We asked every major political party in Vancouver to commit to 10 actions to improve road safety that can be completed within Year One of a new Council term. Here’s what we asked, and how each party answered.
Road safety is not an issue we can afford to keep stalling on. Last year was the deadliest year for pedestrians in Vancouver in two decades, reflecting trends seen across North America. To achieve Vision Zero, the status quo is far from enough: we need to act with urgency.
That’s we sent every municipal party this list of ten items the next Council can tackle in Year One of their new mandate, and asked them to endorse it. These items were carefully thought out and curated with stakeholder involvement and discussion with municipal parties. We’ve picked them because they’re readily achievable, wholly within municipal control, and will actually move the needle in terms of protecting vulnerable road users and saving lives.
Read about our ten asks, and then see below for how each party responded.
Eliminate time and day restrictions for all Vancouver school zones
Schools zones are active play and recreation areas for kids all day, not just while school is in session. We’re calling for all schools in Vancouver to adopt 24/7/365 speed restrictions.
Reverse “zero means zero” cuts to teams working on road safety and active transportation infrastructure
When ABC passed their “zero means zero” budget in fall 2025, city teams working for road safety and active transportation infrastructure took a serious hit. Staff time was already a major constraint on road safety initiatives before these cuts were made, and it has become an insurmountable barrier since. We are calling on a new Council to reverse these cuts and restore our city’s staff capacity on road safety and active transportation back to its 2025 baseline.
Reallocate money in the Capital Plan to accelerate the pace of installing safe crossings, curb cuts, sidewalk repairs, and expansion of the sidewalk network
Road safety was an overwhelmingly popular priority for the Capital Plan. Yet investment in road safety improvements continue to lag significantly behind other infrastructure investments.
While the City will spend $118M on road repaving in the next 4 years, just $16M is allocated to building new sidewalks – and none of that funding is directly contributed by the City (it is a 50/50 split between developer and partner contributions). From this funding, Vancouver will get 10km of new sidewalks in the next 4 years – barely making a dent in the current 450km backlog to complete the sidewalk network. Funding is also allocated for repairs to just 30km of the sidewalk network, compared to 134km of the road network.
We call on a new Council to reallocate funds at the first opportunity to prioritize the installation of this critical safety infrastructure.
Build an interim active transportation lane to be ready by the opening day of the Broadway Subway
Anyone who follows us knows how we feel about Ken Sim and his ABC majority cancelling plans to build Active Transport Lanes on Broadway. It’s one of the worst decisions they’ve made all term. We’re calling on the next council to use quick-build technology like concrete jersey barriers to implement these much-needed lanes ASAP. (We can make them nicer and more permanent over time!)
Immediately re-prioritize the installation of the nine new approved bus lanes that were de-prioritized in March 2026
On July 24, 2024, Council unanimously approved a Motion for 9 new bus lanes for the city. Two years later, we have not seen much urgent action at all. In fact, in March of this year, work on this file was officially deprioritized by the City in light of staffing constraints. We call on a new Council to re-prioritize this work and quickly bring in these bus lanes our region so desperately needs.
Reintroduce lower speeds on select arterials as outlined in the Vision Zero Safe Mobility Plan
In July of this year, staff brought a very meaningful and comprehensive Vision Zero Action Plan for council’s approval. It was build on 5 pillars that in combination would undeniably make our streets safer and save lives: Safe Speeds, Safe Streets, Safe Vehicles, Safe People, and Post-Crash Response.
Unfortunately, ABC put ideology ahead of safety and gutted the “Safe Speeds” pillar, undoing the plan to lower speeds on select high-pedestrian commercial arterials such as Denman, Robson, Main, and Commercial. The next council should immediately re-introduce it.
Take steps to complete the active transportation network in under-connected parts of East and South Van
We want to see a focus on building out the active transportation network in under-connected neighbourhoods in East and South Vancouver. We call on a new Council to improve the active transportation network in these underserved neighbourhoods, focusing on committed corridors like the Masumi Mitsui Greenway and Eastside Crosscut first.
Fund at least one permanent School Street every year beginning in 2028
Vancouver’s School Streets program has been implemented at 15 VSB schools, mainly with temporary road closures at school drop-off and pick-up times. Families report higher levels of walking and cycling to school during the School Streets program, and 92% of students report the street feeling safer. We are calling for Council to expand this program to include permanent, full-time School Streets.
