One of the things I've enjoyed most about visiting the Netherlands is experiencing how people actually get around every day.

We're staying just outside Amsterdam, and one day we biked to a bus stop, caught a bus within minutes, transferred seamlessly to a train, and were in the city with almost no waiting. It was smooth, reliable, and easy to see why so many people choose transit and cycling over driving.

The more time I've spent here, the more I've realized why it works so well. The Netherlands has about 18 million people living in roughly 41,000 km². Vancouver Island has fewer than 900,000 people spread across more than 31,000 km². That's a completely different reality. Add in the fact that the Netherlands is almost entirely flat—I haven't found a real hill in two weeks of biking—and it's clear why their transportation system looks the way it does.

There's a lot we can learn from places like this. But good planning isn't about copying another city or country. It's about understanding what makes sense for the community you're serving.

In Saanich, our goal should be simple: move people safely and efficiently, no matter how they choose to travel. Whether you're walking your kids to school, biking to work, taking transit, or driving across the municipality, you deserve infrastructure that works.

That doesn't mean every street needs the same solution. Not every road can—or should—have a bike lane, just as transit isn't practical on every route. We need to invest where it will have the greatest impact, improve transit where it can truly serve people well, build safe cycling and walking connections where they make sense, and maintain the roads our residents, businesses, and emergency services rely on every day.

Transportation planning shouldn't be driven by ideology or by trying to recreate another city's model. It should be guided by evidence, common sense, and the unique realities of Saanich. If we focus on balanced, practical solutions instead of one-size-fits-all policies, we can build a transportation network that works for everyone.