It would be hyperbole to call the small Canadian city of Victioria, British Columbia, a bike utopia.

But with 13% of all trips in the city being done by bike in this city of 92,000 residents, the Montreal-based YouTube channel Oh the Urbanity! argues that it’s achieved something unusual for a North American city.

The growth of its high-quality bike infrastructure – often fully protected paths, often lined with trees and plants, and all connected to a network of rail-to-trail multiuse paths – is especially remarkable considering that just a decade ago, Victioria had no protected bike lanes or bike lanes downtown. Much of it came down to leadership that was driven to make change: Former Mayor Lisa Help’s 2014 election helped spark much of the change, including the city’s Biketoria bike network development plan and its work with consultants from internationally-recognized, bike-friendly cities.

Corey Burger of Capital Bike suggests that part of the city’s success has been in its decision to place most of its bike network on major streets, rather than relegating bike routes to side streets.

“You can pretend, in Portland and Vancouver, that no one bikes in those cities, because you don’t see bicyclists – they’re off on side streets,” Burger explains. “So politically, they’ve vanished. And I think that’s a big reason why Portland and Vancouver have stalled and we haven’t.”

Check out Oh the Urbanity’s YouTube channel and Patreon to support their channel.

This post was originally published on Next City.