bcbUsiNEss.ca
In a survey done exclusively
for BCBusiness by Insights West,
it's clear that people would like
a di'erent commuting life than
the one they have now. More
than three-quarters of those
surveyed say living close to
where they work is important
and they'd work from home if
they could to reduce their com-
mutes. They also dream about
other types of commuting:
twice as many people in Metro
Vancouver say they'd prefer to
commute by bike as actually do.
The thing they're not will-
ing to do is pay the price to get
there. The survey showed only
a minority would accept less
money for a job closer to home
or would gladly pay tolls to pro-
duce a shorter commute. That
was evident in the spectacular
failure of the Lower Mainland
plebiscite last year, where
regional mayors proposed a $10-
billion plan to improve transit
JUNE 2016 BCBusiness 39
NAM E YO U R I DEAL WO R K CO M M UTE
CIty oF
VanCouVer
21%
12%
20%
10%
38%
53%
21%
4%
2%
20%
34% DrivE
23% TransiT
11% BikE
23% waLk
9% nOT sUrE
>>
ALL BRITISH COLUMBIANS
38% DrivE
27% TransiT
13% BikE
14% waLk
9% nOT sUrE
>>
METRO VANCOUVER (MINUS VANCOUVER)
(and even some roads and a
bridge) if residents would agree
to a half per cent sales tax. They
said no by a two-to-one margin.
Except for residents of the
principality of Vancouver—a
little piece of Amsterdam
dropped into our local equiva-
lent of Los Angeles—the majority
of people in the region are wed-
ded to their wheels. Two-thirds
of working adults in Metro Van-
couver, outside the city proper,
drive to work compared to less
than a quarter in the city itself.
According to TransLink, the per-
centage of Metro residents who
commute in cars for all of their
trips—work, school, shopping,
entertainment—is 57 per cent,
exactly where it was in 1994.
The car remains king, and
nothing—not non-driving mil-
lennials, not transit additions
(including the popular Canada
Line), not bike lanes—has made
a noticeable di'erence. The pro-
portion of transit commuters
has increased over the years,
from a low of nine per cent in
2004 to the current 14 per cent.
However, that appears to be
at the expense of carpooling,
which has declined as work
schedules and commuting
patterns have become more
complicated.
The greatest achievement
that transit nerds can point to
is that the proportion of transit
commuters has kept pace with
the region's growing popula-
tion. But so have the numbers of
cars and drivers. People in B.C.
bought 77,000 cars in each of
the last two years—that's 13,000
more per year than the level in
2011. Total vehicle registrations
in the province are now around
3.5 million, almost 800,000
more than in 2000—and nearly
half, 1.5 million, are registered
in the Lower Mainland.
P
opular stories are often
told about d ra mat ic
c ha nges i n people's
18% DrivE
29% TransiT
16% BikE
31% waLk
7% nOT sUrE
>>
CITY OF VANCOUVER
only on bcbusiness.ca!
How does your commute
compare to your neigHbour's?
cHeck out our interactive
grapHic to find out!
27% DrivE
23% TransiT
0% BikE
38% waLk
12% nOT sUrE
>>
FRASER VALLEY
rest oF
Metro
