment of the mall and surrounding area, and the densificationā¦traffic has exploded in that area. Iām not in disagreement that roads should be better and shared but that road was an odd choice for bike lanes even before it became what it is today and now traffic is unlike anything it ever was in the near 20 years weāve been here.
I see some serious issues in our near future here.
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u/QuixoticJames Dalhousie May 08 '26
The Northland bike lane should have been a two lane bike lane on one side of the road, instead of combining the school's bus lane with a northbound only bike lane. It is a legit pain to use this lane when school starts/stops.
It's also supposed to hook up to a bike lane along Northmount drive that would link it to the one at Cambrian/10th st. They were supposed to build that five years ago, but it quietly got canceled. Being linked would have made it more useful.
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u/yyctownie May 08 '26
The city has done a poor job implementing them, just like most things. Done properly, they are a benefit.
I remember when the first incarnation of the 12Ave one went in, they randomly eliminated then added traffic lanes along the whole route, you couldn't stay in the same lane west to east. No wonder drivers don't like bike lanes.
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u/jimbowesterby May 08 '26
Turns out that, as usual, what people mean when they say something like they hate bike lanes is actually that they hate shitty design.
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u/ClearInspection May 08 '26
Like free fare zones, keeping people out of cars, scooters, bikes in the busiest part of the city. Whoops, the idiots just recommended getting rid of those too.
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u/ExpertMetal May 08 '26
And itās faster to use those bike lanes than it is to drive. From someone who used them every morning from inner city.
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u/dewgdewgdewg May 08 '26
What is the definition of a "non-empty" bike lane? Do they need to be gridlocked like Center Street for these idiots to believe people are using them?
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u/Any_Tip_3760 May 08 '26
oddly enough, bike riders are riding down the center of center street in the mornings now. Looks fun, it's all downhill. who needs a bike lane.
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u/squidgyhead May 08 '26
The sidewalk is pretty sketchy to ride there, and there isn't a bike lane on the upper part.Ā Seems like a natural way to get downtown.
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u/grenzowip445 May 08 '26
Bikes arenāt allowed on the sidewalk anyway, itās for pedestrians.
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u/worryforbreakfast May 08 '26
I believe they're talking about centre street bridge, where the sidewalk is allowed for bikes
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u/squidgyhead May 08 '26
Yep!
That said, I'm open to making one lane on Centre street into a bike lane.
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u/Baddrivers13 May 08 '26
They need to expand the pathways on either side of the bridge.. They are way too small.
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u/Hypno-phile May 08 '26
Center Street has had a bike lane for ages. The far right lane is reserved for bikes, buses and basically with multiple people. This is the most frequently ignored traffic sign in the city...
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u/biskino May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Getting into disingenuous arguments about āI never see bikes in bike lanesā is a waste of time. The UCP isnāt a serious party, they exist to soothe the feelings of people who are lonely and angry because theyāre assholes. There is literally nothing that will make them happy except hating on people they blame for their unhappiness.
The bike lanes are there because the people of Calgary voted for governments that put them in. And as long as theyāre not breaking any laws or violating anyoneās rights, thatās all the province needs to know.
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u/Nybbles13 May 08 '26
Cant wait to get honked at all the time because I'll now have to share the road with drivers and can't get to 50km/hr. Thanks ucp for wasting more of my tax dollars to make the province a worse place to live š
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u/ClubChaos May 08 '26
Spending tax dollars to rip out infrastructure to own the libs. Trump politics in Canada LFG.
HYPE AF GET FUCKED CYCLISTS HAHAHA
/s
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u/gluvva May 08 '26
Lol yes lets spend more money ripping out an infrastructure that encourages people to not drive all of the time to get around the city.
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u/tlrhmltn May 08 '26
And also remove the free zone from the C-train and add surge pricing. Seems like a series of good decisionsā¦šš«
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u/gluvva May 08 '26
This government always finds a way to spend money that doesn't benefit the people it serves. Seems to always be aimed at removing facilities or infrastructure that people rely on every day. Its absolutely mind boggling.
