Bike lanes a sign city has ‘grown up’

I moved back to Penticton recently after an absence of 13 years. There have been many changes during that time, the biggest being the increased number of every day cyclists.

It is a mark of how the city has progressed or “grown-up,” as one of my Pentictonite friends says. I was especially delighted to discover that a bike network running through downtown and extending to the south part of the city was in the works.

As a 66-year-old non-driver, my bicycle is, and has always been, my primary form of transportation. I have lived in several communities across Canada and in the U.K., and the ones with the designated bike lanes hold a special place in my heart.

I still remember the thrill of my first rides on the Laurier Street bike lanes in Ottawa and on the Claire Morrisette Piste Cyclable on Blvd. de Maisonneuve in Montreal.

Those were the first times I felt safe and recognized on a city street.

As a working person, it always has bothered me that my taxes were going into roads that did not serve my needs. Why were nonpolluting, exercise-creating vehicles not given a special place on those roads?

Seeing parents transporting their children by bike to school and to daycare; the One Sky bike trailers for people who cannot ride being driven by those that can; people of all ages out on their bikes shopping, going to appointments, out for meals or a coffee, or simply out for a ride. These safe lanes will be a boon to so many. Good, clean transportation that provides exercise, to boot!

Kudos to the City of Penticton for recognizing the need for healthy, environmentally-friendly transportation in this time of climate change.