Election 2011: Craig Keating
Hi Heather - Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond and to reach out to the North Shore cycling community. Please find my responses below.
1. What modes of transportation do you normally use within Metro Vancouver? Do you ever use a bike for transportation in your municipality?
I work at Langara College in Vancouver and use bus, seabus, and RAV Line to get there (I drive to work about 2-3 times per term). For errands around North Van I try to use my bike unless I have a large load of shopping that requires auto transport or bus.
2. How would you support and encourage cycling for transportation to promote healthy and livable communities?
Supporting and encouraging cycling means both creating everyday opportunities for safe and easy use of bikes by people of all skill and comfort levels. This is not only about pushing ahead with increased bike lanes and other cycling routes (such as the Green Necklace and the Spirit Trail), but also ensuring that other kinds of end-of-trip bike infrastructure (showers, lockers, storage) are included in building standards for new office/institutional/residential developments. It also means ensuring that the kinds of services people use on a daily basis are located within reasonable biking distance from residences.
3. Do you think the current level of funding for cycling in your municipality is adequate?
No. I think we need to target road budgets to those routes that can lend themselves to the implementation of bike infrastructure as a priority expenditure.
4. What would you do to ensure a sustainable and adequate source of cycling funding during your term in office?
See above. It is about re-examining how and on what the existing roads budget is spent.
5. What is your level of interest in a public bike-share system integrated with the transit system?
I brought forward a motion in this term of Council to examine the opportunities for bike share in North Van. I think we need to ensure that this initiative becomes viable by partnering not only with Translink but also with Vancouver in a multi-agency bike-share system.
6. What role do you think the municipality has in supporting and promoting cycling education for children, cyclists and motorists?
While I would not support the City taking over the costs of direct cycling education programs, I think we can play a major role in informally educating both cyclists and non-cyclists through bylaws and signage that promote route sharing and by ensuring that our streets are designed in such a way (through lines, signage, etc.) as to promote cyclist awareness amongst automobile drivers.