After Oak Bay council once again voted to keep the bike lanes on Henderson Road as part-time, a local was spurred to plan a protest.
Now, Jane van Hoorn has initiated a second protest, called a critical mass ride, in Oak Bay calling for more safe infrastructure for cyclists in the municipality.
On July 10 from 5 to 6 p.m., cyclists will ride from the University of Victoria campus to the Oak Bay municipal hall calling for safe infrastructure for cyclists.
“I’ve lobbied in Oak Bay for a cycling infrastructure for nearly 25 years,” van Hoorn said.
“This has been an old conversation and old discussion, I’m confused as to why Oak Bay council continues to not to try any sort of cycling infrastructure, Henderson was considered the first of what was going to be our cycling infrastructure.”
The bike lanes on Henderson Road are currently part-time bike lanes. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays they are painted bike lanes, then after that time and on weekends they are parking spots.
In February, Coun. Carrie Smart brought forward a motion to turn the bike lanes into full-time bike lanes, but it was defeated 4-3.
READ MORE FROM THE TIMES COLONIST: Bike lanes near UVic to remain part-time
“When I discovered that Council had once again voted against the Henderson bike lane, it lit a spark in me,” van Hoorn said. “It was so unfair and so far behind that I felt I had to do something.”
Van Hoorn helped initiate the first critical mass ride on June 12, and she says more than 100 people turned up to send the message to Oak Bay council.
The second is to be held on July 10, and she hopes more people show up.
“We have disconnects from Haultain and Foul Bay Road where poof all of a sudden there’s no more cycling infrastructure,” van Hoorn said. “That really gives a message of we don’t like cyclists, and I believe it really gives an entitlement to cars because if they don’t share with bikes they won’t.”
Van Hoorn encourages anyone who wants to get involved to come down to UVic to take part in the ride, or to come to Oak Bay municipal hall afterwards to join the rally.
Laura Brougham
