KEEP BIKE ROUTE ON VANCOUVER STREET!

City Hall is planning to put in two bike lanes on Cook St., which will extend through North Park Village all the way through to Cook St. Village. This means that more than 50% of our parking stalls between Caledonia St. and Pandora St. will disappear, and we will lose the middle turning lanes. And for many reasons, Cook St. is simply more dangerous for cyclists than the established cycling route on Vancouver St.

Parking & Delivery Trucks:

• There is already far too little parking for you, our customer, to access our services. Therefore we cannot afford to lose over 50% of our Cook St. parking stalls!! Side streets are primarily residential parking only, therefore cannot be used by customers. Parking tickets are issued quickly there.
• Without parking, fewer people will come to this Village and will not stay as long.
• Fewer people obviously means businesses will be damaged - and without businesses, there is no Village. Village businesses are already suffering from poor economic conditions, increased costs, and the sad state of the Canadian dollar. There is an obvious solution - keep the bike lanes on quieter, safer Vancouver St., which is only one block over and has very few businesses in comparison. Everyone wins.
• Delivery trucks, which use the existing centre lane, will no longer be able to easily deliver their goods or pick up garbage and recycling.

Cyclist Safety & Traffic Congestion:

• Vancouver St. is already the designated bike route in the Official Community Plan (OCP, bylaw 12-013) and meets the Mayor’s wish for a minimum grid.
• Vancouver St. has 3 times the number of cyclists. Cyclists have already chosen Vancouver St. as their preferred route.
• Many vehicles turn onto and off of Cook St, making it much more dangerous as a cyclist thoroughfare than Vancouver St.
• Removing the turning lanes will block the street, frustrating everyone and making the Village less enjoyable.
• Without the turning lane, people will drive around the stopped vehicle in front of them. This will increase the risk of hitting a cyclist, who has a false sense of safety in their “bicycle lane”.
• North Park Village businesses have nothing against cyclists or bike lanes! But it should be noted that bicycles do not represent much of the traffic here.

The name Victoria City Hall has given this initiative, #biketoria, does not identify it to the public as a transportation, business and safety issue, and it needs to be treated as such.

Please sign below if you wish to keep the bike lanes on Vancouver St. to preserve what little parking there is on Cook St., as well as protect cyclist safety.

Thank You for your support from the North Park Village business community!