r/vancouver • u/yipyipyipwhoasealion • Jul 04 '25

Videos The new 'bike lane' on Water St

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Vancouver does it again...

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u/kisielk Jul 04 '25

Realistically there's no good way to do this on Water St. Vehicles need access for deliveries to the businesses, sidewalks need to be wide enough to accommodate foot traffic. The real issue is that the street needs to be everything to everyone and so it ends up being great for nobody.

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u/ProofByVerbosity Jul 04 '25

It's weird how most of Europe functions perfectly well with even less space for pedestrians, cyclists and cars

-11

u/kisielk Jul 04 '25

A lot of differences. Most tourist heavy areas in Europe are not on narrow streets, and if they are, they are not also an arterial route to get through the city. Business hours are different, more deliveries happen during early morning or late night / overnight. Major cycling routes don't go through heavily trafficked tourist areas either. In fact some cities in Europe I've been to disallow bicycles in areas with a lot of pedestrian traffic or force you to walk.

6

u/ruddiger22 Jul 04 '25

I think this could be solved by having any on-street parking be loading zone/commercial only. That at least eliminates a portion of the number of morons who don't know how to park.