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Andmar is shaping a new way to live through smarter transportation and better connections.
Smart transportation planning is a cornerstone of Andmar’s vision for building a vibrant, connected community. In this episode of Behind the Design: From Yaletown to Andmar, host Jennifer-Lee sits down with Lon LaClaire, General Manager of Engineering Services for the City of Vancouver, to dive into how modern infrastructure—from bike lanes and walkable neighborhoods to expanded transit options—will power Andmar’s future. They explore why giving residents real choices in how they move not only supports sustainability but creates a richer, more flexible lifestyle. At Andmar, it’s about blending innovation, accessibility, and urban energy into a community designed for the way people truly want to live.
Connect:
Connect:
Chapters:
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (02:04) - What Transportation Means for a City’s Future
- (03:30) - Bringing Big City Options to Smaller Communities
- (05:45) - Expanding Transit Across the Fraser Valley
- (07:11) - Lessons from Global Transit Systems
- (10:05) - Why Investing in Transit Matters for Everyone
- (15:13) - Benefits of Increased Transit
- (17:27) - The Rise of Electric Bikes and Mobility Options
- (21:03) - Evolving Bike Infrastructure for New Mobility Needs
- (23:03) - Journey Into Focusing on Transportation
- (24:22) - Building Cities for People First
- (26:24) - Vancouver’s Transit Success Story
- (28:51) - Changing Lifestyles and the Future of Transportation
- (31:13) - Conclusion
Creators and Guests
Host
What is Behind the Design: Yaletown to Andmar?
What does it take to transform a neighbourhood into a vibrant, thriving community? In this series, we uncover the vision, strategy, and innovation behind Andmar, drawing inspiration from Yaletown’s evolution. Join experts, local leaders, and residents as we explore smart urban planning, sustainability, and the future of community living in Chilliwack.
Welcome to Behind the Design
from Yaletown to Andmar.
This new podcast is gonna follow
the journey of the new development
Andmar inspired by Vancouver's
Yaletown's history, Andmar blends
sustainability, innovation, and luxury.
We have so many conversations about how a
development like Andmar gets built, what
is lease land and what is it gonna be
like to live in this thriving community?
So let's get started.
Welcome back to Behind the
Design, Andmar to Yaletown.
I am Jennifer-Lee.
Uh, today we're talking about
transportation in a city.
It's so important for any city to have
any type of transportation, but we
never really think about how it really
shapes the places that we live in.
We understand many people commute in
different ways, either by transit,
by car, by electric bike, which is
becoming very popular, by regular bike.
So we gotta have a city that encompasses
it all in order for it to thrive.
So today I have an expert.
We have the general manager of
engineering services of City
of Vancouver, Lon LaClaire.
How are you today?
I'm good.
I'm good.
Good.
So I'm talking, I really enjoy
transportation because I don't think
i mentioned on this podcast yet, but
I used to fly, and I still kind of do,
in the sky for many years, reporting
on traffic of the lower mainland.
So it was one of Global's Eyes in the
Sky, and so I totally understand a lot
about transportation infrastructure
and how it affects a lot of the
cities here in the lower mainland.
So I was like, oh, finally I get
to nerd out with somebody about
transportation because it's so important.
I think a lot of us have the misconception
that it's an afterthought, but actually
a lot goes into planning, especially when
you are developing cities like the one,
uh, that we're doing this podcast for
in Chilliwack, the Andmar development.
So to you, what does transportation
in general mean to a city?
Well, it's probably one of
the most important pieces,
uh, of, of a successful city.
Um, what's it mean to a city
with, without it, you actually
don't gain the benefit of a city.
So the great thing about, um, so a
small town, you'll have all the certain
things that you can do in a small town,
and when you have a big city, you have
a lot of things that can only happen
in a big city, like big stadiums or,
you know, high, highly specialized,
um, medicine or, you know, education
systems with strong specialization.
Uh, and, and, and, and eventually
that encompasses a very large
area, you know, metropolitan area.
In fact, you could say ours does go all
the way up to Chilliwack in this region.
