The Cyclist's Guide

Introduction

The City of Vancouver approved the Downtown Transportation Plan (DTP) in July, 2002. The Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (VACC) has studied this plan over the past several months, and hosted two rides of proposed new cyclist routes in the downtown area. This document summarises the sections of the DTP that are relevant for cyclists, and adds the VACC's comments on the routes.

This report is aimed at cyclists interested in upcoming changes to the downtown network. The VACC is always eager to hear cyclists' comments; please send your thoughts to the report's author (David Pritchard, e-mail address drpritch [at] gmail.com). We would also welcome any help you might be able to offer.

For the reader with little time: look at the map to the right. This shows the planned new routes, to be constructed between 2003 and 2010.

Over the next few years, this document will be updated with the implementation status of the Downtown Transportation Plan. The VACC will be actively involved in consultations with the city regarding downtown bicycle routes throughout the process.

The rest of this report is divided into the following sections:

• Background: describes the history of cycling plans in Vancouver; general statistics regarding cycling; an overview of the changes to different transport modes in the downtown
• Proposed Network: goes over each proposed route, showing maps of the route, comments from the DTP, and the VACC's thoughts.
• West End Bicycle-Friendly Streets: proposed changes to local West End streets
• Implementation: discusses implementation of the cycling-related parts of the DTP, including city council's explicit commitments and status reports from city engineering.