A while ago, I moved to West Vancouver. For various reasons, when I first moved, the amount of cycling I was doing dropped dramatically and I used quite a bit more public transit. Along with the drop in cycling came a drop in my physical fitness, and I’ve been making a concentrated effort to cycle to work on a regular basis.

My daily commute is about 10km, a perfectly reasonable distance. About three of those kilometres are through West Vancouver to get to the Lions Gate Bridge. I head up and over the bridge and down through Stanley Park on the bike path (which is actually a sidewalk) before rejoining traffic on Georgia Street and heading to Gastown.

What I find most interesting is the rather stark difference between how cars in West Vancouver and Vancouver treat cyclists. It astonishes me every day actually.

The funny thing is, some of these drivers are probably the same people. When I merge on to Georgia Street I wind up in a bike lane on the side of the road that’s not physically separated from drivers but is clearly marked. The first right turn is at Denman and without fail when I get to that corner drivers wait and allow me to proceed straight before they make a right turn even when they’ve clearly signalled and I’m waiting for them to go. Given that this is the first right turn, these drivers have almost certainly come off the bridge from North or West Van.

My ride continues along city streets from there (the dedicated bike lanes don’t really help me, and I’m not particularly intimidated by traffic) and I find drivers generally wait to pass until they can provide adequate space. There’s definitely some who don’t but for the most part drivers allow me a safety zone on the road that I’m comfortable with.

West Vancouver, by comparison, is a place where I expect to either get honked at or brushed past at extremely close distances. There’s certainly no such thing as a bike lane on this side of the bridge, though there is a shared bike/pedestrian path from Ambleside to the bridge. If I lived much west of where I do I’d be obligated to use Marine Drive though; there’s still no bikes allowed on the West Vancouver seawall, and no equivalent path for cyclists.

Those pedestrians I have to share that path with, by the way? I think I’d rather deal with cars. Walking four abreast and obstructing the entire path, ignoring the bell I installed for their own safety, and walking their dogs without leashes I’m pretty sure they’re more dangerous than cars. That, though, may be another topic.

At the end of my commute I usually make a left turn from Hastings onto Cambie and to do this I move into the left lane. In West Vancouver this would get me honked at, yelled at, or just plain mowed down by a driver who didn’t see me. In Vancouver I’ve had cars wait patiently with me to make the turn.

Door prizes? In Vancouver I hardly ever see a door open if I’m approaching. In West Vancouver, I avoid parked cars like the plague and give them at least a half lane’s distance. It’s bleak over here.

It’s all rather nice, and rather than an interesting contrast between the suburban (which West Vancouver is, sort of) and the urban I think it’s the difference between a municipal government which has actively supported cycling and one which hasn’t.

There’s been a general rise in awareness in Vancouver of cyclists among drivers, and it shows. The vast majority of drivers in Vancouver are friendly and cooperative with respect to bikes. Sure there are exceptions, and when they happen they can range from annoying (not coming to a full stop) to disrespectful (pulling over and blocking a bike lane) to frightening (making a right turn without signaling in front of a bike) but they’re just that: exceptions.

Cyclists are just as bad. I watched a bike pull along the right hand side of a car that had clearly indicated it was turning from well back. Watching people blow through stop signs at full speed infuriates me, and it happens a lot.

Despite all of these things, drivers in Vancouver soldier on and work with the cyclists who do follow the rules and fairly well at that. I fear for my life quite a bit less over there than I do over here, and that’s saying something considering how many more cars there are.

The next time you’re riding in Vancouver and complaining about the traffic just remember: it could be a whole lot worst, none of us are perfect so that driver who cut you off may have just had a momentary lapse. Give them the benefit of the doubt, because we all need to share these spaces and most drivers are trying to do just that.

Posted by skooter at 8:02 PM This entry is filed under Cycling, Vancouver.
This entry is tagged: Commute, Cycling, Gregor Robertson, Vancouver, Vision Vancouver