Uh, but without a good
transportation system, you
don't gain the benefits of that.
You know, in fact, the real value
of a city is that you're easily able
to do this and that, and this thing.
And have a meeting, uh, with someone in
like in specialized on this thing and
attend an event on this other thing.
And like you, you, you get the, you
get the benefit of a large city if
you have a good transportation system.
That's it.
Otherwise, if you, if you have a
poor transportation system and a big
city, you'll kind of end up having
to live quite locally because it'll
be too frustrating and too difficult
to get to those other places.
And then you kinda lose
the benefit of a big city.
You might as well just
be in a small town then.
Yeah, and well and small town
does have their merit and I think
a lot of them want to expand.
Like I was telling you before we
dropped on this call that I lived
at Fort St. John for my radio career
and they do have some transit.
It's obviously not as extensive as
you get in a bigger city, but some
people still love that as a choice.
But again, you're dealing
with a different climate.
You're dealing with a lot of snow.
A lot of the roads have
to be constantly clean.
A lot of people up there because
everything is spread out.
It's not all put together in little
neighborhoods like we have in a city
here where we have, you know, Yaletown,
we have Olympic Village, everything's
a little bit more accessible.
Everything's spread out.
So it is more of a car culture up there.
But when it comes to the case of
Andmar, this is something that,
uh, one of the co-founders Mark is
really passionate about, is that in
Sardis, BC, in Chilliwack, he really
wants to give everybody option.
If you wanna drive, you can drive.
If you wanna take transit,
you can take transit.
If you wanna do an EVO car
share, you can do that.
You can ride a bike, ride a bike, you
can walk down to your coworking space.
And so I think a lot of these
smaller cities are starting to
adopt that practice of like, hey,
how do we give everybody some value
in the way that they wanna travel?
And, and absolutely.
And in the influence of a, of a large city
too, the smaller cities start to have a
lot of the same benefits of the big city.
Uh, you know, a good example is, say
even Whistler or the Sunshine Coast.
In Whistler, you know,
transit's quite well used.
They have lots of pedestrian only areas.
Sunshine Coast has one extremely
successful local transit
service 'cause it's linear.
Uh, the Frasier Valley has a really
strong and bright future, I would
say, as well for transit connectivity.
And it's because a lot of the people
who might be in the city are used
to getting around that way anyways.
And so when they move out to a place,
or go out to a place like, like,
Chilliwack, uh, um, you know, the
Sunshine Coast or Whistler, they're
comfortable, uh, with those options.
You know, they're comfortable
making longer walk trips.
They're comfortable, you know, using
a bike to, to get around and if
there's a good chance at option for
their more distant destinations,
they'll even consider that as
well, if you know what I mean.
Like they, so there is this
influence that happens.
Yeah, and I like that.
And actually, I was talking
to someone on another episode.
He is a young guy that
has bought into Andmar.
He's an accountant.
He's lived in Chilliwack his whole life.
He wanted to be able to get
his foot in the door there.
But he said what he likes about it's,
he gets his lifestyle in Chilliwack.
He's close to the mountains,
everything that he likes to do.
But he says he still gets that city
feel and he's close enough to Vancouver
because he likes to drive over there.
So he says, I'm still not far away if
I wanna hop into Vancouver, but then
I get to come back and have that.
And I know there have been talks to,
nothing concrete yet, but talks to
maybe possibly have the West Coast
Express head towards Chilliwack one day.
And that would definitely be
a game changer because not
everybody loves drive either.
Absolutely.
You know, in fact, uh, you know, already,
you know, the Valley Express is operating
almost every hour, uh, every day.
That's, that's all the way out to
Chilliwack, you know, connects right
into, uh, Lougheed SkyTrain station.
Uh, this is the beginning of
building that, uh, that ridership.
I think the ridership itself of the
Fraser is actually inherently stronger
than what the West Coast Express serves
on the North Shore of the Fraser.
Just because, you know, um,
Chilliwack and Abbotsford are just,
and Langley, are just way bigger
cities than Maple Ridge and Mission.
Like, they, they really are.
