People showed up for road safety in a big way in Vancouver’s 2026 election, with 10/11 of the elected Mayor & Councillors endorsing our ten first-year asks and incorporating much of it into their platforms. We’re super excited for this new group and we’re confident they can deliver on road safety. Now the real work begins!
This page lists what we’re asking of the new council, starting with the original 10 commitments and adding a few bonuses. We’ll track them like this:
For more context about each ask, please check out our original post.
Council’s 10 first-year commitments
1. Eliminate time and day restrictions for all Vancouver school zones
We’re calling for all school zones in Vancouver to be 24/7/365.
2. Reverse “zero means zero” cuts to teams working on road safety and active transportation infrastructure
ABC’s “zero means zero” budget led to large cuts in road safety staff and funding. The next budget should restore this funding.
3. Reallocate money in the Capital Plan to accelerate the pace of installing safe crossings, curb cuts, sidewalk repairs, and expansion of the sidewalk network
Vancouver currently has a 400 year backlog in sidewalk repairs. Let’s get on that…
4. Build active transportation lanes on Broadway.
Two council terms ago, council promised these lanes. Last term, ABC tore up those plans. The time to build these lanes is now.
5. Immediately re-prioritize the installation of the 9 new approved bus lanes that were de-prioritized in March 2026
We worked so hard on our bus lane motion in 2024 only to see ABC de-prioritize them with their austerity budget. Let’s get back to work.
6. Reintroduce lower speeds on select arterials as outlined in the Vision Zero Safe Mobility Plan
Last term, 4 of the 5 “Vision Zero Action Plan” pillars passed, with ABC gutting the “safe streets” pillar. Council should immediately re-institute it.
7. Take steps to complete the active transportation network in under-connected parts of East and South Van
Active transport in South and East Van has been neglected for too long.
8. Fund at least one permanent School Street every year beginning in 2028
When the City introduces School Streets, 92% of children reported feeling safer walking or cycling to school. We need more schools to have the opportunity to participate.
9. Add at least 8 km of all-ages-and-abilities bike infrastructure
Kind of self-explanatory.
10. Make the Water St and Granville St pedestrian zones all-day initiatives, either year-round or seasonally
These initiatives were great. We think they can be done even better, more cost-effectively, and be made permanent or semi-permanent.
BONUS: Five motions that we’d like to see brought back or piloted
Last term ABC defeated a lot of great, common-sense motions, and refused to consider others that we advocated for. Here are 5 that we’re asking the new council to bring back and pass:
1. “Safe Streets for Trick-or-Treat”
Neighbours who want to make car-free streets for safe trick-or-treating on Halloween shouldn’t have to plan 5 months in advance and pay thousands of dollars. This is a common-sense motion that we’d love to see ready for 2027.
2. Cornwall Avenue improvements
In 2023 Christine Boyle tried to reduce the speed on Cornwall, a short, busy street with a narrow sidewalk right by the beach that’s seen several terrible crashes, to 30km/h. ABC amended it to 40 for some reason. During that council meeting, staff was also asked to explore the possibility of a bike lane along Cornwall, but the plan got scrapped in Ken Sim’s budget cuts. Let’s get it to 30, and get that bike lane built.
3. A bollard pilot on Hornby
4. A road diet on Hastings
The City’s new VZ Action Plan calls for a quick-build pilot to improve pedestrian safety on Hastings Street in the DTES.
While using it to “inform permanent changes” is good, we hope that this council can be even more ambitious, and fully deliver a solution which implements a road diet and traffic calming to permanently improve this corridor. Read more.
5. A city-owned or -partnered bike share
We need to follow the examples of cities like Toronto and Montreal, and treat our bike share as a community asset, not a revenue generator. Let’s bring it in house, put a bit of money into it, and make it shine.
This isn’t an exhaustive list
We’re very excited for this council and we believe they can go above and beyond for road safety in the next 4 years! Keep checking back to see how much progress gets made.