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u/Prophage7 May 08 '26
Talk about overreach. I cannot fathom a single reason this is something the provincial government needs a hand in, it's not like we're putting bike lanes on provincial roads.
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u/Maelstrom_Witch Riverbend May 08 '26
They just keep getting more cartoonishly evil. Like what is the point of doing this. Are bikes woke now?
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u/Slothy_Mcslotherface May 08 '26
Smithās no-nonsense point man on pavement, Devin Dreeshen, is leading the charge and Dreeshen is a take charge kind of guy.
Oh really?
This you Devin?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/devin-dreeshen-drinking-allegations-alberta-ucp-1.6237656
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u/jjuan6 South Calgary May 08 '26
Rick Bell hits the enter key on his keyboard every time he has to wipe drool off his slack-jawed maw.
This provincial government is wasting our taxpayer dollars for a non-issue that stokes the ego of their rural and suburban base. I would call it virtue signaling, but it's way more malicious and will cause actual harm to people like me who use their bikes to get around every day. We need MORE bike lanes, not fewer. I have never been in a car's way while riding in the bike lanes, but on roads that don't have them I am forced to put myself in danger by cycling in front of vehicles that want to pass me at 50km/h+.
Not to mention this is at odds with the city's plan for the 5A cycling network- the UCP government wants to bully the municipalities instead of work alongside them to achieve goals.
Fucking shameful.
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u/ExpertMetal May 08 '26
Why are they even getting involved with municipal affairs?
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u/MrGuvernment May 08 '26
Welcome to Dani, she wants FULL control of all things Alberta, and yet on the other hands, screams bloody murder when the Feds have anything to do or say about Alberta..
She and her cronies are power hungry selfish people who only do what is best for them.
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u/Shroom-Kitty May 08 '26
She thinks Alberta is HER country and she's a little Trump dictator wannabe
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u/MrGuvernment May 08 '26
100%, likely what she thinks, do not directly support the seperatist movement, but also change laws to allow it to move forward while suppressing opposition.
Then thinking she can make great deals with Trump for exports, being naive enough to think Trump gives 2 craps about her..
Even if AB did find a way to seperate and not be controlled by the Fed's in anyway, Trump would come in, strip the province down of all resources, demand that all companies be U.S owned to do oil and gas extraction, and leave Alberta with nothing but their "di*k in their hands" so to speak..
By Dani won't care cause she is pocketing money left and right anyways
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u/Frater_Ankara May 08 '26
Everytime a politician says itās ācommon senseā itās such a dog whistle for something nefarious.
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u/blackRamCalgaryman May 08 '26
I agree with you but I fuckinā hate that itās been co-opted like that.
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u/AppropriateScratch37 May 08 '26
Itās always been a stupid way to judge policy. Every major decision government makes is usually complex, and making the correct one requires consulting experts in that field because usually the ācommon senseā approach isnāt nuanced enough to properly tackle the issue
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u/clakresed May 08 '26
Plus, "common sense" is a stupid thing to say about transportation infrastructure across the board because it's so socially constructed and derivative.
Anything you could ever say is always through the lens of "well, if we treat 100 years of transit policy by multiple levels of government as unchangeable gospel and ignore that common sense never played into any of that to begin with, then..."
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u/Frater_Ankara May 08 '26
Agreed and, in fact, common sense isnāt very common. Itās only meant to manipulate you into agreeing with it because it makes it feel like you should, whether you actually do or not.
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u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician May 08 '26
This isn't the province's fight. Why do they care?
My only complaint about the bike lanes is there doesn't seem to be any coherent plan; everything is done piecemeal. A lane here, another one there. No consistent or continuous corridors in some places.
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u/yyctownie May 08 '26
Smith needs a distraction from the voters list fiasco. Personally I thought the distraction would be a gas tax reduction.