Uh, and so getting that service out there,
I think it would be an immediate success.
Uh, and, and we can see it already
with the ridership on the Valley
Express kind of, um, in its
infancy already doing quite well.
Yeah, and I love it.
And because that's something I admire.
Like I go to London quite a bit.
London, England, not London,
Ontario, but London, England.
Um, and that's the one thing that I
admire because I have friends that
live two hours out from London,
uh, an hour out from London.
They're able to live where they
wanna live that suits their budget.
Not only that suits their lifestyle,
maybe it's close to their family,
but they can take a train on an
hour, two hours hop into London.
Uh, they could do work on the train.
It's so much easier.
And I, I kind of wanna become
more like that for us, for the
lower mainland because we do have
so many, like Vancouver's great.
I live in Vancouver, but we
have so many great other hidden
gems here in the lower mainland.
For sure.
Uh, I mean, I grew up in the Valley,
so, I like, uh, I was kinda did
my high school in Mission, so I'm
really familiar with the Valley.
But I think that the reason that the,
uh, transit future for the Fraser Valley
is so bright is because it's linear.
It's like they, a lot of, uh, large
metropolitan cities like say Edmonton
struggle with the fact that they
could grow out in all directions, you
know, and if you're going to serve
these kind of outer destinations,
you're kind of going in all direct,
like, you know what I'm saying?
It's like 360.
Uh, for us it's east, right?
It's, it's a, if you do a really good
regional transit system, like a, like
a West Coast Express, uh, type line,
you really need to do one or two really
good ones, you know, and they have to
connect out to Abbotsford and Chilliwack.
So, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm really,
um, bullish on the future of
transit in this mega region.
I call it that, you know, up to Whistler,
Sunshine Coast, you know, over to Nanaimo.
Now we have Hello Ferries
doing service to Nanaimo.
You know, for people like that, you
know, taking a flight outta YVR is
just suddenly so much easier because
they hop the high speed ferry with a
suitcase, get off at the Canada line.
They're on the Canada line,
they're at the airport.
You know, they don't have to worry
about anyone driving them there or the
hassle of trying to get to the airport
from these more distant locations.
Yeah, and the one thing that
I was shocked about was just
coming back from the airport.
I never thought about it because I was
leaving New York and a lot of people
on my airplane were going to Whistler,
but we were landing at like 9:00 PM
at night, which is not really late,
but I was like, I was ready to go to
bed after, even that's a short flight.
Like I was like, I'm outta here.
And as I'm leaving the airport, they had
a shuttle right there to go to Whistler
and saw everyone piling off their skis.
And I said, that's so smart.
Something I would've never thought
of because I would've been like.
Let's stay in a hotel overnight,
if I did't live here, and then
go out to Whistler tomorrow.
But it's like, no, these people wanna
go get as much time on the mountain.
They hop on there, you know, the
bus ride where it's probably about
two hours or a little bit, they're,
they're in their hotel the next
morning, they're there in Whistler.
So I do feel that we do have a
lot of effective forms to get
people from the airport, and
that's something we do do well.
For sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And when it comes to things like West
Coast Express and like expanding,
I think people get a little nervous
when we are forcing a lot of transit.
Um, they don't see the benefits of it
because I think a lot of people, and
this is something I've talked about on
this podcast, is people get worried that
we're having a war on their car and we're
gonna take their car away from them.
And, uh, we talked a little bit
about that on a, a previous episode,
uh, the 15 minute City concept.
But we were like, no, we're not
trying to take your car away from you.
We're trying to give you more options.
'Cause you remember,
not everybody has a car.
So, so what would you say to people that
are maybe like a little scared when you're
like, oh, transit's awesome, but they,
they wanna take my car away from me?
Yeah.
No, the only way that in, uh, a growing
city and region like ours where you have
a chance of not having chronic congestion
is actually to invest in transit.
It's a, it's so fundamental.
Um, if you look at the West Coast
Express as an example, which moves
a couple thousand people in a single
hour, uh, into, into downtown.
Um, so if you are moving, say in that
case maybe 5,000 people an hour, um, a, a
freeway lane can move about 2000, right?
