Connecting the Seawall and Downtown Bike Lanes: We want your input

@John Baker:
Bikes are going to wean us off our addiction to oil. Really?
Tell me John, what will happen to the oil you imagine we are being weaned off ?
Answer: The same thing as would happen to it if it were exported.

Consider placing the concrete barrier separating bicycle lane from vehicle traffic on the North East exist from the Burrard Bridge to Pacific eastbound on the unused sidewalk on the South side of Pacific, west of Hornby.

This would improve traffic flow on Pacific between Hornby and Burrard by using one more lane for vehicular traffic.

As I was walking down Hornby last friday afternoon , I counted not less than 15 empty car parking spaces in 5 blocks. So if businesses are losing customers it’s not because of the bike lanes.

Do politicians lead the conversation or follow it? I’m 62 years of age, spend more time in my car than on my bike and yet I’m happy with the priority given to installing bike lanes. Will I use these bike lanes? Doubtful. Will I be hampered by them? Probably. And, I still support them. Why? Because I know old habits die hard. We’re addicted to oil. we’re addicted to cars. Historically, we’ve designed and built our cities to enable and perpetuate these addictions. It’s time to wean us from these addictions for the good of the community and for the long term benefit of our children’s children. Am I inconvenienced? Yes. But this inconvenience is a small price to pay when you consider the consequences of moving forward in the same delusional state we share now. I want to thank you for the courage it takes to lead rather than to follow.

I am an all-weather bicycle commuter, and I am really thrilled about the new downtown bike lanes; I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Vancouver City Council. I hope that as a result of these safe and well-laid-out lanes, more and more Vancouverites will take advantage of this easy, cheap, environmental, healthy and extremely fun mode of transportation. To all of you who seem doubtful about the benefits of the lanes: I highly recommend that you try out cycling, even if just occasionally. You might find you love it, and appreciate the difference that separated lanes make! I never rode my bike regularly till about three years ago, and now it brings me more happiness than almost any other everyday activity. Thanks again, City Council!

The separated bike lanes on Dunsmuir and Hornby are great!
I bike on them with pleasure, feeling much safer with the partition. I bike in all seasons. If only people would get out of their cars and enjoy this healthy & sensual & sustainable activity.
Thanks, Vancouver City Council!

PS: The special stop & go lites for bikes on Hornby are cool.

I live right at Thurlow and Pacific and I just wanted to say that I have never, ever seen a single cyclist on the Horny bike lane and I haven’t seen more than 2 or 3 cyclists on on the burrard bridge bike lane in a month or so. However there is constantly bumper to bumper traffic over the bridge and immense congestion on both sides even outside of peak hours.

Great idea to save the environment, make people who live around the bike lanes have to drive 5-10 extra minutes every time they go for a trip in the car due to messing up the routes and restricting turns, and then causing MASSIVE congestion all around the bridge and the downtown core on Dunsmuir. By the way the Dunsmuir bike lane is one of the most ridiculous ideas I’ve ever seen, the street was already suffering from tons of congestion from the for most of the day and now we’ve got even more people stuck in traffic there, BURNING GAS. B

Brilliant, just brilliant.

By the way, I’ve cycled and never had a problem biking over the bridge. Maybe its because I don’t claim every road as my own, whether I’m cycling or driving. I don’t make my driving a political thing and nor is my cycling, they are modes of transportation. Just like these bike lanes are a mode of appeasing loyal voters are throwing everyone else’s money in a bonfire.

I’ll be voting against everyone who was responsible every time I can, because this whole thing should never have happened in principle and the way it has is appalling to the notion of common sense and representation.

I have given up my car and rode my bike to work for the past month of December, and plan to continue.
It is faster than transit, I don’t have to give my money to corrupt Translink, I get an hour of exercise each day, and I’m not polluting with my car.

I have given up my car and rode my bike to work for the past month of December, and plan to continue.
It is faster than transit, I don’t have to give my money to corrupt Translink, I get an hour of exercise each day, and I’m not polluting with my car.

Burrard and Pacific is a disaster. Mayer is out of his mind.

i cannot believe the amount of money being wasted on these bike lanes. i drive downtown everyday,and they are not being used very much. it will be good when the mayor is no longer running this city. they should focus on snow removal,garbage pick-up,etc.

The new lanes are great. Makes it easy to get around downtown without the worry of getting squished, mangled or killed. I notice that there still are three lanes on Hornby for cars. But I do wonder why one of the lanes is used for parking. Why not have all off street parking and use whole the street for traffic flow. Or even better convert the lane used for parking into a bus only lane! If everyone could clearly see that buses didn’t get stuck in traffic it might even encourage someone to get out of their car.

