Making Room for Bicycles can Save Cities Money and Boost Local Economies

Bicycles are not just a means of getting around – they can also have a significant impact on the financial health of cities. From reducing traffic congestion to boosting local businesses, the benefits of bicycles extend far beyond their environmental and health benefits.

Just this morning, former chief planner for the city of Toronto and all-around city-building guru Jennifer Keesmaat took to social media to relay a personal account from her past life in municipal government.

In her tweet, she recounts a time when she was pressing to get the city to adopt a somewhat-ambitious cycling plan. Now, there are no end to the reasons that people can come up to argue against this investment, despite the obvious benefits in reality. But, this time, she heard something knew. This time, an individual, an elected city councillor no less, came up with the reason that it would be bad for one of Toronto’s big economic drivers — the film industry. The Canadian city is a well-known stand-in for many American cities and, this councillor argued, the city wouldn’t be able to do that because, apparently, cities don’t have bike lanes in America.

“So I went to the film office and asked if this was true, with the thought that we could create a strategy to mitigate this,” she said. “But instead I was promptly told that streets with bike lanes were highly desirable filming locations – because Toronto is often a stand in for other cities. And other cities have bike lanes. Anyway, not long after that, sure enough, I noticed a Toronto bike lane as the background shot to a street scene in an episode of (TV show) Suits.”