EDITORIAL – Multi-use pathways are becoming dangerous and obsolete

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

MULTI-USE PATHWAYS seemed like such a good idea — pedestrians and cyclists happily co-existing, safely separated from vehicles.

But times have changed. If you walk the Rivers Trail you know you have to always be on the alert for speeding cyclists but now they’re being joined by motorized e-bikes and e-scooters.

The e-bikes are the next big thing in active transportation — or, maybe more accurately, semi-active.

To be clear, the term ‘e-scooter’ refers to those things that look like a skateboard with handlebars and electric power, not e-bicycles, mopeds or the chair-equipped rigs favoured by seniors to get around. They’re also known as kick scooters.

The provincial government tested them out in 13 B.C. communities for the past three years and has announced it will now conduct further study into their “benefits and effects.”

According to a B.C. government news release,  during the next four years, “people will be able to legally use e-scooters in any community that authorizes their use.”

Kamloops wasn’t among the 13 communities in the initial test so e-scooters aren’t currently legal here but we can be sure there will be pressure to approve them for use.

To be sure, e-scooters have benefits. Kelowna and Vernon, which were in the initial test, found they significantly replaced vehicles for getting around town.

By coincidence, e-scooters came up for a brief discussion this week when Kamloops City council debated, then defeated, a plan for a multi-use path on Lansdowne Street between Sixth and Second Avenues.

General safety was a major concern. The mention of e-scooters brought a comment from staff that signage and education would be the answer. But the real answer is to keep pedestrians and other modes of transportation separated.

As technology marches, multi-use pathways are going to be more of a problem than a solution. Cities need to shift their thinking toward complete separation of bicycles and their ilk from vehicles, and pedestrians from both.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.