St. John's doesn't like bikes. Here's why its cycling plan needs to change lanes

This column is an opinion by Adrian House, a cyclist living in St. John's. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

St. John's is the worst cycling city in Canada.

This is not (just) my opinion, but the conclusion of a 2012 study by the University of British Columbia. Nine years later, we're the only major city in Canada that still has no bike lanes on our roads.

But the pedestrian mall, a car-free area of downtown implemented last summer, proves that we can do radical, progressive things when it's needed.

And it's needed.

The pandemic has seen an explosion of cycling worldwide, and St. John's is no exception: Canary Cycles has had their busiest two years ever, for example, and often struggled to keep bikes and parts in stock.

More people than ever are biking on our streets, and with no infrastructure, more people are getting hit and getting hurt. We need bike lanes to prevent this, and we need them now.