June is Bike Month

June is bike month in the City of Edmonton and there are all sorts of activities planned. I wanted to ride to school with my daughter last Friday, but it was too cold and rain was imminent. We passed a “bring you’re bike to breakfast” gathering a block from my daughter’s school. I was so sad, I couldn’t wait to get on my bike.

I hope City of Edmonton employees can’t wait to ride either. The city just spent $17,000 on new bikes for city employees to use in the downtown core. The right-wing pundits are of course attcking this decision, calling the bikes “luxury” or “high-end”. While you can get a good, reliable bike for $700, it’s far from “high-end”. I suspect the right-wing pundits would consider a $99 bike from Canadian Tire more reasonable in the same way I think it would be more reasonable for these same pundits to abandon their Hummers and drive around in used K-Cars. The left-wing is of course supporting this idea but they want to see it expanded. I think the $17,000 bike plan should be treated as a research project. If the plan works and is found to save money, increase productivity, reduce traffic, etc… then it’s a success. If the project is deemed a failure, losses can be reduced by selling off the bikes. Selling bikes at half the purchase price would mean an overall cost to the taxpayers of $8,500, which in my opinion is an acceptable risk when weighed against the possible benefits. I realize it’s a simplistic analysis, but I’m not a spin-doctor.