City council approves updated bicycle bylaw

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on November 13, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday gave its unanimous blessing to an updated bicycle bylaw.

The bylaw was last visited by council in 1986. Council gave second and third readings to Bylaw 6427 – Bicycle Bylaw which includes regulations on the use of various types of cycling infrastructure. It also removes the need for a bicycle licence plate while continuing to regulate bicycle parking.

The previous bylaw was first passed in 1979 before being updated seven years later.

Transportation engineer Adam St. Amant said outside council chambers after the vote that “we actually tried to look at it back in 2010. We had the scope of it a little bit broader and there was a fair bit of opposition. We had a few too many things in the bylaw at that time and it was defeated at the time.”

Work started again on revamped bylaw several years ago and “we wanted it to make it much more palatable and much more relevant. We had so many different new best practices come out, new infrastructure come into town and we needed to have something that could provide some regulation where there was gaps in the regulations. So that was really the push was to get something modern, something relevant in place so we could regulate these new types of infrastructure that we’re seeing being developed for cycling.”

Key changes to the bylaw include:

• Added e-bikes to the definition of a bicycle. While bicycle and e-bikes are defined by other levels of government, the updated definition makes it clear that the bylaw applies to both bicycles and e-bikes.

• Added details for management the use of bicycle lanes. Bicycle lanes are a relatively new type of infrastructure. Sections in the proposed bylaw are intended to provide clarity related to the use of bicycle lanes.

• Added an abandoned bicycle removal process. This section allows the City Manager or Lethbridge Police Service to deal with bicycles that appear to have been abandoned on public property for more than 72 hours.

• Added wording around the use of multi-use pathways. Sections of the proposed bylaw are intended to provide clarity relating to the use of multi-use pathways and the need for bicycles to yield to pedestrians.

• Added that the City Manager can provide exemptions to some sections. For example, the City Manager could provide micro-mobility service providers an exemption allowing their e-scooters to operate in bicycle lanes.

• Removed need for bicycle license plates. The City does not have a process, or resources assigned to issue bicycle license plates.

• Updated bicycle parking section. This includes removing the section requiring bicycle owners to pay the police for transportation and storage of their stolen bicycle and simplifying the language relating to the parking requirements.

• Updated penalties. Penalties are being increased to better reflect the cost of enforcement.