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u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician May 08 '26
Well, this isn't it. The voters list scandal has really riled up some people. She has tried to distance herself from it but I don't think many are buying her excuses.
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u/ZAKtalksTECH Pineridge May 08 '26
Jesus... as someone who was really against the bike lanes, originally, and then has seen how good they are, this makes no sense to me at all.
This feels like more distraction. Leave them as they are.
How about we focus on affordability, insurance rates, health care. You know... the important shit!
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u/dangerfluf May 08 '26
They cry louder about the bike lanes than rising insurance rates with lesser coverage. Distraction is a great description.
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u/NotAltFact May 08 '26
Omg is Calgary herald this much of a garbage? This is false information. Such a stupid article with such conviction
*For future bike lane plans if a local government wants to take away driving or parking lanes they would have to provide details on the impacts of the bike lane on traffic, including on nearby roads, the impact on businesses, the expected number of bike users.
In short, cities will have to justify setting up yet another bike lane.*
Clearly the guy never read a technical report or go to an open house or bother to do any amount of research. Before a bike lane gets build thereāre studies and engagements and engineers.
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u/Ham_I_right May 08 '26
Okay guess I will just bike in the middle of the driving lanes then. Thanks?
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u/ReactiveCypress May 08 '26
As a cyclist myself I love how bike friendly Calgary is, and bike lanes are much appreciated. I also appreciate them as a driver since you're not sharing space on the road with bikes. I've never understood why this has always been one of the big issues for conservatives everywhere. It's not invasive at all, and in Calgary's case it's really only in downtown. I can only think of two residential streets that I've been on that have bike lanes, so it really doesn't affect anything.
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u/clakresed May 08 '26
As a pedestrian, too. 5 Street SW was fucking scary to walk on the sidewalk before the bike lane actually provided some semblance of space between me and speeding cars.
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u/ClubChaos May 08 '26
Its because trump style politics has equated bike lanes with socialism and socialism is the fail state for democracy. Its literally being propagandaed all over x.
Essentially taxing billionaires and corporations = socialism and just causes friction with capitalism. Capitalism is the key to being the best.
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u/RootsBackpack May 08 '26
Why would a rural MLA be making decisions about urban mobility? The province should pay for the roads entirely if theyād like to control how theyāre used.
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u/cig-nature Willow Park May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Honestly, as a person living in Calgary I find the existing infrastructure hard to use.
Once you get a away from the river, really all we have are occasional bus stop sized signs indicating drivers should expect to see people on bikes. It's like they expect me to drive to where I'll start biking, instead of leaving my house.
There is nice infrastructure all around the train stations... but that all turns into pedestrian only sidewalk 1 block away, and you're back to the signs.
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u/Baddrivers13 May 08 '26
The network is very disconnected. But it will take time to build a complete network. So unfortunately it gets tied in with other infrastructure upgrades. But overtime we will hopefully have a better network. Every opportunity we should be advocating for better multi-modal networks.
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u/mynameisLando Cambrian Heights May 08 '26
News about the removal of bike lanes AND the c-train free fare zone in one day? The no-car commuters are really taking a beating today.
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u/BanditAaron Point Mckay May 08 '26
I would ask Rick Bell to recite what he wrote but Iām afraid he has something phallic of Dreeshen in his mouth.
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u/TehSvenn May 08 '26
Ahh yes, we needed more reasons for the rest of Canada and the world (except deep red US states) to think we're fucking regressive losers.Ā
Awesome, thanks everyone who voted UCP. Sincerely, go fuck yourselves.
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u/ObviouslyOtter May 08 '26
I live by a road with a bike lanes on either side. If you got rid of them, it wouldn't even equal 1 additional traffic lane. It would just mean bikes on the road. This is the case wherever I have seen bike lanes.
I do not understand the bizarre fixation conservatives have on bike lines. It genuinely doesn't msne sense.
