A new parkade for bicycles is coming to the Metrotown SkyTrain station. The glass-walled area will include capacity for 26 bikes, outlets for charging e-bikes and CCTV surveillance.
Great news for local cyclists, right?
Maybe not.
The project was planned without consulting enough Burnaby cyclists, according to Cathy Griffin, chair of HUB Burnaby – the local chapter of a cycling advocacy group.
“What about the people who do cycling in that area? Is there demand for it? Will people really use it? How did they come up with putting it there?”
She said those are the questions the City of Burnaby and TransLink failed to ask before going ahead with the parkade. A similar facility installed at the King Edward station in Vancouver cost $500,000.
Griffin wants more protected bike lanes and routes in the city, as well as improved parking at SkyTrain stations, but she doesn’t see the logic of this plan.
“I have no idea why they chose Metrotown,” she said.
TransLink spokesperson Chris Bryan said a bicycle parkade was chosen for Metrotown as part of other station upgrades because it's "the most fiscally responsible thing to do. As we upgrade stations along SkyTrain we seek to get the ‘biggest bang for our buck’ by adding amenities."
Metrotown is one of the busiest stations in the SkyTrain network, and the bike parkade is expected to be well used, he added.
Brentwood, Lougheed and Production Way could all use better places to store bikes during the day, Griffin said, as the existing bike lockers, which require monthly rent payments, don’t cut it.
Griffin hosted a community forum on Monday to rally local bike commuters to advocate for change and to share information about the city’s plans. Another forum is planned for July 5 at 7 p.m. at the Bob Prittie Library.
“We want to make cycling voices are heard,” she said.
Those voices are being heard, according to the city’s manager of transportation planning, Stuart Ramsey.
He said cyclists are top-of-mind as the city begins work on the second phase of its transportation plan update.
That plan, he said, will include more protected bike lanes, especially in Burnaby’s city centres — Brentwood, Lougheed, Metrotown and Edmonds.
