Joanne Emerman gave up her regular bridge game Tuesday to arrive at city council early, one of 193 people who signed up to give their views on Vision Vancouvers latest and most complex bit of social engineering.
This is the proposal (a done deal more likely, although at time of writing this column no final decision had been made) to close Point Grey Road from Macdonald to Alma to through traffic. Many of the private motor vehicles crossing south on the Burrard Bridge will be diverted from travelling down Cornwall and heading in that direction. Those (7,000 to 10,000 per day) that do will end up travelling south on Macdonald, which is what has brought Emerman and her neighbours to council. The UBC professor, who at 70 still teaches and is a regular cyclist, happens to live on Macdonald at Third Avenue. She is opposed to closing Point Grey Road.
In case you hadnt noticed, this exercise that council is engaged in is about more than stop signs, speed bumps and traffic circles. Its part of a significant cultural shift that is taking place across the globe; one that is intent on dethroning the private car from a position it has held for generations as the apex mode of human transportation.
The most zealous in this social engineering movement characterize driving a car, particularly alone, as a sin, whereas riding a bike, walking and using public transit are viewed as a sacrament.
The wafer served up Tuesday before the main sermon dealing with Point Grey Road was councils approval of a bike-share program.
We are hardly the lead in this. There are more than 500 cities worldwide that offer bikes mostly for one-way short-term trips.
Cities that have most recently taken part in this transformational act report remarkable success. New York, for example, with 6,000 bikes had 529,000 trips in the first month.
And it has been a long time coming here since former NPA councilor Peter Ladner moved a motion back in 2008 to introduce this program. What slowed it down was figuring out how to deal with the law requiring bike helmets. In other jurisdictions this has caused a damper on the success of their bike-share programs.
By the spring of 2014, Vancouver intends to have 1,500 bikes available at 125 stations, all in or close to downtown. What makes our system unique is that it will be the first to also provide helmets for rent immediately adjacent to the bike stations so people who choose to can obey the law. The helmets will be cleaned before they are returned for rental.
The city is contracting with a private operator, will invest an initial $6 million for capital costs and another $1 million for start-up costs. Over the five years of the contract, it is estimated to cost taxpayers about $4,000 per bike. The vast majority of folks addressing council on that issue were in favour.
That was not the case with plans for Point Grey Road, Cornwall and the Burrard Bridge, at least not those speakers I was able to hear. Although residents along Point Grey Road wayincluding Ladner are over the moon at the prospects of the closure, the expansion of parks and the daylighting of a stream and why wouldnt they be?
I have some sympathy for Emerman and her neighbours, and I realize shutting down Point Grey Road will do nothing but drive property values up on one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the city; the rich will get richer but then that is what the rich do.
City staff, however, has to be given some credit.
As a result of open houses and other feedback, many changes have been made to accommodate those being affected. Merchants of Cornwall will be left without separated bike lanes. And folks living on York will have many parking spots returned that were originally eliminated. Residents on First and Third will be spared a serious influx of traffic, if this all works out. Right now, the intersection at Burrard and Cornwall is nuts. It will be fixed.
Now if we can just get those damned cyclists to stop riding down the sidewalks that would truly be a blessing.
