Vancouver to explore banning vehicles from Granville strip, including buses

City of Vancouver to explore banning all vehicles from Granville strip, including buses

A TransLink trolley bus on Granville Street crossing Robson Street. (Shutterstock)

Vancouver City Council unanimously approved today the framework for the planning process for creating the Granville Entertainment District (GED) area plan for guiding revitalization and future redevelopments.

While the area plan will have public space improvement considerations, ABC councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung urged City staff to be far more ambitious.

City Council approved her amendment directing City staff to develop a bolder vision for public spaces, with potentially more funding allocated to street design changes. During an earlier deliberation this month on the framework for the Granville Street Planning Program, City staff suggested a major redesign of the street was not contemplated, as the pre-Olympic reconstruction condition of the street is relatively recent.

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Kirby-Yung’s amendment also instructed the inclusion of a “significant new destination public space” that could include uses such as outdoor performance, gathering, and activity capabilities, as well as patio and outdoor dining.

“We deserve these spaces. There’s very little large public spaces in downtown Vancouver. We need to move these things forward with wholehearted unequivocal support,” said Kirby-Yung.

The pursuit of an improved public realm to such a scope that is “beyond being pedestrian-friendly” would be aided by creating more space for such various uses. The approved amendment also directs City staff to discuss with TransLink the potential to turn Granville Street within the entertainment district into a vehicle-free zone. This includes the consideration of relocating TransLink buses to adjacent streets, which would determine the impacts, pros and cons, and feasibility.

She pointed to the success of weekend closures of several blocks of Granville strip’s core over recent summers for the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association’s pilot project of activating the street with programming, such as performances, markets, and displays.

“There weren’t any incidents because it was positive energy, eyes and ears on the street, and to have a street that is energetic during the day, that we can have people outside… the idea of a pedestrian area is very exciting,” said Kirby-Yung.

“We’ll do the homework on that and make sure it makes sense to relocate the buses to the adjacent streets. We need to be thinking about much more boldly, not incrementally, because that’s the kind of change Vancouver needs.”

translink trolley bus downtown vancouver dunsmuir granville

Trolley buses on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. (TransLink)

Whenever Granville Street is closed for events, buses are typically rerouted to Seymour Street in the northbound direction and Howe Street in the southbound direction. Overhead trolley lines have long been in place to retain this capability for diverting buses onto these adjacent parallel streets.

As well, for about five years in the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics, all buses on Granville Street within downtown were rerouted to Seymour and Howe streets due to the construction impacts of the Canada Line’s Vancouver City Centre Station and the subsequent reconstruction of the entire street with a new design.

Prior to the pandemic, there were about 25,000 bus transit trips on Granville Street in downtown, with six bus routes running a combined total of nearly 80 buses per hour during peak periods. Buses travelling down the Granville strip currently face reliability and on-time issues.

City staff are expected to weigh the positive impact of pedestrian foot traffic generated by the bus trips along Granville Street versus the positive impact generated by creating an improved public space on a vehicle-free street. Conversely, diverting buses to Seymour and Howe streets could improve the pedestrian traffic of these adjacent streets.

Additionally, City Council also unanimously approved a public space-related amendment by OneCity councillor Christine Boyle, who added the specifications of “gender-based safety” considerations within the entertainment district and the exploration of bylaw changes to encourage more public music and arts performances, including loud outdoor music through 10 pm.

Green councillor Pete Fry suggested the GED could be further improved with better and more thoughtful street furniture and that the public space improvements could potentially be tied in with the City’s recent restart of the Waterfront Station hub planning process. ABC councillor Lisa Dominato further elaborated on the potential of removing Cadillac Fairview’s parkade at the base of the Granville Square office tower, which bookends the northern foot of Granville Street.

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