Stanley Park finally, maybe, gets a bus

In a move that could change how people get around the city’s biggest park, the park board approved a new public bus route along Stanley Park Drive and a permanent separated bike lane for the west side of the park. 

The bus route is the first recommendation from the Stanley Park Mobility Study — a new 100+ page report on transportation and mobility planning in Stanley Park. The study is meant to provide a long-term plan to manage how the millions of annual visitors get around and enjoy the park.

Establishing a public bus route around the peninsula was the most popular of the many study options. It’s also, frankly, the most obvious move to improve transportation in Stanley Park, and addresses a gap for park users who don’t have or can’t use a car or bike. 

The immediate price tag to plan the bus route ranges from $30,000 to $50,000, with costs for infrastructure like bus stops still to be determined. Staff are aiming for service on the new route to start in 2027. 

However, as is usually the case with big (and even medium-sized) park board projects, many things are out of the board’s control.

The park board engaged with TransLink as part of the study, but ultimately the transit provider will need to budget for and deliver the new bus service. It bodes well that TransLink has already publicly proposed a new Stanley Park route, which would start and end at Waterfront Station, as part of its broader 2026 transit plan. 

The same lack of full control applies to the partial bike lane. Green commissioner Tom Digby’s amendment directs staff to come up with an updated cost and design for a separated permanent bike lane for the west side of the park. However, city council will have the final say on whether it would actually get funded as part of the 2027-2030 Capital Plan. 

Putting aside that significant caveat, three independent park board commissioners — Laura Christensen, Scott Jensen, and Brennan Bastyovanszky — pivoted, voting to reinstall a portion of the bike lane they removed two years ago. 

As most readers will surely remember, the installation and removal of a temporary bike lane between 2021 and 2023 became a hot-button issue for businesses in the park and some park users due to reduced parking, traffic, and the off-putting look of traffic cones. 

The bike lane was almost immediately scrapped by the then-ABC park board majority upon taking office in late 2022, with the unrealistic promise of building a new one the following year. 

Through that process it became abundantly clear that – given archeological, ecological, and financial concerns – it wasn’t feasible to expand the road around the park.  

It’s a decision that then-ABC, now-independent Park Board Chair Christensen called “one of the biggest mistakes” she’s made as a commissioner. 

“I made a really foolish mistake, which was to listen to the Mayor… Ken [Sim] promised that he would personally make a permanent bike lane happen through Stanley Park. I can see now that that was a very empty promise,” Christensen said at Monday’s meeting. 

“I see supporting this amendment as a way to correct that vote,” Christensen said, joining her two other former ABC colleagues in voting for Digby’s plan. 

In addition to the bus route and partial bike lane, Digby and the independent commissioners approved the Mobility Study more broadly as a new park board policy. 

The report focuses on the long-term use of Stanley Park Drive, the primary road used for sightseeing, tours, and recreational cycling, and provides vehicle access to various park attractions and for Indigenous cultural practices. The 100+ page report is complex, with six options for how to reorient the park’s main road over the next 20 years.

The biggest potential changes? By 2028 and 2039, the park board will need to decide whether to adopt time-based restrictions for vehicles, dedicate one lane for transit or bikes, or phase out private car access.

The bus lane is one of 47 specific options included in the study, some of which could be mixed and matched over the next 15 years depending on board priorities.

ABC commissioner Angela Haer supported the idea of a bus service but ultimately voted against adopting the study, calling it a waste of money, and saying the study ignored the needs of the elderly, disabled, and very young.    

The study took three and a half years to complete and cost almost $1 million, including $600,000 in consulting fees. 

The study detailed how it took the varied interests of different groups into account through engagement with over 100 organizations and businesses, about 10,000 public survey responses, and feedback from the Stanley Park Intergovernmental Committee, made up of the representatives from the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations and the park board.  

Peter Brown with the city’s Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee (PDAC) supported the idea of a bus route but said the park board should continually involve PDAC throughout the implementation process “in order to ensure that we don't miss anything and that our current level of accessibility remains.”

One study option even included two sites to build multi-storey parkades, which got significant negative attention from public speakers. Commissioners singled out and rejected that specific option in an effort to assuage those public concerns.  

While the complexity and scope of the study can be daunting, adopting it as a policy puts the park board on a solid footing for future road use decisions in the park, which, if history is a good judge, will be contentious. 

More importantly for right now, there will likely be bus access around Vancouver’s crown jewel coming in a few short years. If that comes to pass, it will be a straightforward win and something seemingly everyone can agree is a good idea.