Critics slam plan to cut car traffic in Stanley Park
The possibility of further changes to Stanley Park to reduce vehicle traffic is generating strong opposition from supporters of traditional car access to the park.
One of the agenda items for Vancouver park board commissioners next Monday is a motion to “explore the long-term feasibility of reducing motor vehicle traffic” and for staff to explore restricting cars to a single lane on Park Drive, as well as to look at green transportation options to help people with mobility issues.
Park board commissioner John Irwin said taking steps to battle climate change is at the top of the reasons why he has proposed the motion along with fellow commissioner Stuart Mackinnon.
“If we don’t start changing our behaviour now, we’ll never change,” he said Wednesday. “We should make a move to do two things: limit automobile access, and cover off the issues of people with mobility challenges to make sure people can still access the park.”
Irwin said he isn’t trying to ban cars from the park. The motion calls on park board staff to see what can be done, including allocating one lane for bikes and one lane for cars.
Irwin doesn’t own a car. He said he gets around Metro Vancouver by public transit and bicycle.
“There have been voices on both sides: people saying it’s going to be bad for seniors and bad for access to the park,” he said. “I think (there is) a slightly larger number of people, who say, ‘I really love this ability to ride around the park on the road.’”
On April 8, the park board temporarily banned bicycles on the seawall and motor vehicles on Park Drive to allow for social distancing. A bike count between April 9 and May 24 saw a daily average of 5,300, compared to 3,000 during the same period last year.
The Capilano Group, which operates both the Stanley Park Pavilion and the Prospect Point Trading Post, said it has spent more than $5 million upgrading the two restaurants.
Since the Pavilion and Trading Post pay rent based on gross revenues, reducing the number of vehicles would translate into fewer people, less money spent in the restaurants, and reduced revenue for the park board, said Stacy Chala, communications manager for the Capilano Group.
“This idea has not been discussed at any time with the park stakeholders, who have multi-year leases and have invested millions of dollars upgrading facilities to improve the Stanley Park experience,” Chala said in an email.
“(Our) investment decisions were made based on current levels of accessibility and traffic flows. No thought has been given to the ramifications of such a momentous decision.”
Brent Davies, owner of the Teahouse at Ferguson Point through the Sequoia Company of Restaurants, said he thinks most tourists want to ride around the seawall, not on Park Drive with its steep climb up to Prospect Point.
“The general person who rents a bike to go around Stanley Park really wants to go around a level road and look at the ocean,” he said.
“There are a group of what I would call extreme bikers, but that’s a very small part of the biking population. The biking population isn’t that large in the city of Vancouver. I think it’s a lot of effort and money for a very select, small group.”
The biking population isn’t that large in the city of Vancouver. I think it’s a lot of effort and money for a very select, small group.
Davies said when pay parking came into effect in the park, it reduced business at his restaurant. He says the same thing will happen if car traffic is reduced to one lane.
Avery Madden, a Dunbar resident, said park board commissioners are “getting carried away, in my opinion.”
He said he likes taking visitors on a drive to show them Stanley Park. And he likes being able to stop when he wants to stop.
“Access to where you want to go is the important thing,” he said.