Regional Cycling Strategy

TransLink and HUB Cycling have partnered to deliver the Benchmarking the State of Cycling in Metro Vancouver 2019 report and dashboard to track the progress of increasing cycling and improving cycling safety.

Key takeaways from the 2019 report include:

• The length of bikeways nearly tripled from 1,700 km in 2009 to 4,600 km in 2019.

• 46% of the regional cycling network is assessed as “Comfortable for Most People”, and about 65% of residents live within 400 metres of such a bikeway.

• Females made up 35% of cyclists in 2016, up from just 27% in 1996

• The share of people cycling to work increased from 1.7% in 2006 to 2.3% in 2016, which was achieved by growing the number of bicycle commuters by nearly 65%

• The collision rate involving cyclists was relatively stable between 2008 and 2017 at 21 and 23 collisions per million trips, respectively.

As the region’s transportation authority, we’ve been making significant investments to continue the expansion of safe and reliable transportation services – now and in the future.

The 10-Year Vision identified that the key to unlocking cycling’s potential is to invest in traffic-protected bikeways to support cycling for people of all ages and abilities. We’re also making cycling easier for customers by expanding our offering of Bike Parkades, making more space for bikes on SkyTrain, and updating policies to allow buses to transport e-bikes. The Phase One and Two Investment Plans have enabled funding to support this important work in partnership with local governments, though much remains to be done.

The Rapid Implementation Design Guide for Bikeways in Metro Vancouver provides guidance for the planning, design, implementation, maintenance, and monitoring of bikeways, through a rapid implementation lens. The guide focuses on treatments using flexible, low-cost materials that are implemented rapidly within the existing roadway and with minimal physical construction requirements. It includes practical planning and design support for local governments, Indigenous communities, senior levels of government, and other agency staff in Metro Vancouver and beyond.

The Design Guide features case studies, lessons learned, and examples from communities within Metro Vancouver and around the world. This approach to building bikeways can enable the rapid implementation of the Major Bikeway Network, Urban Centre bikeway networks and local bikeway networks, as called for in Transport 2050.

Visualizing Rapid Implementation Bikeways in Metro Vancouver provides examples of bikeways from across the region that have been built using rapid implementation or “quick build” methods. It serves as an extension and visual tool to the Rapid Implementation Design Guide for Bikeways.

This document visually showcases examples of rapid implementation cycling projects across Metro Vancouver. The examples are meant to demonstrate a variety of approaches to inspire planners, engineers and decision makers to consider adopting these quick build methods for enhancing the cycling experiences across the region.

Providing consistent, reliable wayfinding for people cycling is an essential element for developing the Major Bikeway Network, and also an important aspect of planning the broader local bikeway network.

The TransLink Wayfinding Guidelines for Utility Cycling that were created in 2013 provide the necessary advice and designs that are required to ensure a coordinated approach for bicycle wayfinding across Metro Vancouver.

These guidelines fulfill an action in the Regional Cycling Strategy for Metro Vancouver (2011) to make the bikeway network easy to navigate and were developed through engagement with local government staff.

The Major Bikeway Network (MBN) is a proposed 850-kilometre network of safe and comfortable cycling facilities connecting Urban Centres and major destinations across Metro Vancouver.

The MBN is intended to make it safer, more comfortable, and more convenient to use active transportation, including e-bikes and e-scooters, for longer distance trips between Urban Centres as well as shorter trips within communities. It builds on existing regional cycling networks, with approximately 250 kilometres of MBN facilities already built as of 2021.

The first MBN concept was developed by TransLink in 2011 as part of the Regional Cycling Strategy. The MBN was expanded once in 2018 and again in 2022 as part of Transport 2050, TransLink’s updated 30-year Regional Transportation Strategy. Transport 2050’s vision includes rapidly implementing the MBN as a complete network of traffic-protected bikeways connecting Urban Centres across the region to provide active transportation and recreation options that are comfortable for most people to use.

Please see the report: Moving Towards a Major Bikeway Network for further details on the Major Bikeway Network including:

• Guiding principles to consider when building out the network

• Essential elements to apply when building out cycling facilities along the network

• The importance of monitoring use and evaluating experience of the network

• Ways to implement cycling facilities along the network: moving from concept to reality

The corridors identified on the Regional Cycling Network map represent desire lines and further work is needed to confirm the actual streets used to deliver those corridors.