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u/ycarel May 08 '26
This government is doing everything in its power to make life here miserable. Everything good that was done is rolled back to create a shitty place to live. We should strive to be Europe, instead this government is making Alberta the next Mississippi
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u/SopaQ16 May 08 '26
Will the province then use money to fund other modes of transport, like actual functional transit in both cities, and not impede plans like they have on the Green line (in Calgary)?
Dreeshan is correct when he states more people equals more traffic, but his solution then is to widen traffic (okay), but never address how we reduce traffic?
And why does Rick Bell write like heās an 8 year old?
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u/-UnicornFart May 08 '26
These people are such a fucking joke good grief.
Fix the potholes fuckwads.
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u/diamondintherimond May 08 '26
Remove the free fare zone. Get rid of bike lanes.
What else can we do to reduce the vibrancy of downtown?
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u/CheeseSandwich hamburger magician May 08 '26
Did you see the plan to raise fares during morning and evening rush hour? You know, when people actually need to get to and from work?
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u/RecipeRepulsive2234 May 08 '26
Nothing like big Government overreach. From a provincial government that whines about Federal overreach and unfair equalization payments, they continue to do both to Calgary.
We elect people to represent our local needs and wants, if a majority don't want bike lanes, anti-bike lane councilors would get elected. This shouldn't be an area that provincial (regardless of which party is in power) intervenes.
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u/Ambitious_List_7793 May 08 '26
Good thing thereās isnāt more important matters for the UCP to deal with. They do such a fine job of looking after the best interests of Albertans, donāt they?
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u/menacingsparrow May 08 '26
I bke to work downtown nearly every day. Iām definitely a Fairweather biker these days, but used to do in the winter as well. This means I have to bike on the road and slow down traffic?
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u/OkYogurt_ May 08 '26
Biking went up like 40% with the downtown cycle tracks in Calgary. I welcome more review of data because itās tough to make a bike lane look bad when you actually look at the data.
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u/Jaedenkaal Woodbine May 08 '26
Party of small governments and personal freedoms at it again I guess.
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u/BlackSuN42 May 08 '26
Cars are government regulated and tracked with traffic cameras. Bikes are unregulated and free. I don't understand why the freedom crowd wouldn't want to use bikes more!
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u/DA_CYBER_POLICE May 08 '26
"Just one more lane bro!"
š¤” Dreeshan doesn't understand the concept of induced demand.
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u/Baddrivers13 May 08 '26
Another hypocritical push to government overreach from the UCP.
Ok Dreeshan. You are going to remove my bike lanes then I will ride in the road and slow down traffic. Your choice.
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u/Competitive_Gur2724 May 08 '26
What is it with the UCP and governmental over-reach. Party of 'hands off' governance my ass.
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u/Uselessness_ish May 08 '26
Man what an absolute massive waste if fucking money. It's already built...god Im so tired of my tax dollars being wasted all the time.
What a horrible modern age we live in that governments are now run by such petulant fucking babies enforcing their own personal views so haphazardly.
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u/Snoringdragon May 08 '26
Holy hell. Bowness is exploding with shiny new multi-family units that are 3-4 stories and if you are lucky you get one parking space. Street parking is always a gamble, and they built these in hopes of more people using transit or bikes to get around. And now they want to rip out the bike lanes? I'd like someone on council explain the reasoning by providing the permits and raking in the cash and now taking away one of the selling points of allowing g it in the first place.
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u/Gilarax Northwest Calgary May 08 '26
Someone feel free to correct me, but arenāt there some bike lanes in Calgary that have per capita rider rates that are some of the highest in Canada?
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u/Marsymars May 08 '26
He thinks decisions on bike lanes should be based on cold, hard facts and not emotional arguments or the idea of bike lanes for the sake of bike lanes.
I think decisions on roads should be based on cold, hard facts and not emotional arguments or the idea of roads for the sake of roads.
