{"id":21542,"date":"2025-07-24T22:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T22:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/21542\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T22:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T22:17:10","slug":"addressing-nanaimos-patchwork-of-bike-lanes-the-discourse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/21542\/","title":{"rendered":"Addressing Nanaimo’s patchwork of bike lanes \u2013 The Discourse."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NanaimoNanaimo city councillor Erin Hemmens poses with her bike with the \u201cBike Lane Barbie\u201d sticker on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Photo by Mick Sweetman \/ The Discourse.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, when the Front Street bike lanes<\/a> were being built, a man went on a local Facebook group and called Nanaimo Coun. Erin Hemmens a \u201cbike lane Barbie.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another instance, Hemmens said she was at the Wellington Pub when someone came up to her and called her the same name. She mentioned the story to Robin Dutton, owner of Coal City Cycles, when she was dropping off her bike there recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe howled,\u201d Hemmens recalled. \u201cHe thought it was hilarious. He helped me reframe it, saying \u2018this is actually funny\u2019 and surprised me by making stickers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hemmens proudly put the sticker on her bike and posted about it<\/a> on her Facebook page earlier this month. Now, she estimates that at least 15 cyclists, including<\/a> Coun. Hilary Eastmure, have taken up the slogan and slapped the stickers<\/a> on their rides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nanaimo City Council adopted a Transportation Master Plan in 2014 to support sustainable growth and make walking, cycling and taking transit more comfortable options for residents to get around. Hemmens said that plan is now coming to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re actually doing is just realizing that plan,\u201d Hemmens said. \u201cThis has been in the works for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Discourse spoke with Hemmens and local cycling advocates about what\u2019s being done to make cycling an easier \u2014 and safer \u2014 transportation option in the city.<\/p>\n

A patchwork of bike lanes<\/p>\n

Nanaimo\u2019s cycling infrastructure is a mash-up of bike lanes, cycle tracks, multi-use pathways, neighbourhood bikeways and trails that are captured on a digital map<\/a>, but the way they are developed is often through piecemeal requirements when there is a new development or the city is doing other work.<\/p>\n

This results in bike lanes that start, run for a few blocks, and then abruptly end.<\/p>\n

Charlotte Cavali\u00e9, a director of the Nanaimo Area Cycling Coalition<\/a>, told The Discourse that the lack of connectivity is a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the map, you see that there\u2019s a lot of pieces that are there, but they are not necessarily connected and this is something that needs to be improved,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hemmens said part of the reason for this is that the improved bike lanes are built when the city is upgrading other infrastructure, such as underground watermains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has a policy of putting things back together better than how we found them,\u201d Hemmens said, adding that the city is estimated to grow by 40,000 people in the next 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of development proposals, developers typically have to include upgrades to sidewalks and roadways in front of their projects. Hemmens would like the province to allow municipalities to pool money from developers and use them on centralized projects, such as sidewalks for the overall area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the power to be able to say \u2018you don\u2019t need to put it in front of your lot, because it\u2019s going to create this sense of patchwork. We want to pull it in the centre and use it strategically.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

New cycling coalition looking at advocacy and education<\/p>\n

\"CharlotteCharlotte Cavali\u00e9 from the Nanaimo Area Cycling Coalition says the existing cycling infrastructure in Nanaimo, such as the multiuse E&N trail that runs through the city, needs to be better connected. Photo by Mick Sweetman \/ The Discourse.<\/p>\n

Even where there are bike lanes painted on the roads, there is no guarantee that people will feel safe riding in them alongside fast-moving traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once, while biking down Bruce Avenue, a large pick-up truck passed very close to Cavali\u00e9 despite the law that says drivers have to leave three metres of space for cyclists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came so close,\u201d she said. \u201cI got so scared.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cavali\u00e9 said the Nanaimo Area Cycling coalition, which reformed with a new board of directors<\/a> in June and currently has over 50 members, is still in the process of identifying its vision of cycling in Nanaimo and what improvements it would like to see.<\/p>\n

But on a personal level, she would like to see bike lanes or cycling paths built on streets that aren\u2019t already busy roadways.<\/p>\n

One project the group is looking at taking on is providing bike valet services at large events so people can park their bikes securely when there is a public market or an event in a park and don\u2019t have to drive a car there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to have a service like this to make sure people can come with their bike to avoid creating more traffic than we need to and making sure that these bikes are watched properly with a service that is free and run by volunteers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The coalition is not limited to cyclists and Cavali\u00e9 said she wants to hear what pedestrians, skateboarders, and people who use scooters need to make active transportation better in the city.\u00a0The organization also hopes to develop educational programming and collaborate with GoByBike<\/a> and local school districts. <\/p>\n

