Edmonton man says bike lanes save his family thousands of dollars annually
Posted August 20, 2025 6:05 pm.
Last Updated August 20, 2025 6:44 pm.
Edmonton continues adding more bike lanes to expand its active transportation network. More construction is taking place in the Delton neighbourhood this fall, and while some residents are strongly pushing back against the city’s plans and calling on the province to step in, one local man supporting the move says bike lanes save his family thousands of dollars every year.
“We had a Toyota Corolla, 2001, so basically the cheapest vehicle that we can have, and we were looking at the cost of upgrading to a newer vehicle, a vehicle that we could use as our family started to grow,” said Josh Thompson.
“We just saw how expensive it would be for us to own two vehicles as a young family, and so we went to one, got some bikes instead, and it’s significantly cheaper every year.”
Thompson lives in the Westmount neighbourhood. His family frequently uses the nearby bike lanes for travel within reason.
They sold their Corolla for $2,000 nearly five years ago, using the money to buy a family-friendly e-bike for roughly the same price, using it year-round for smaller trips, some grocery runs, and daily commute.
He said by cutting his monthly car insurance, gas, and maintenance expenses, they save around $4,000 every year.
They don’t use their e-bike for everything. Some trips, weather conditions, and distances aren’t practical. For safety in the winter, he’s limited to riding on roads with bike lanes, to avoid slipping on icy roads with cars and sidewalks with pedestrians.
His family sees the value in improving the city’s bike lane network because it would pave the way for more families to reap the benefits.
“Probably the best thing the government can do to help affordability, in my opinion, is give people transportation options that reduce their need to own multiple vehicles,” said Thompson.
“We’ve got young kids. We want them to be able to bike to school, walk to school, bike to go see places, we don’t want to play mom and dad taxi all the time.”
