Remember the predictions that separated bike lanes would hurt businesses along Dunsmuir and Hornby? Or already had. Just to remind you, the infamous op-ed by Rob Macdonald:
So what is the result of this lunacy?
… a substantial drop in sales revenue, in some cases upwards of 30 per cent, in most of the businesses directly impacted; job losses; business closures; shopkeepers’ life savings wiped out; falling property values, with a resulting loss of property taxes for the city; and a downtown traffic plan that is so compromised that many people won’t go downtown unless they absolutely have to, which further negatively affects the area’s economic fabric.
Actual results of that lunacy:
White Spot plans to open its 66th and largest full-restaurant in its chain on August 21 at the corner of Dunsmuir and Homer streets in a 100-year-old heritage building, company president Warren Erhart told Business in Vancouver August 19.
– Business in Vancouver, August 19, 2014
Notice the separated route immediately in front of the future White Spot.
What this city needs is more lunacy.
Typo in the headline, I think. Great post.
This op-ed, to my way of thinking, shows its writer to have an astonishing lack of credibility. These predictions were far-fetched at the time of writing, and are merely ludicrous now.
Shall we call this “bizmageddon”, to go along with “carmageddon” as oft-predicted doom scenarios that somehow never materialize in the real world.
I agree with you on this principle, but please cite more systematic evidence to prove this correct and not just an anecdote
When you are blog writer you can prove anything with an anecdote…I especially like when the blog writers start quoting each other and creating “facts”…But I am too critical – I am a regular reader of Mr. Price’s blog and most of the time he has interesting thoughts, but one has to realize that this blog is not science or the absolute truth – it’s just his (biased) view of things…
Well, see, that’s just the thing. There’s no such thing as unbiased. The conventional news outfits try to give the appearance of being unbiased by highlighting two opposing extremes but that’s still not the same thing.
I don’t think it will ever be any other way. The best we can do is know who’s talking and where they’re coming from.
It would be nice to have hard numbers but there have been no actual studies done since 2011, shortly after installation, which found only a moderate and temporary economic impact which could not be correlated due to insufficient data.
http://spacing.ca/vancouver/2011/07/25/vancouvers-hornby-and-dunsmuir-separated-bike-lanes/
http://www.vancourier.com/news/impact-of-vancouver-bike-lanes-moderate-on-downtown-businesses-study-says-1.386877
Three years later, these streets are doing great (just go look at it). If there were negative economic impacts causing businesses to fail, I’m pretty sure we would have heard about it.
Think of how the local rags would have loved to run those stories!
No hard data, but I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone familiar with the area it’s either a boon to businesses or neutral at the very worst.
I love that the bike corral in front of Rob Macdonald’s St Regis hotel and restaurant is packed every day. Yesterday at 1pm – 30 bikes and 2 electric scooters. I wonder if he’s ever thanked the city for providing so much extra parking across the street from his business.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/14786133689/
You conveniently forgot to mention that BCIT is across the street, not exactly a “business”.
Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers.
So, in some instances bikes lanes may be negative, in some instances positive and in many instances neutral
Macdonald’s original claim sounded more like a ludicrously over-the-top emotional outburst more than an evidence-based claim. I’m inclined to believe that in the long run, bike lanes will be beneficial to many businesses.
However, the opening of a new outlet of a mediocre fast-ish food chain cannot seriously be presented as evidence that Macdonald was entirely wrong, either.
I’m a dedicated cyclist, and have no interest in backtracking on their installation, or impeding new ones, but I suspect that the truth is much more complicated than the binary good-or-bad about bike lanes. It may well be that they are – at least sometimes – more a contributor to gentrification than simply a community enhancement.
What (if anything) was displaced to make room for the new White Spot? I seem to recall a senior citizens organisation at that corner (or was it a different block?).
Yes, it was a seniors resource centre. The whole building was extensively renovated with a large, new addition on the back.
http://changingcitybook.com/2014/07/21/411-dunsmuir-street/
Is this the same Rob MacDonald on the 2014 NPA slate?
Sneaky snarky headline there Mr. Price. 🙂
Great location for a White Spot, there’s a nice big parking corral just beside the building on the cycle track too!
Was just thinking its been awhile since my last burger and shake. Do believe I’ll roll down there this weekend with the fam and check it out.
White Spot had to look for a replacement location for their flagship downtown store, and this was probably one of the few larger spaces available. Moving it off Georgia will probably lead to lower volumes, but we will have to wait and see.