It's been interesting to see the comments on the commuter cycling infrastructure story I featured earlier this week on Ottawa Morning. Many of the posted comments seem to fall on either side of the car vs bike vs pedestrian divide, which is perhaps unfortunate, because I think this is missing the bigger picture. It's unfortunate, but as long as commuters are forced to share the road, it's safe to say there will be battles for the road. I'm not saying the battles are justified and that efforts shouldn't be made to change people's attitude and behaviour, but let's not lose sight of the bigger issue here.

A bike lane shouldn't be viewed as a magic solution to solve the conflict between cyclists and motorists. Just as on-street bike parking racks won't solve the whole of problem of where to park your bike. But what these and other investments in cycling infrastructure do is, very publicly demonstrate (to everyone, including motorists) that the city is committed to incorporating bike riders into its transportation plan. Is Ottawa serious about encouraging people to leave their car at home and ride a bike to work instead? If so, then where's the money? Quite simply, Ottawa has not been funding its cycling plan. Lots of talk and plans, but no action.

Ottawa certainly isn't the first city to treat commuter biking this way. What's different in Montreal and Toronto is that municipal leaders there made cycling a priority in their transportation plans, and put some real money behind it. You can certainly argue that their motivation is by necessity, because their cities are chocked full of cars. The point is they want it done, so they're backing it up with some serious money to make it happen.