The Burrard bridge lane is a failure. A failure in design and a failure in enforcement. Pedestrians are required to transit the bridge either northbound or southbound by using the west sidewalk. But from my experience there are always pedestrians in the east bicycle lane. Not once, not never, not even in my imagination has there been or will there be any enforcement of these rules. And frankly from a pedestrian’s perspective I can certainly imagine that it is slightly inconvenient to have to cross the street to use the other sidewalk. I mean really, everyone is so busy that those few steps and seconds do mean a lot. So the issue isn’t following the rules or lack of enforcement it is a design issue. I suggest that pedestrians be allowed to use the sidewalks on both sides of the bridge. Let them walk north or south, fast or slow, in any manner that they choose on the sidewalk that is closest to the bridge edge. Then have one-way bike lanes interior to the sidewalk with a separation barrier from the traffic. The interior of the bridge has the four cars lanes. Everyone wins. The pedestrians don’t get hassled by cyclists because they are walking where it makes sense to walk. The cyclists get their lanes north and south protected from the cars. And the cars get the existing four lanes. The whole realignemnt job needs a bit of paint and a few barriers.

I rode the Dunsmuir and Hornby bike lanes for the first time today. Overall a huge improvement. You cannot ride very fast because you have to watch out for right-turning cars at intersections and pedestrians mid-block. But in downtown there are so many lights that riding fast is not much of an option anyways. On Dunsmuir I was cut off by a driver turning right, but other than that it’s a safe, pleasant and efficient way to move through downtown. Pedestrians seemed very aware of the bike lane.

I used to ride Hornby Street when it had a painted line only. The separated path is a huge improvement. But it will take some time for cyclists to learn about the new bike lights that give right-turning drivers an advance green. They are a bit confusing at first because as a cyclist you are used to following the main signals. On Hornby cyclists have to ignore the main signals and just look at the tiny bike signals. There should be more of these new bike signals in the city so that cyclists get used to them.

Thanks for putting in the separated bike lanes. I am much more likely to ride my bike downtown now. I used to avoid downtown by bike because this is where I had the worst experiences: getting almost hit by a car and once the other way around, I was driving and almost hit a cyclist. I am not really blaming the drivers, they are presumably the same as outside downtown, but the lack of space and the high volume of cars, buses and pedestrians makes it easy to overlook bikes.

Fantasic bike lanes- in time people will love ‘em. Especially when you can ride your bike alongside your grandkids right into downtown without being afraid.

One thing stuck me as poor planning though- the street signals for the cyclists on the Horny route are in very poor position. Even with a traffic-person at each stop light explaining to me I still didn’t get it at first and was almost hit by a car taking the advance right. The signal on the far side of the street is too small and far away to see the bike icon while the signal on the near side of the street is WAY overhead.

I (and I suppose most people) get it now that I know where the signal is and had it explained to me by the traffic-person but how long are they going to be out there explaining? What happens when someone new heads down there? I think there is going to be a serious accident when a car takes an advance right and the bicyclist thinks they have the right-of-way.

Please lower the near signal or add an additional eye-level signal at the stop line. In my opinion the other two signal are not really useful.

Keep up the good work and for those who are upset about this go for a ride! You’ll love it! And as so many of you have pointed out you paid for the things. Might as well use them!

Mayor Robertson..I want you GONE.

I think bikes are very nice but NOT at the cost of 25 million bucks with that only being the beginning. Are the poor ( and ever poorer) taxpayers not also supporting an underutilized public transit dream via Translink? So you spend ( and we pay ) 25 million more for bikes resulting in a marginal and very local benefit to a few bikers by providing underutilized bike paths to people who could instead be riding ‘green’ public transit thereby reducing its vast deficit.

Mayor and council .. you are obviously lost in your ‘green dream’ and justify this egregious waste of MY money with a dismissive ’ Oh but it’s green! It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s Holy work don’t you know.’

Again your worship.. I want you GONE. Your competence is in question.

To the stupidest Mayor!
You have ruined one of the busiest streets in Downtown, we all have seen that Burrard bike lane was more than enough for bikes and it is not being used at all, it is vacant for more than 9 months out of the year and it has already increased the traffic jams. Now you have ruined Hornby street, causing major damage to traffic and the businesses around. If you had little more brains you could have chosen the Granville street for bike lane which is already off limits to cars. If you are really bored and have nothing to do go fix the problem with Olympic the village and stop ruining the city.

