Build it; they come; business follows; and people turn around.
Vancouver’s separated bike lanes have attracted new people in new demographics to travel by bicycle. But now, based on members’ opinions, Vancouver’s top business association has solidified their bike lane support and used terms like “evolution” and “competitive edge” to explain their reasoning. Perhaps other business groups (Commercial Drive — are you following this?) will take note.
Click to enlarge (Ken Ohrn photo)
Gauthier said many employers, especially those in the tech sector, are interested in office spaces that accommodate different types of transportation, such as cycling or car sharing.
“They want those options available so it’s easy for their employees to get to work by bike or transit or to be able to walk to work,” Gauthier said. “Parking of private vehicles is less of a top priority and building owners want to attract those employers,” he said.
“I think it provides us with a competitive edge.”
. . . Gauthier said there might be a few retailers that won’t be pleased with the move to support cycling, but he said those businesses that rely on street parking will most likely move out and be replaced by other tenants. That’s what happened on Hornby Street when the bike lanes were built there, said Gauthier.
Years ago, I was on the Vancouver’s Sidewalk Task Force with Charles Gauthier (and others.) While Charles and I had different opinions on some issues, I always respected his opinion and where he was coming from. I always that he could be swayed by a good argument or data. Now that it has been shown that bike lanes etc are not detrimental and can be beneficial, it has been great to see the DVBIA’s evolution on this and other cycling issues, I suspect in large part to Charles Gauthier.
It’s good to hear. There’s so much nonsense and outright lying in the realm of infrastructure change that it’s nice to see people look at what’s real. It shows why it’s important to have evidence based decision making.
My key takeaways from this experience are that separated bike lanes are a very powerful signal to society amidst the noise of Autotopia, and that other cities need to take note. Imagine the entire Metro with a network of separated commuter bike lanes on what are now your typical car-saturated arterials.
It is certainly unfortunate, but I doubt the Commercial Drive BIA will be swayed by the opinions of the Downtown Vancouver BIA.
At this point in time they appear to be very opposed but when you talk to people on the Drive, there’s a lot of support among business owners and customers.
The story isn’t over yet.
The story is a long way from over. The street improvements are approved in principle. Detailed design work underway. Further consultation, finalization of the designs, and construction, are delayed until the next capital budget cycle.
The debate is about what the street improvements should look like, not if they should happen or not. The Commercial Drive BS could help by contributing to the discussion, and not just trying to block progress.
HUB Cycling is holding Bike to Shop Days in July. Last year during the event we led cycling tours to the Drive, and shopped in stores that supported their customers using all modes of transportation.
So in other words, no matter what tax-paying businesses think, Vision Vancouver is planning to do whatever it wants, right after the next civic election. Nice. Who says democracy is dead.