Data is important but it's not everything. Nothing beats a simple walk around a neighbourhood, a chat with residents, gathering a sense of community, or even just getting the data straight. An example - I had a building on lower Point Grey Road. The City wanted to put a separated bike lane on the north side of the road which would connect Kits pool to the now vehicle restricted west Point Grey Road. This made no sense whatever and sure enough, when my objections were heard, the City realized that this was a non starter. The planner involved when out to the site and saw that 16 properties on the north side had driveways where cars would be backing out through passages through the bike lane barrier and therefore there would be little barrier remaining. Also, the person who came to the site saw that there was little or no traffic and that the road was mostly a full bike lane anyway with no issues between bikes and the few vehicles. Yes data is important, but getting out from behind the screen and desk is so important as well.
Data is important but it's not everything. Nothing beats a simple walk around a neighbourhood, a chat with residents, gathering a sense of community, or even just getting the data straight. An example - I had a building on lower Point Grey Road. The City wanted to put a separated bike lane on the north side of the road which would connect Kits pool to the now vehicle restricted west Point Grey Road. This made no sense whatever and sure enough, when my objections were heard, the City realized that this was a non starter. The planner involved when out to the site and saw that 16 properties on the north side had driveways where cars would be backing out through passages through the bike lane barrier and therefore there would be little barrier remaining. Also, the person who came to the site saw that there was little or no traffic and that the road was mostly a full bike lane anyway with no issues between bikes and the few vehicles. Yes data is important, but getting out from behind the screen and desk is so important as well.