Removing bike lanes in Stanley Park is a step backward for all BC communities

Ben Nelms/CBC

Vancouver’s Park Board is sending an unfortunate signal to other BC municipalities that increasing vehicle traffic should take precedence over increasing safe options for cyclists. 

By deciding to spend $350,000 to remove temporary bike lanes in Stanley Park, the park board is temporarily– and possibly permanently –abandoning expanded access to the park for people unable or unwilling to drive.  

The board has pledged to eventually build a permanent separated bike lane but a staff report said that such a project would take years and cost up to $50 million, in spite of recent promises to have it built by this summer. There is no agreement on a plan, a route, or funding for a permanent lane. 

The BC Cycling Coalition, through its Safe Routes Now campaign, is working with active transportation advocates around the province to increase safe routes for people who can’t afford a car, or who would rather cycle or walk. That includes cycle tourism in parks. Pacific Rim National Park has opened a 35 km route between Tofino and Ucluelet that is attracting thousands of local and visiting cyclists. 

“Provincial data shows that up to 50% of people, especially women, would cycle more if they felt safer,” says Mike Koski, Executive Director of BCCC. “This applies equally in Stanley Park and across B.C.”  

Not just a Vancouver issue

70% of people polled across BC said the decision to remove Stanley Park separated bike lane impacts cycling province wide.

Safe, convenient, separated routes are key to BC achieving its climate goals by reducing transportation emissions, and enabling safer, healthier, happier and more affordable mobility options.

Since the COVID car prohibition in 2020, the Stanley Park temporary bike lane has been adjusted to accommodate car drivers, tour buses, handicapped parking and access to all businesses along the route. For a functioning bike lane to be removed in such a dense and high profile park is a disincentive for other communities trying to achieve their active transportation goals in more challenging environments. 

Cities and parks around the world are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expanding cycling infrastructure to reduce congestion, improve air quality, achieve GHG reduction targets and provide more affordable mobility options. 

“It’s a shame that Vancouver has made a choice for a more expensive and uncertain future bicycle route over one that already exists and works,” says BCCC Board Chair Peter Ladner. “This is a discouraging precedent for all of B.C.”