Well look…humanity is going burn ALL the petroleum that exists within the next decades one way or another. Slow burn or fast burn, it is going to be burned and will end up in the atmosphere. Biking around Vancouver will do exactly zero to prevent this but may transport some tiny amount of the burning activity to China or India. It isn’t hard to imagine a myriad of better ways to burn 25 million budgeted for this bike lane holy work.
But if you think we really need to reduce traffic in Vancouver, then pony up the 25 mil to give civic tax breaks to businesses that implement telecommuting. 1 day a week working at home is a 20 percent decrease in traffic me. And this works ANYWHERE and and IN ALL SEASONS. ( Not just heading for downtown and on the special bike friendly roads).

On the other hand, you could eliminate half the 25 million deficit in VANCOUVER’S budget. Now that would make a lot of sense.

As a taxpayer of Vancouver, I am all for improving our city and TRIAL bikelanes. But at a cost of 3,256,000 as the administrative report dated Sept.27th states. I am wondering why that much for a trial - shouldn’t white lines be painted on the road instead of concrete barriers? Why do we have to pay so much for a TRIAL?
At Hornby and Pacific, cars can not turn right onto Hornby because it is dangerous and yet they can turn right at Hornby and Dunsmuir, Burrard and Davie, which are far busier intersections and also dangerous for cyclists - are they going to build barriers on those streets?

If the city is going to allow Bicycles on the road they should be treated as road vehicle. They should insured and licensed, as well as having a road inspection to make sure of road worthiness. Who will pay if a bike hits my car. I would like to see this happen to one of the counsel members.

I drive for a living doing health outreach in the Tri cities area and I have lived in downtown Vancouver for 15 years. The idea that there are more “bad drivers” than “bad cyclists” is RIDICULOUS. Last summer was a commuting and working nightmare for me-Besides construction on every major road in the lower mainland-The cyclists were out in full force in a narcissistic show of bad driving and entitlement.

EVERYDAY-I came across cyclists who repeatedly put their lives in danger as well as the lives of vehicle drivers. REPEATED Failing to stop at stop signs; Failing to yield to pedestrians and to vehicles; driving in between cars and parked cars; groups of bikes coming up through traffic, refusing to wait their turns at lights and turning right as a group from both sides of the vehicle making a turn in front of the car; riding from the sidewalk into the road in front of a car and back onto the sidewalk;EVERYDAY!!!!! I saw NO HAND SIGNALS; NO HELMETS:NO REFLECTIVE GEAR OR LIGHTS AT NIGHT.

City hall needs to establish bi-laws enforcing identification and licenses (road tests) to drive on the road in Vancouver region. These people need to be ticketed for their bad behavior and it should effect their points on their driver’s record. If you want to drive on the road with the big boys then man up and take responsibility for road and community safety.

The bike lanes on Hornby are redundant. Drove down there the other day, it took me twenty minutes to get from Pacific to Georgia..on a Sunday…and not one bike in sight.
And why is there a bike lane for one block on Drake and the street becoming a one way which means you cannot access Burrard Street when coming from the Granville street bridge unless you go to Davie, and making a left hand turn at that intersection is almost suicidal.
Also don’t understand why these bike lanes are so HUGE! The flower boxes, when the plants grow will make it harder to see the cyclists and will/are presenting a danger, especially for people in small, lower cars.

I live at Burrard and Harwood and cannot turn left on Burrard from my lane, where my carpark is, or right on Pacific. Have to drive blocks out of my way to get anywhere now. Oh, I guess those emissions from my car and many others like me don’t count.
In all, these bike lanes a really a ridiculous idea imposed by a bullying, self serving, bike riding mayor who only has his self interests at heart.
I cannot ride a bike for many reasons, and this is not going to encourage me to get out of my car and on a bike. I will just be idling in traffic spewing emissions in the air like so may others. So much for GOING GREEN!

As a cyclist, walker, transit user living in Vancouver, I highly applaud the implementation of separated bike lanes in downtown Vancouver. The separated Dunsmuir lane gives me a greater sense of security riding in the dark or in rainy weather, which is so common in Vancouver. I enjoy the sense of community I feel with increased number of cyclists using these lanes. I also enjoy feeling like less of a nuisance to drivers and pedestrians when using dedicated cycling space.
 
Please continue with studies similar to those done for the Burrard Bridge separated lane to demonstrate the impact of the lanes to drivers and businesses, and I hope that research continues to indicate that these initiatives are positive or neutral to all stakeholders.

Dear Mayor, you will lose your job indefinitely for this grievous waste of tax payer dollars. We live in a cold city with nine months of precipitation a year when most of the city falls quiet and gray. Not many people use these bicycle lanes during these times. You promised us to survey and prioritize the Burrard bike lanes, but you have not. Open your eyes there are hundreds of homeless people ruining the streets of your beautiful city which this waste of money could have been mildly better spent. Adding a maze of bike lanes that counter the flow of traffic is by far the stupidest idea you and your counsel has had. Please resign immediately for possibly being the slowest thinking person in the west coast.

