91原创 is on the cusp of some massive changes in public transit.
SkyTrain is set to arrive in four years, transforming the downtown core and Willowbrook.
The planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line running up and down 200 Street, will connect the City, the Township's fastest-growing neighbourhood, and even Maple Ridge.
But once you step off a bus or SkyTrain, getting around much of 91原创 will still be a nightmare for anyone without a car.
91原创 has huge potential as a walkable and bikeable community.
Its rural areas are already a major regional destination for recreational cyclists and bike racers. Rural roads see flocks of cyclists, and parks and trails attract hikers and equestrians. Quiet suburban streets have plenty of families and kids on bikes and scooters, dog walkers, and joggers. It has several downtown areas that are flat and which should be easy to traverse for pedestrians, cyclists, and users of wheelchairs, scooters, and walkers.
But the areas where most people in 91原创 shop and work are actively hazardous to anyone walking or pedalling.
Would you advise anyone to ride a bike up and down 200 Street from 64 Avenue to 56 Avenue? Along 88 Avenue in Walnut Grove? How about down Fraser Highway from the Willowbrook Mall to 208 Street?
Walking those routes is slightly better. At least a pedestrian is only taking their life in their hands when they step off the sidewalk and out into the wide driveways and intersections, many of them without marked crosswalks or signals.
There are some bright spots on the horizon. The SkyTrain extension comes with 14 kilometres of "active transportation" paths, mostly multi-use paths for walkers and riders, separated from traffic. In the Township, the widening of 208 Street also comes with proper sidewalks and raised bike lanes, and more Willoughby routes are to be rebuilt soon.
But a lot more work needs to be done, and it should be done in continuous segments that make sense as transportation routes. Fixing one sidewalk or adding 100 metres of isolated bike lane doesn't create a useful network any more than building a mile of paved road in the middle of nowhere does.
91原创 needs bike lanes, curb bulges, well-maintained sidewalks, and pedestrian signals, or all the coming transit will go to waste.
