Not just in Ontario, but all across North America there seems to be a bit of a backlash emerging against bike lanes and urban cycling. It’s not terribly rational–bicycles have 2% of the road space in Toronto, and yet our wonderful premier is convinced that roads are clogged because of the bike lanes.

This made it a particularly good and interesting time to be in Tokyo, a city where bikes aren’t just around–they’re prioritized.

Bikes are, literally, everywhere and ridden by everyone–kids were in trailers and rear mounted seats being pedaled around by young mothers; deliveries were being made on cargo bikes; lycra clad enthusiasts were out and about. If you can imagine a two wheeled cohort, it existed.

I was most struck my the parking situation: there are huge parking lots dedicated to bikes only near most subway stations but also in other random locations. Most apartment buildings had dedicated bike parking for residents. This sign at a McDonalds was one of my favourites: imagine if fast food restaurants provided dedicated bike parking areas–we could all stop leaning our bikes against the window, paranoid about them being stolen.

On that point, too, things were different: instead of heavy bulky hardened steel u-locks most bikes were locked with flexible cables. Bike theft exists and yet there’s a level of expectation here that suggests it’s not the problem it is in North America. As often as not, they weren’t locked at all. This would be unimaginable in Toronto.

Our cities become what we want them to be. Over the past few years Paris has been aggressively building out their cycling infrastructure, and the transformation has been enormous. People in North American snort derisively that our cities “aren’t Copenhagen, conveniently ignoring that Copenhagen wasn’t Copenhagen either in the 70s: choked with traffic and pollution, they made conscious choices which started the path to where the city is today.

The only think I couldn’t find in Tokyo was a bike sharing service so I could grab a bike and ride around. If it exists, I’ll find it next time and if it doesn’t…well, maybe it’s only a matter of time.

North America reverts and continues to refuse to take lessons from other parts of the world. One day maybe this’ll change.