Comments on: Burrard Bridge bike trial not likely til late June, July

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 19:57:22 +0000

Stephanie

Don’t forget it is a trial. No one is quite sure what will happen. The impact on transit I expect will be one of the primary concerns.

With Cambie Street back to capacity, the 6,600 cars a day that were diverted to Burrard during the construction will likely go back to Cambie or Granville. As well, the opening of the Canada Line should decrease traffic on Burrard Bridge and throughout downtown, improving the speed of buses.

With the introduction of rapid transit, it is important to reduce lanes of traffic or the space will just quickly be filled up by motorists reducing the benefits of and the ridership on the rapid transit line.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:01:58 +0000

Thanks for the information, Richard. Of course a decrease in car traffic will make more room for buses, but not if that decrease in car traffic is accompanied by a decrease in capacity on the routes that cars use, and buses share.

I do hope that council pays enough attention to people who already choose to use transit, or those who use transit because they have no other options. Often it seems to me that these projects focus on people who have options at the expense of people who do not.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:30:41 +0000

Stephanie

The city is planning bus lanes and other measures to reduce the impact on people using transit.

Anyway, it is all the cars on the streets around the city that really slowdown buses. The more people that walk and cycle, the fewer cars will be on the road to get in the way of buses.

What we need is real transit priority measures all around the city. Most of the bus lanes are a joke. The buses get stuck behind right turning cars. Either ban right turns, or have cars turn from the middle lane. This is done in Paris and it works well.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:00:31 +0000

Of course it’s important to increase bike ridership and decrease single-occupancy vehicle traffic, but has anyone considered what effect this will have on people who take public transit? Buses on Cornwall and over the bridge are often terribly unreliable, and I expect that the delays experienced by drivers will be somewhat worse for transit riders.

It’s frustrating that in order to get people out of their cars, we’re going to create yet more headaches for people who are *already* out of their cars.

By: David

David — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:43:22 +0000

I have been observing all modes of traffic on the Burrard St bridge for years now. To me the bridge functions as best it can given the standard it was built to many years ago. When I observe bike traffic on the bridge, and I do so regularly, it functions well given the current space limitation. Where are the actual stats of bike crossings on this bridge to support removal of a traffic lane? I have never seen the supporting traffic report or user group stats if it exists.

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:27:20 +0000

Until a parent with a bunch of little kids and their friends, can cycle over the bridge for swimming lessons at the Aquatic Centre, or a beach birthday party – without fear, then the current facilities are woefully inadequate. I personally know of MANY cyclists who will not ride over the Burrard Bridge because of unadulterated terror. It is absurd to talk of small numbers of cyclists using the bridge, until we have a safe facility and thereby, genuine numbers. Until we have this trial, we will never know the effects. We’ve been debating this for 15 years – come on Vancouver, let’s try it!

By: R.A.

R.A. — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:11:37 +0000

A “band aid” is it, Len B? Council has been building a downtown bike route for years – it’s not complete but there is a plan. The waterfront rides are fantastic – especially in spring before the pedestrian/cyclist/rollerblade traffic gets heavy. Depending on where you are going you can also make use of the fairly new on-road lanes and never leave a bike route as you cross the city from East Vancouver to the West End, for example. This city has potential to be a first class city for cycling.

I highly recommend any new cyclists try some of the bike network out and, yes, take the new Burrard Bridge bike lanes, if and when the council start the trial.

By: Not running for Mayor

Not running for Mayor — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:10:57 +0000

Kinda ironic isn’t it, we get the Burrard st bridge trial the same year that the burnaby race and now the gastown race is cancelled. I know they are unrelated, but you can’t help but smile at the irony.

By: MB

MB — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:29:10 +0000

We lived one block from the south end of the Burrard Bridge for 10 years. I worked at two firms, one downtown and one on Granville Island during that time. My wife was a UBC student then. We shopped and recreated in Kits and South Granville regularly.

During that entire time we walked, rode a bike or took a small ferry or bus. We did not own a car except during our final three years there.

We found that we could get everywhere we needed to go within a reasonable timeframe and in all weather conditions, including 4th Ave and Cornwall, without using a car. Only very occasionally did we need to drive to the suburbs.

Considering our largely positive car-free experience, and the fact that the Burrard Bridge (with 6 lanes) carries less overall traffic than the Lion’s Gate Bridge (at 3 lanes), and also that the downtown peninsula has experienced a net reduction in traffic over the past dozen years, I’m completely in favour of the bike lane trial.

Let’s ensure the statistics at the end of the trial outweigh the political bollocks when influencing the final decision on keeping, altering or scrapping the bike lanes.

Finally, L has an excellent point regarding latent demand.

By: Darcy McGee

Darcy McGee — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:03:22 +0000

> So a 33% reduction each way for
> vehicles/buses to make room for 5% of
> Burrard St. traffic comprising of cylcists
> makes sense?

Yes. Yes it does.

On the the other hand I though the previously suggested two lane trial was one lane too many.