Pedestrian Mall Redux

Second Thoughts by Gordon Price

On second thought, is that a good idea? I mean, bringing transit back to Granville Street? 

My first thought — when I was on City Council, deciding on a process for the redesign of the mall — was yup. In fact, I moved a motion that insisted there could be no loss of transit efficiency, whatever the design. Many downtown business-people wanted a return of car traffic; others suggested a pedestrian-only zone. What you see now is the compromise.

How about just trying it?
Do an experiment.
Establish criteria beforehand so that a considered judgment is possible.

Yes there is disruption in several respects but it seems to me that so many aspects of walkable urbanism benefit from trying stuff which are fairly debatable; and if doesn’t work, reverse course.