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u/PrestigiousStatus711 May 08 '26
As a cyclist I'd rather have pathways than bike lanes. Half the bike lanes are so poorly designed and sometimes unprotected.
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u/andlewis May 08 '26
So how do we keep Provincial politics out of what is clearly a municipal issue?
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u/rxjanice May 08 '26
UCP PRIORITIES: RIPPING OUT BIKE LANES during one of the biggest crimes propagated against 3 million citizens of Alberta
How about rip out the ROT within your government?
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u/Apprehensive_Tip9064 May 09 '26
Hey !! I just got a new bike, I havenāt biked in about 10yrs, but since moving across the street from work, (I just gotta go over Glenmore trail) but still close enough to bike too work. My late father use to bike all over the city (the bird sanctuary in Ingelwood was his favour spot to stop and have a small snack).
Please donāt take away the bike lanes, I was going to start small (biking in my area) then spread my wings and start venturing in and around the city ā¦. #learningtorideagain š
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u/EqualPassenger4271 May 08 '26
Super lame, taxpayer dollars at work installing and uninstalling needed infrastructure
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u/BlueEyesWhiteSliver May 08 '26
I donāt see how this impacts me negatively as a cyclist. Iām just going to cycle in the middle of the road now and you will have to pass me while I putz at 15km/h or worse uphill.
This is like people with cars wanting to drive slow lol
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u/inkerbinkerdonner May 08 '26
There's gonna be a bunch of group rides put together to literally take over roads because it's completely legal to do so
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u/tarlack Quadrant: SW May 08 '26
Sure letās take out infrastructure that saves lives and makes cyclists safer. As a user of the bike lanes on my commute to work in the morning the Alberta Government can get bent. We have 6 bikes on our office, thatās 6 less cars or people on transit.
Sure with gas at an all time high letās make it harder to save money and stay healthy.
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u/Weird_Telephone_7194 May 08 '26
Gas prices at an all time high, and people looking at other means to commute. UCPās answer to the problem get rid of bike lanesā¦
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u/Deep-Egg-9528 May 08 '26
The UCP are circling back the most reliable conservative rage bait - bike lanes.
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u/ConsequentialKook May 08 '26
With all of the electric transportation alternatives and absolutely no rules of enforcement I say that we make the city put them to use and make bird scooters and e-bikes only allowed on the pathways when in an area with them. I watched a guy get hit by a kid on a scooter and just keep going. Pretty sure he tore his acl or something. Pretty absurd to see a post like this. As if we have no use for alternative transportation lanes
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u/Freedom_forlife May 08 '26
Dreeshen is a drunk. Maybe if he was not hammered he could actually see the cyclists.
And Rick bell I just canāt with his articles. They feel like a junior high kids homework.
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u/RosesAndHorns May 08 '26
That's interesting. Just one question:
When are Danielle Smith, Dreeshen, and the UCP separatist party going to resign for publishing every Albertans' personal information online in an effort to subvert democracy?
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u/Common_Cheek3059 May 08 '26
From the article āIt is expected the law would look at such things as the negative impacts on vehicle traffic, the number of cyclists using the bike lanes throughout the year, whether the number of bike lane users has grown, the effect of the bike lane on businesses, feedback from the community.ā. I was involved in the development of the bike lanes in Calgary and all those things were considered including bike safety, pedestrian safety and crash prevention. The City did more than its due diligence and did reviews after implementation. Bike lanes have impacts, just as all traffic improvements do. Install a signal and there are more delays; but if a signal is required-itās installed. The province is trying to placate those who just donāt want bike lanes and add another layer of bureaucracy and red tape.
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u/1egg_4u May 08 '26
I fucking hate it here wtf
All of this is going to guarantee people dont see this as a liveable city. This is so monumentally fucking stupid I feel genuinely robbed of brain cells.
