VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Cyclists, drivers, business owners and anyone else can sound off about another bike lane in downtown Vancouver today - there's an open house on a separated bike lane proposed for Hornby Street which would connect the existing Burrard Bridge and Dunsmuir Street lanes to the seawalls in Coal Harbour and off Beach Avenue.
It's all part of Vancouver City Council's vision for a safe, bike-friendly downtown core...but there has been some scrapping. The most intense so far has been over the controversial Burrard Bridge separated bike lane, and now some business owners along Hornby are saying the neighborhood doesn't support the creation of a separate bike lane, cutting parking and access. They also insist City Council is catering to a handful of cyclists at everyone else's expense.
So do we need more separated bike lanes in the city? We were out asking and found some people are in favour, like this man. "I do bike all the time ... I'm absoloutley in favour of bike lanes."
However others say the number of cyclists just doesn't warrant taking more space from vehicles.
One of our listeners says , "The jobs are in Vancouver, Downtown... why don't they check and see where all the people live that go to those jobs. None of them will be driving their bicycles."
The Hornby bike lane open house is from 11 to 7 p.m. at Pacific Centre at Georgia and Howe. Input is being taken until mid September. For further information, take a look here.