In 2024, city council voted<\/a> to spend $75,000 a year for three years for secure bike parking through the Climate Action Reserve Fund. The plan<\/a> was to provide secure bike parking stalls with charging stations along Commercial Street in the first year, covered bike parking such as lockers or sheltered bike racks near the Port Theatre in 2025 and covered bike parking at the future downtown transit exchange on Terminal Avenue in 2026.<\/p>\n

Nanaimo\u2019s Transportation Master Plan<\/p>\n

The Nanaimo Transportation Master Plan<\/a> was adopted in 2014 to guide the city with goals to improve roadways, increase transit accessibility and make walking and cycling a more comfortable way for people of all ages and abilities to move through the city.<\/p>\n

The target is to increase trips made by walking, cycling and transit from 12 per cent to 24 per cent by 2041, or an estimated 90,000 sustainable trips per day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For cycling, the goal is to increase the number of trips by bike from one per cent to four per cent of all trips, or from 3,000 cycling trips per day to 15,000.<\/p>\n

The plan is to develop and expand the cycling network by connecting the city\u2019s largest destinations in the short term, while building out a long-term plan through capital projects and development. It also includes new bike facilities and crossings, updating the city\u2019s street design guidelines and developing bicycle parking at places like ferry terminals and transit exchanges to integrate it with other public transportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A map from the plan shows the vision for a medium- to long-term bicycle network throughout the city while a shorter-term network plan shows a scaled down version.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tShort Term Bicycle Network Plan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tMedium-Long Term Bicycle Network Plan<\/p>\n

The plan refers to the E&N Railway trail as the \u201cspine\u201d of the city\u2019s cycling network because it connects to many different destinations and has \u201cgentle, consistent grades.\u201d But it says there is currently a lack of on-street cycling facilities, leading to cyclists and vehicles sharing travel lanes on busy roads in many cases. This makes it difficult to access the E&N trail and its many other connections and can be a barrier to people cycling in the city.<\/p>\n

Hemmens said she used the trail to cycle 20 kilometres from the south end of the city to the Regional District of Nanaimo building on Hammond Bay Road for a meeting on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the E&N for 90 per cent of it, completely protected from traffic, seeing other cyclists out and about \u2014 and it\u2019s flat,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, July 16 city councillors voted to spend $147,000 to extend<\/a> the E&N Trail from Columbia Street to Seventh Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city also supports a Vision Zero<\/a> approach with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries in the city through traffic calming methods<\/a> such as speed humps, traffic circles and raised crosswalks.<\/p>\n

According to crash data from ICBC, there have been a total of 123 collisions involving cyclists in Nanaimo between 2020 and 2024 and 169 involving pedestrians<\/a>. For automobiles, the number jumps to 10,825. There were 3,711 car crashes in Nanaimo causing injuries or fatalities in the same time period. Data for pedestrian and cyclist injuries or deaths was not available.<\/p>\n

The most dangerous intersection for pedestrians in Nanaimo was Bowen Road and Dufferin Crescent with four collisions reported. The most dangerous intersection for cyclists was the Island Highway, Metral Drive and Mostar Road intersection with four collisions, followed by Bowen Road and Dufferin Crescent with three collisions.<\/p>\n

Evolving cycling in Nanaimo\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Transportation Master Plan also addresses developing a bikeshare program in areas such as Downtown Nanaimo, the VIU campus and the Stewart Avenue corridor (including the Departure Bay ferry terminal).<\/p>\n

In the past year, the Evolve e-bike sharing program<\/a> \u2014 run by the BCAA \u2014 launched in Nanaimo and has expanded this summer to include a fleet of e-scooters and expanded stations in the northern part of the city.<\/p>\n

Since a station was installed at the Hullo Ferry terminal, Haliburtian Street has become a heavily used route for Evolve, with people taking the bikes as they get off the passenger ferry from Vancouver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evolve spokesperson Leanne Buhler told The Discourse that thousands of people have used the service each month and that GPS data shows that people prefer to ride on the safest routes possible, such as the E&N Trail<\/a>, along the waterfront and quiet side streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That data is being used to create heat maps that the city will be able to use in future planning of active transportation infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since introducing e-scooters this year, Buhler said Evolve has seen ridership increase substantially and account for about half of Evolve\u2019s trips in Nanaimo. She said the low platform of the scooters makes them easier to step on to, attracting riders to them. As for the larger e-bikes, not having to pedal has attracted people who may be intimidated by them, she said.<\/p>\n

Buhler said that the City of Nanaimo has been \u201can extremely fabulous partner\u201d that understands the city and is able to help guide what residents want.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNanaimo is doing a great job in terms of infrastructure compared to other municipalities that we see,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hemmens said she is seeing the results of that partnership when she\u2019s riding along the new cyclepath on Front Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people everywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cDowntown in particular, I find cycling is really visible in a new way and the Evolve bikeshare is part of that, bike lanes are part of that and council\u2019s looking at end of trip facilities. There\u2019s a real focus on making sure that if people want to bike to work and not own a car that costs $10,000 a year, they can do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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