VANCOUVER TRANSPORTATION PLAN PROGRESS REPORT

The Transportation Plan Progress Report 2006, reviewed the progress made on Vancouver’s 1997 Transportation Plan. The 1997 Plan set out goals to increase walking, cycling and transit use by 2021. The key finding of the Progress Report was that less than 10 years later, many more people are now walking, choosing cycling and taking transit than they were 10 years ago. In fact, Vancouver exceeded its original goals. Here are the details: Vancouver’s 1997 Transportation Plan has been largely implemented. Many of the mode share targets that were set for 2021 have already been achieved, and remaining initiatives will soon be completed. Overall, the City’s transportation policies have been successful in achieving the desired sustainable urban transportation results. Population and employment in Vancouver have grown steadily over the last 10 years, resulting in a 23 per cent increase in trips to Vancouver. However, numbers of vehicles entering and leaving the city have actually decreased by 10 per cent over the same period. New trips to and within Vancouver have been increasingly accommodated on transit, bike, and walk modes. This trend contrasts sharply with the rest of the Greater Vancouver region, where we see auto use increasing. Vancouver’s Downtown has experienced dramatic growth in residents and jobs, creating an efficient, high-density, mixed-use centre. Trips to Downtown have increased 22 per cent in 10 years, yet numbers of vehicles entering and leaving the Downtown Central Business District have decreased by seven per cent. New trips to Downtown have been by transit, cycling and walking. In particular, walking has become the fastest growing and most important way of getting around the Downtown. Central Broadway -- the city’s health and civic centre -- is the largest employment area outside of Downtown. It has experienced a doubling in transit trips to the area. Broadway has a similar dense, mixed-use development as the Downtown, but trips to the area are increasingly auto-oriented. It has an auto mode share that is more comparable with the Greater Vancouver region than with the Downtown. Central Broadway is not currently served by rail rapid transit -- a factor contributing to the high auto mode share of trips. With bus service on Broadway nearing capacity, it is unlikely the City’s mode share targets can be achieved until rail rapid transit service is extended. - 2 - The University of British Columbia (UBC), on Vancouver’s western border has experienced a near tripling of transit trips in the last 10 years, largely due to the introduction of the “U-Pass” program. Transit trips to UBC have now exceeded the 2021 mode share target. Cycling trips in Vancouver have almost tripled in the last 10 years. In the same period, the City doubled the size of the bikeway network. In the morning peak period there are 2,700 bike trips into the Downtown area alone. On an average day, there are more than 50,000 bike trips to Vancouver destinations. The City’s 1997 Transportation Plan outlined 76 major initiatives, and established innovative new transportation policy for the City. Fifty of these initiatives are now complete, and most of the remaining 26 are currently underway and will be completed within one to three years. Beyond these major initiatives and 2021 mode share targets, the 1997 Transportation Plan helped guide individual land use decisions, such as parking requirements, and the development of the city as a whole. The Plan provided a vision and a policy framework for transportation planning that all City departments strive to achieve. It is hoped that Vancouver’s Transportation Plan, and this Progress Report, can be used as a template for other Canadian municipalities, as they consider ways to reduce the impact of local transportation activities on the environment.