The Vancouver Park Board is ready to back down from removing the Stanley Park Drive bike lane, according to the board’s only Green Party member.
Speaking before Monday night’s park board meeting, Commissioner Tom Digby told CTV News his six ABC Vancouver colleagues plan to table a surprise proposal to preserve parts of the pandemic-era bike route.
“They want to keep parts of the current, existing bike lane because they’ve learned that it actually increases safety and improves traffic,” said Digby, who was the only commissioner to vote against removing the bike lane last month.
A no-notice motion requires the agreement of everyone on the board, which puts Digby in a rare position of power as the only commissioner not with the ABC.
“I’m usually one of the seven and they don’t need me, but they need me now and I’ll support the motion because it was a stupid idea to remove the cycle lane.”
According to a December memo circulated to commissioners, the removal process is expected to cost between $375,000 and $425,000.
“They didn’t know the cost,” Digby said, referring to his ABC colleagues. “So we’re eagerly looking for ways to reduce those costs, and the easiest way to do that is to keep certain sections of the bike lane that are safe and actually improve traffic in the park.”
Removing the tape was a campaign promise by many ABC Vancouver candidates. The original proposal, passed in December, led staff to begin researching how to create a permanent bike lane while maintaining two lanes of motor vehicle traffic.
Monday night’s park board meeting will be live streamed and made available to the public. Digby estimates that bike lane traffic will be introduced around 7:30 p.m
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