Vancouver area cycling coalition adds support to proposed Hornby Street separated lane

Along with most Hornby Street visitors and a growing list of businesses, the VACC supports the trial separated lane on Hornby Street as the proposal comes before council on October 5th.
 
A poll of people on Hornby Street released just last week shows that 56% of area visitors supported the lane with 30% opposed. A poll earlier in September showed that 48% of Vancouverites are in favour of the lane with 34% against it. Combined with a VACC poll showing community support and the successful launch of Business for Bikes, the VACC views these numbers as a major endorsement of the lane since protected bike lanes remain a relatively new concept for Vancouver. The VACC expects that these large numbers of support will encourage city councillors to see the big picture and vote "yes" in Tuesday's decision on the fate of the trial on Hornby Street.
 
The addition of the Hornby Street protected bike lane will complete the link through downtown that enables cyclists to safely access the downtown core from both the east side and west side of Vancouver. Currently, the Dunsmuir lane provides a separated east-west route, but there is no separated north-south route to complete the network and allow cyclists of all ages to feel safe and comfortable cycling downtown.. Without the Hornby Street section, the current Dunsmuir lane trial is incomplete and will not yield accurate data necessary to properly evaluate the impact of separated bike lanes in Vancouver.
 
Richard Overall, from the Peak Performance store at the corner of Robson and Hornby is one of the growing list of business supporters and states "As a high end activeware retail store, we support the proposed bike lane on Hornby as a means of improving our business and helping the environment. Our target clientele are both interested in the outdoors as well as personal fitness, therefore I believe that increasing the number of cyclists on Hornby would have a positive influence on the sales of our store."
 
Richard isn't alone in thinking that greater numbers of people will be entering downtown using separated bike lanes; Mustel'spoll of visitors to Hornby Street showed that 47% of them would consider cycling to the street if there was a separated bike lane.  Businesses of all types benefit, and Business for Bikes members like BC Top 40 employer Sierra Systems, are joining the voice for cycling.