Calgary Herald, October 1991
By Sheldon Alberts
Messengers want regulations applied to all cyclists in City.
They've been called everything from street outlaws to two-wheeled kamikazes.
But Calgary's bike couriers are about to become fully registered and responsible drivers. And they want the rest of the City's cyclists to do the same.
City Council is expected to pass a by-law October 15 that would regulate the bike courier business. Companies will have to be licensed and insured and riders will have to mount identification plates on their bikes.
"It's certainly better than what we had, which was nothing," said Alderman Rick Smith, who has long lobbied for more stringent bike courier rules.
Still, the courier companies say regulations don't go far enough.
They want tougher rules for recreational and commuter cyclists and for motorists ignorant of the rights of bicyclists on the road.
The Calgary Bicycle Advisory Council estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 bicycles are in the downtown core everyday. Only 127 of them are business couriers.
"If there are 1,000 cyclists downtown and only 127 of them are living by the rules, then you know there are a bunch who aren't," says Marjorie Zingle , executive director of the Calgary Messenger and Courier Association.
Dave Benallick, who rode bikes from 1987 until late last year, says couriers will ride safer once the by-law takes effect. But inattentive motorists will still be out of control.
"The cars just cut bikes off left, right and centre," says Benallick, who started his own courier company last year.
Zingle was behind the drive to identify couriers because it will be easier to locate the riders who regularity break the law. And she's willing to accept the requirement for insurance. Indeed many companies already carry liability insurance to protect them in case of severe accidents.
But Zingle says it's unfair that "regular cyclists are exempt.
"Every time there is an accident, it is automatically assumed that it is a courier," Zingle says. "That's our next bone of contention...the City's got a real problem teaching both motorists and cyclists how to deal with each other."
Alderman Ray Clark, chairman of the Operations and Development Committee, said the City has no plans to force similar rules on recreational cyclists.
Bicycle couriers are largely responsible for offenses like riding on sidewalks, darting across traffic lanes and riding the wrong way down one-way streets, Clark said.
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