I actually wasn’t a fan of the Burrard bridge bike lane plan. The problem is, if you’re going to encourage people to get out of their cars, you have to provide them with reasonable alternatives. When transit is maxed out at around 99 per cent capacity, the alternatives just aren’t there (I for one will not be riding a bike to work, mostly because I’m the kind of person who gets easily distracted and might get run over. I carpool these days).

But the beauty of Ecodensity is that if you live within walking distance of work and amenities, you won’t need to use transportation at all most of the time. Before cheap gasoline turned our cities into urban sprawl, towns were built with closeness in mind. Now that fuel is so costly, there really isn’t much alternative to using our cars as little as possible.

I would also ask for better-looking naked women on bikes during the Critical mass “demos,” “blockades,” “honkfests” or whatever they’re calling ‘em. Also, the Car-Free self-congratulation festivals…? They’ve made me late for work twice now, since I’ve got weekend shifts and they make crucial streets Bus-Free too, ya know. Which would be a typical case of good leftist intentions having disastrous consequences.