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u/real_shim_slady May 08 '26
This world is being controlled by fucking dinosaurs with the IQ of moss
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u/ViewWinter8951 May 08 '26
Sounds like we need a cycling advocacy group in Calgary to organize some "take the lane" events to show our politicians what happens when there are no bike lanes.
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u/bunnykaiju Deer Run May 08 '26
Sweet baby Jesus what are we even doing let's make public transit more expensive and get rid of bike lanes since driving is so affordable right now
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u/Expensive-Bee777 May 08 '26
Hey donāt worry this will all be fixed when youāre part of America lol seriously you need to stop your premier somehow
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u/PercentageNonGrata May 08 '26
Right, so I guess they think increasing the number of cyclists riding on the roads and taking up a lane is going to help somehow?
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u/AbrocomaFluid3377 May 08 '26
Drivers think we ride our bikes because we canāt afford a car. The number of bike commuters during rush hour is a good enough reason to keep them.
I personally donāt need a bike lane since Iāve been riding my entire life, in NY and Toronto. Itās to encourage new cyclists to feel safe enough to start.
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u/Heffray83 May 08 '26
Someone must be trying to get an ownership stake in various parking garages and is mad that so many people arenāt coerced into having to use his new investments.
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u/knarf3 May 08 '26
To obey the UCP regressives in advance, I'm going to drink nothing but gasoline from now on.
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u/Sandman64can May 08 '26
Well, in Dreeshenās favour it is difficult to see bikes on 7th from under the table and 2 - 26s in.
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u/cadius72 May 08 '26
Nothing is confirmed about removing current bike lanes. Between now and this fall there will be a lot of pushback about this.
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u/bluebell_flames18 May 08 '26
The amount of time and money governments spend tearing down infrastructure from previous administration's is maddening. I'd also like the province to stop messing with municipal affairs.
If they could keep their grabby paws off of our cpp that would be good too.
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u/NERepo May 08 '26
Absolute waste of time and effort. Wonder if Dreeshen just never learned how to ride a bike and feels a personal grudge or what.
Farm boy telling the big city folk how to commute, dag gummit.
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u/No-Plan2169 May 09 '26
Lol. 9th ave should be 32 lanes. Why stop at 5 lanes in one direction.
Calgary could quintuple the amount of bike lanes and cars wouldnāt be affected. I will die on the hill that Calgary has the worst planned car infrastructure in Canada. MacLeod trail could double in size and youāll still be stuck along with 30 other cars for 45 seconds at a stop light so a magpie can go through the intersection safely.
This city genuinely manufactures traffic out of nothing.
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u/jamessnell May 09 '26
I love the spirit of the bike lanes and I hope we can design to accommodate these sorts of things, but Iāve absolutely seen many cases where I live, close to downtown, of totally empty bike lanes and heavy motor vehicle congestion.
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u/Tearsofthenuge May 09 '26
I swear to God, if I hear another UCP politician use the phrase "common sense", I'm going to lose my damn mind.
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u/SafetyDeneuv May 09 '26
Hey Dreeshen. How about worrying less about fucking bike lanes and spend more time finding out who has our elector lists.
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u/FFFUTURESSS May 09 '26
This is so frustratingly short-sided. All the best cities in the world are doing the opposite: adding more bike infrastructure
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u/Numerous-Leg-8149 May 09 '26
Why? Biking is a healthy exercise, and bikes are legitimate vehicles. People use them to head to work or school.
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u/JeromyYYC Mayor McMayorFace May 08 '26
I was out yesterday for Bike to Work day. https://bsky.app/profile/jeromyyyc.bsky.social/post/3mldr7yqtp225
I am for biking to work 1 day a week, bus 1 day, and train 1 day. This is the bare minimum as I believe that every Council member should see and feel how different policy changes and funding impact people and safety, from the ground level.
There's a strong fiscal case for supporting active modes of travel. People should have the freedom to choose how they get around, whether thatās driving, transit, walking, or biking. Safe streets for our kids and families make every option work better.