Add at least 8 km of all-ages-and-abilities bike infrastructure
Few routes meet Vancouver’s standards for All Ages and Abilities (AAA) cycling routes. We want to see bike infrastructure that is comfortable for all, in places that connect to existing infrastructure such as the Major Bikeway Network or to useful, connected bike lanes on major roads. We are calling on Council to expand the network of AAA cycling routes by delivering 8 km of new AAA infrastructure.
Make the Water Street and Granville Street pedestrian zones all-day initiatives, either year-round or seasonally
In 2024, Council made a great move and pedestrianized Water Street all summer. It was a resounding success. Unfortunately, in 2025 and 2026 they backtracked on this and made it Sundays only, meaning businesses had no incentive to set up permanent or semi-permanent improvements such as seating or patios. It hasn’t been the same.
Granville Street downtown was pedestrianized for the World Cup and it was also a wild success. While it got extended till September, there’s no concrete plans to bring it back next year.
All world-class cities have multiple pedestrian areas. We all understand the vibrancy, joy, and life they bring to an area. We already have evidence it can work on Water St and Granville St. No more pilots, no more consultation, just pedestrianize them!
Party Responses
ABC Vancouver (Not Endorsed)
We emailed twice, but ABC Vancouver did not respond to our invitation to meet and discuss road safety priorities.
COPE Vancouver (Endorsed)
“COPE and Councillor Orr have been reliable allies for Vision Zero Vancouver, consistently putting safe streets first. We’ve pushed for independent crash data analysis, stronger headlight safety standards, safer street design, improvements to the East Hastings Corridor, and a ban on right turns on red.
When ABC voted down lowering specific local street speeds from 50 to 30 km/h, COPE stood firmly on the side of safer, slower streets.
We commit to VZV’s Year One Agenda. In addition, COPE will expand protected left-turn signal infrastructure city-wide, starting in areas of greatest need. Our record reflects our commitment to treating road safety as a public health priority, and we look forward to continuing that work with VZV.”
Green Party of Vancouver (Endorsed)
“On behalf of the Green Party candidates and myself, we are pleased to endorse your Final Year One Agenda recommendations as presented.
Greens believe great cities start with people-first streets, by investing in accessible active infrastructure, calming vehicular traffic and committing to vision zero. Since 2018 Fry and the Greens championed the 30 km/h slower safer streets at a local and provincial level, and is finally legislated properly (but partially) in the City of Vancouver .
As an additional urban livability and safety strategy Greens have promised to convert at least 11% of Vancouver streets from car to community use that includes more tree canopy, parklets and dog parks, active transportation, places to grow food, and green spaces for children, families and seniors.” – Pete Fry
OneCity Vancouver (Endorsed)
“I, and OneCity, are proud to support the principles of Vision Zero. Our elected officials have consistently championed policies on Council and School Board that make our streets safer.
As Councillors, we are committed to advancing the City’s transportation safety action plan and supporting policies that effectively protect everyone on our streets, whether you walk, drive, bike, take transit, or do all of the above.” – Lucy Maloney
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (Not Endorsed)
To their credit, TEAM was the first party to respond to our invite request. Although there was not a large amount of policy alignment, one of their candidates was excited about intersection daylighting, and another said that bike lanes are a settled issue in the city: “everyone can see they are good”. This is a bit hard to square with their party platform, which promises to “Review contentious projects such as the Granville Bridge Connector, the Stanley Park and Beach Avenue bike lanes”. TEAM did not endorse our final Year One Agenda.
Vancouver Liberals (Not Endorsed)
The Vancouver Liberals did not respond to our meeting request. However, mayoral candidate Kareem Allam met with us separately to discuss shared priorities. While they did not endorse our plan, there were some areas of agreement.
Vote Vancouver (Endorsed)
“Vote Vancouver endorses this list of policies. In particular, several commitments are directly named within our platform, including eliminating time/day restrictions on school zones, re-prioritizing the nine transit priority lanes, reallocating Capital Plan funds toward crossings, curb cuts and sidewalks, completing the East/South Vancouver network (Masumi Mitsui, Eastside Crosscut), funding permanent school streets, and the 8km AAA bikeway target.
Vote Vancouver strongly supports Vision Zero Vancouver’s objective of increasing road safety to reduce fatalities and injuries on our roads. Additionally, Vote Vancouver and our platform commits to genuine neighbourhood consultation, rather than top-down mandates; a pragmatic approach to parking and curb space for businesses that rely on vehicle access; and restoring road safety and active transportation capacity through our capital and fiscal review process.”
Vision Zero Vancouver 