HUB Cycling Recommendations for New Metro Vancouver Transportation Plan and Funding
In the next month, Mayors are tabling their recommendations for a new regional transportation plan and how to fund it. HUB has developed recommendations so that they know how important cycling is in growing our region to be prosperous, mobile and sustainable.
Cycling must not be forgotten in the current discussions, particularly because we do not even have a connected cycling network yet. All eight HUB local committee chairs and the Board of Directors have sent their letter of recommendations to the Mayor's Council, recommending $36 million/year in cost-shared investment between TransLink and Metro Vancouver municipalities.
We need the Mayors and MLAs to hear your voice too. Please consider writing an email or letter and including why cycling is important to you.
Government contacts are listed here
Here are some helpful key points:
More investment in cycling will get more people riding bikes, and has the potential to provide:
● congestion relief on the busiest transit segments, potentially delaying or mitigating the need for additional transit spending to increase capacity in some areas, and reducing user wait times and pass-ups; congestion relief on roads: bikeways move 9 times as many people as cars in the same amount of arterial roadway space
● better financial and taxpayer value than investing in road construction and maintenance at a benefit ratio of at least 13 : 1
● Improved access to outlying transit stations where low-level feeder bus service is inadequate
● Increased transit fare revenue in outlying areas due to increased access and convenience of cycling to stations
● A more affordable transportation option for the region’s residents (saving ~$1100/year from monthly transit passes or ~$10,100/year from owning and operating a car) that may allow them to live closer to their destinations and reduce total travel time on the network
Read HUB's full letter of recommendations with statistics and references here.