The editorial implies that most people still arrive in downtown Victoria by car, and hence require somewhere to park.
This is not true — Statistics Canada data and other surveys have found that the majority of people travel downtown by walking, cycling or taking transit. In fact, Victoria has one of the highest shares of “sustainable transportation modes” of any city in North America.
The editorial also claims that we’ll never achieve the high use of cycling and walking found in European cities because Victoria is too “spread out and hilly.” Actually, Victoria is one of the most compact cities in North America, with nearly 80 per cent of residents living less than five kilometres from where they work.
While we might not be as flat as Holland, the hills are pretty minimal. I just got back from a trip to Norway where I visited several towns that were much hillier and lower density than Victoria — most of the development is postwar — yet all these towns had extensive pedestrian areas and well-used bike facilities. Some of these towns were above the Arctic Circle, so their climate is much more challenging than Victoria’s, but it hasn’t deterred people.
I read that when pedestrian malls and bike lanes were first being introduced in Scandinavia, many locals were skeptical, saying: “We’re not the Mediterranean; we’ll never have an outdoor café culture.” Forty years later, the pedestrian streets and bike lanes are all well used and loved by locals and visitors alike.
Steven Murray
Victoria