Thanks for nothing,

As a driver and consumer, I find the bike lanes annoying. If you make it difficult for me to drive and park by stores and restaurants along Hornby and Dunsmuir, I’ll just stop going there. There are plenty of other places to spend my money. As a cyclists, I have enjoyed cycling along the many designated bike routes and feel safe in doing so. As a taxpayer, I wonder what’s the point of building these bike lanes when I see so many cyclists riding through heavy traffic when there is a bike lane or route 1 or 2 blocks next to them. Stop building more bike lanes and spend more effort on educating the cycling community on using what we have.

As a driver and consumer, I find the bike lanes annoying. If you make it difficult for me to drive and park by stores and restaurants along Hornby and Dunsmuir, I’ll just stop going there. There are plenty of other places to spend my money. As a cyclists, I have enjoyed cycling along the many designated bike routes and feel safe in doing so. As a taxpayer, I wonder what’s the point of building these bike lanes when I see so many cyclists riding through heavy traffic when there is a bike lane or route 1 or 2 blocks next to them. Stop building more bike lanes and spend more effort spent on educating the cycling community on using what we have.

I’m very surprised that there would be any opposition to this. To me it makes total sense to have separated bike lanes on the major streets and to have painted bike lanes on the slower ones.

In my opinion they should lower the subsidy to cars and the system that forces people into having a car as the only transportation option.
Some of the comments here suggest licensing bicycles so that “they pay for the roads”. It appears that they’re unaware that the roads are not paid for by car licenses but by property taxes so in actuallity the cyclists ARE already paying for the roads and up until recently were getting nothing from it.

There’s a good article here about subsidies to car transportation.
http://www.planetizen.com/node/46570

In the Netherlands they have bike lanes around town, shared roads in neighbourhoods where the speed limit is low, and two types of intercity bike lanes. Slow ones for locals to go shopping and get to work and have leisurely touring and then what they call “fietssnelweg” or bike-rapid-way that is for fast cycling to more distant cities.

The lack of logic of the person who doesn’t support bike lanes until cyclists all stop riding on sidewalks is hilarious. If they aren’t on the sidewalks where will they go if there aren’t lanes?

And please, everybody, stop lumping all people cycling together as if they’re all the same. There’s as much diversity as anywhere else. There are people who follow the letter of the law, people who are hyper-considerate of others and people who don’t care or are oblivious to those around them much like we see driving cars or pretty much any other human activity. Anyone with eyes has seen car drivers drive badly but because there are so many people driving they don’t usually go around blaming all car drivers for the actions of some?

The world is going through a transportation revolution that comes from regular people all over changing how they’re getting around. The past 60 years or so people got around mostly in cars and that’s changing and it’s good and inevitable. Cars are useful and important but no longer the only option.
What’s going on now is a minor bump in the transition to what is being called ‘multi-modal” transportation. Cities aren’t doing these things to encourage cycling so much as just trying to keep up to all the new cyclists that are around now and create places for them to be so they’re not in the way of others and vice versa.

Also on a larger topic, why are we letting the news media pit people against people? We all just want to get from point A to point B. Car drivers and cyclists and pedestrians are really on the same side. It’s the news media that has created and is fomenting any conflict between them.

The Bike lanes are a great idea with terrible execution. The wrong streets were chosen. Dunsmiur and Horby are HIGH traffic flow thoroughfares in downtown. Inevitably, this will just back up auto traffic and create more traffic on side streets and virtual gridlock during rush hours. Part of reducing pollution is improving traffic flow, idling cars not moving are enormous wastes of energy. The city should consider bike routes on streets that receive much less traffic and are not the primary traffic route.

The reality of Vancouver is that rain and miserable weather are going to keep most current drivers in their cars, so you will be converting very few drivers to cyclists. I ride my bike around the city regularly, but not when its miserable out and you have to go to work downtown. Its just not going to happen.

Intersections with bike lanes are dangerous. Cyclists are still riding on sidewalks along many streets and 2 abreast along bike lanes on Pender Street. Completely agree with the emergency worker: streets were designed certain dimensions for a reason. Continually shrinking them just causes frustration, gridlock, and potential problems for first responders. What happens when everyone eventually drives zero emission vehicles; there will be no place to drive them. This isn’t about being green, it’s social engineering under a green guise.

I work in an office tower on Dunsmuir and Hornby. At around 10:00 am today (Monday), looking east down Dunsmuir, I noticed bumper to bumper traffic extending down the street and far down the overpass. There were perhaps 3 cyclists in the Dunsmuir bike lane versus hundreds of cars. Some people live too far from downtown to bike or have mobility issues. To devote such a large part of downtown to virtually empty bike lanes is not sound planning.