Re: "Cycling upgrades in capital could cost $220 million," Aug. 12.
Somehow the process of critical thinking was bypassed by the committee that recommended spending millions of dollars on expanded bike lanes.
The E&N commuter train line makes no sense on a cost per rider basis and now we have a committee of "feelgooders" planning to spend millions of dollars on bike lanes that have an even worse cost per rider. As a previous writer noted, we will be paying for sewage treatment, possibly light rail, and in Victoria, the Blue Bridge.
At some point, the local councils and mayors need to realize that citizens are not an unending source of funds to spend on projects that make no financial sense, other than satisfying their political views that people should ride bikes. That sounds like social engineering, which is not part of their mandate.
If they really need to spend taxpayer money, I would suggest that they fix existing infrastructure, which is a lot less sexy but has a much greater impact.
Chris Sheldon
Victoria
