Calgary cyclists slam Alberta's bike lane portal for only accepting complaints

Calgary's cycling community is raising concerns about the Alberta government's new online portal designed to gather feedback on municipal bike lanes — saying the tool is built to harvest negativity rather than capture public opinion fairly.

The portal, launched last week, invites Albertans to submit concerns about bike lanes through a drop-down menu that includes options like reduced parking and costs to taxpayers. Notably absent: any way to register support for cycling infrastructure. For Calgarians who use bike lanes daily, the one-sided design presents an incomplete picture.

"We applaud the provincial government for reaching out to Albertans to get their information and perspective on things, but it really coaches it in a negative light," said Doug Clark, president of Bike Calgary. "To get the correct full picture, you need to make it more open to allow people to express their desires, the positive elements of interacting with bike lanes, and just not harvest negativity."

The Elbow Valley Cycle Club, which has more than 500 members, called for the portal to be managed by an independent agency for better transparency and less bias. Clark pointed out that transportation infrastructure planning rarely falls into black-and-white categories, especially in a city as old and large as Calgary, where modernizing infrastructure typically requires neighbourhood-level coordination.

"When the city reaches two million people, which may be sooner than we think, you can't just solve it by assuming everybody can jump in a car," Clark said. "It needs to be all of the above options — public transit, walking, wheeling and car."

Bob Grunewald, marketing director for Bow Cycle & Sports, and Cody Thomson, manager of The Bike Shop's central Calgary location, echoed the need for balance in transportation planning and expressed concern that removing bike lanes would create safety issues.