What has Vancouver City Council accomplished in 2026?
With Vancouver City Council done for the term and the municipal election now less than two months away, an advocacy group has issued a “report card” for councillors’ track records on road safety issues.
Vision Zero Vancouver, a road safety advocacy group, examined every road safety motion that came to Vancouver City Council in 2026, and awarded each councillor points based on how they voted.
This report card covers nine motions, each given an impact multiplier.
At the top of the list are OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney, COPE Councillor Sean Orr, and Vote Vancouver Councillor Rebecca Bligh. At the very bottom is ABC Councillor Peter Meisner.
Here are the motions they examined.
Dim bright headlights
Georgii Shipin/Shutterstock
In January, Orr brought this motion to Council, and it was supported by every councillor except for ABC Councillor Brian Montague, who was absent. The purpose was to advocate to the federal government to establish enforceable limits on light brightness, beam patterns, and mounting height, since headlight glare has been associated with night-time visibility, delayed reaction times, and increased collision risk.
Vision Zero assigned this an impact score of two.
“Although it was only to higher levels of government, we bumped up the impact because the Federal government actually took note, and there was a storm of media attention,” it wrote.
Priority snow removal on transit routes
OneCity Councillor Maloney brought forward a motion to prioritize snow clearing on transit routes, which stated that “bus routes often experience significant delays in snow clearance, despite buses on corridors with slopes being at greater risk of losing traction than private vehicles.”
It didn’t pass, due to Council’s ABC majority voting against the motion.
This motion was given an impact score of one.
“Low impact as it’s true we don’t get much snow, and the roads currently prioritized are arterials which also happen to be the roads most buses use. Still, there was no reason to not pass this,” explained Vision Zero Vancouver.
Car Free Day grant
Car Free Day Surrey
After Car Free Vancouver Society announced in early March that it wouldn’t be moving forward with its annual car free days in 2026, councillors Maloney and Orr brought an “urgent motion” to Council to provide $30,000 of funding to keep them afloat, which Council unanimously passed. Vision Zero Vancouver gave this an impact score of two, and these events are now scheduled on Commercial Drive on Sept.5 and on Main Street on Sept. 13.
Preventing rollbacks on previous motions
With budget cuts resulting from the city’s zero per cent property tax increase in 2026, city staff put forward a report to Council, recommending that they allocate their time and resources to align with Council’s 2026 priorities, while scaling back and postponing 50 council member motions.
This included some road safety motions, like safety upgrades for Cornwall Avenue, implementing new bus lanes, adding truck side guards to city vehicles, and Granville Bridge means-prevention fencing.
While councillors Bligh and Maloney moved an amendment to prioritize these motions, it was opposed by the ABC majority.
Vision Zero Vancouver gave this an impact score of three.
Vision Zero Action plan
While City Council passed this plan in June (which Vision Zero Vancouver called “the most important road safety item of the entire four-year council term”), the advocacy group said that “the core pillar of slower speeds on our deadliest streets was gutted by Peter Meiszner and his ABC colleagues.”
Meiszner had brought forth an amendment that directed staff to “not proceed with speed reduction on major streets.”
Vision Zero Vancouver assigned this an impact of five.
Low Income Transit Pass
Habanero Pixel/Shutterstock
In June, Orr introduced a motion asking city staff to work with TransLink to determine how they could implement a $25 monthly pass for people making under $40,000 a year. While Vancouver doesn’t have jurisdiction over public transit, Council unanimously passed this motion to try and convince senior levels of government to step in.
Vision Zero Vancouver gave it an impact score of two, saying that “the amount of positive attention it raised bumps up the impact.”
VGH bike lane redesign
In July, City Council passed a motion directing staff to “continue discussions with Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) regarding options to mitigate pedestrian/cyclist/emergency vehicle conflicts within the VGH campus.” This included considering the creation of a bi-directional bike lane on the north side of West 10th Avenue and one-way vehicle traffic.
Vancouver’s previous Council (prior to 2022) had voted in favour of building active transport lanes on Broadway, while the road was already under construction for the SkyTrain extension. But in 2023, the current Council cancelled these protected bike lanes, following City staff’s recommendations due to cost concerns. At the time, Mayor Ken Sim referenced the “full bike lane on 10th Avenue,” saying that the Broadway Corridor is already “well-served.”
Now that it looks like the city could be taking these 10th Avenue bike lanes out and replacing them, Vision Zero Vancouver said that this story “characterize[s] the incompetence and waste of the current administration.”
They gave this motion an impact score of negative two.
Extending the Granville Street pedestrian zone
Downtown Van signage at the Granville Street Pedestrian Zone, as seen on July 13, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)
After the success of the Granville Street pedestrian zone during the FIFA World Cup, Sim proposed a motion to extend it until Labour Day, which was supported by every councillor except for Green Councillor Pete Fry and Bligh.
Vision Zero gave this an impact score of one, criticizing Council for providing most of the additional funding to the VPD. However, they did write some positive words for Council:
“It was great to see Council extend the pilot beyond the World Cup and into September. We had an awesome time hanging out here, and we would love to see it made permanent,” wrote Vision Zero Vancouver.
Additional money for road safety, active transport, and accessibility
In July, city council discussed and planned the capital plan for 2027-2030. During the council meeting, Maloney proposed an amendment to add $15 million to the Transportation Safety Management and Accessibility Program, to install more traffic signals, maintain traffic calming initiatives, and expand Vancouver’s School Travel Planning program. It further asked staff to prioritize safety upgrades at high-crash intersections and expand the protected active transportation network. The ABC majority voted against it.
Vision Zero Vancouver gave this an impact score of two.