The Vancouver Park Board is considering three different options when it comes to the future of the Stanley Park bike lane, as the final vote is set to take place Monday.
The three different options include keeping the bike lane as it currently is but removing the busier section around the park entrance roundabout and near Lumbermen’s Arch. Or maintaining the bike lane around the park and keeping a single lane for vehicles. Or removing the bike lane inside the park.
The topic has been a charged issue for years, with some saying the bike lanes have greatly impacted access to the park for seniors, people living with disabilities and tourists, while others argue having more bike lanes is better for park enjoyment.
A community advocate with Stanley Park For All, Bonnie MacKenzie, said she is not happy that none of the three options include reverting the park to pre-pandemic configurations.
“I don’t support any of the three options. None of them restore the park to pre-COVID configuration for parking and traffic,” she told Global News.
“Put the park back to what it was. It needs to be accessible to everybody. That includes vehicle traffic. We want to have people with disabilities, families, tourists, and tour buses, all of it back, back to the jewel it was. Get the economy back in the park and get visitors back.
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Cycling advocate Lucy Maloney spoke with Global News Saturday. She thinks its a victory for cyclists that all three options include some sort of bike lane remaining in the park.
“ABC needs to be congratulated for using staff expert advice and extra information that it has received since the election to modify their election promises and doing something for all the park users,” she said.
“The current situation in the park has been workshopped and improved in accordance with feedback from stakeholders. We’ve already come a long way to making it better. It’s good to see that we are hopefully going to have 80 per cent to 100 per cent of a bike lane around Stanley Park Drive.”
Maloney said the bike lane provides an opportunity for novice bicycle riders to enjoy the park with less pressure from the surrounding elements, such as vehicles, pedestrians, and other cyclists.
Ahead of the looming decision, advocates for the bike lane gathered outside of the Vancouver Park Board’s office Sunday. Around a dozen people were there to listen to a few speakers in support of bike lanes.
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