So you would have to add
two more freeway lanes.
Uh, and then what's interesting
is that, well, first of all, like
that takes a lot of effort to do.
Uh, if you need to expand the capacity
on the West Coast Express, you
can just add another train, right?
And so suddenly that's another
thousand people an hour, which
is like another traffic lane.
Um, in the, in the city itself, it's so
extreme that if you look at the busiest
section of our SkyTrain system on the
Expo line between Broadway Station and,
uh, Stadium Station, or a Main Street
Station, Stadium Station that's moving
around 14 to 15,000 people an hour,
uh, and Terminal Avenue below is moving
about 800, if you know what I mean.
Like so you think about the traffic
that's on Terminal Avenue going
through Main and Terminal, there is
no solution where you could invest
in cars to move that many people.
It, that's just not possible.
In fact, if I add up all of the
streets that head into Vancouver,
add them all together, the, that
one train line is moving more people
than all the streets added together.
And it's easily expandable.
Like they're gonna be adding
five car trains, two Mark
V's, the new cars are bigger.
You know, they can expand it
up to 25,000 people an hour.
Again, it's an unfathomable amount, uh,
for, for, for people to be moved in cars.
Like, it's just not, it's
not, it's just not possible.
And so you, the, the only really
good way a driving future can also
be supported is with good transit.
I guess that's what I'm trying to say
is that, uh, without good transit,
you can't pull the peaks off and the
peaks are the problem times, right?
You know the, that kinda rush hour,
the crush, that crush load, that can
just really be managed well on transit
and that's exactly when the service is
frequent, and that's usually when it's
actually the most attractive to take.
In the case of West Coast Express, it's
only available on peak hours, so you
can't even take it in the off peak.
I know and that's something that
I wonder if they'll ever change.
I understand there's a lot more things
that you have to do to make it run longer,
but I know a lot of people are like, it
would be nice if it ran a little later.
'Cause I have friends that are out in
Maple Ridge and stuff and they're like,
oh, I would take it instead of taking
like an Uber, whatever, if it ran later.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The trick to that is that, uh, there
needs to be investment in the additional
track, uh, to, to kind of untangle it
from the freight service that it shares,
that, the track with, uh, and the
freight service has, you know, seniority.
So it has the it, it has the, so
by adding a couple of extra tracks
or even just one extra track, you
could introduce service that would be
all day, you know, both directions.
Uh, right now it's inbound peak in
the morning and outbound peak in
the afternoon, and only on weekdays,
so it's not even on weekends.
So there we go.
I, I feel like that would be a good
idea to invest in another track because
especially if eventually it did go to
Chilliwack, the people could go party
in Vancouver on the, on the train.
Yeah.
I was looking at the Bright Line Project
in LA, the one that's going to Las Vegas.
It's interesting, they're really just
running it down the middle of the freeway.
And that's a very straightforward
way to run a high speed rail without
having to acquire a whole bunch of
property along a corridor and untangle
yourself from the freight, you know,
uh, the, kind of, the burden that
comes with using existing tracks.
And in our region, of course, freight
is extremely important being the biggest
porting unit and all these Canadian
goods that move through here, it's
really important that, uh, those freight
lines continue to operate unencumbered.
I never thought about putting
it down the freeway, but that
is a, a, a smart use of space.
And then people would see it
go past and they'd go, you know
what, maybe I should take that.
It's like, it'll be like the best
advertising ever, wouldn't it?
Well, I'm thinking if you're
going from LA to Vegas, you're
most likely going to party.
So why would you wanna
take the car anyways?
Because I'm sure that's a horrible
drive back afterwards, if you've had a
fun-filled weekend, I'd rather just be
sleeping on the train on the way back.
I've, I've taken that drive before.
It's, it, it's traffic hell.
And then like, and it's just one of
those distances too, where the flight
just doesn't quite make sense, you know?
Yeah.
Because it's so quick.
It's too short.
And so like, it's a lot of effort to
get to the airport, like the hour and
a half you have to before, and getting
to the airport isn't easy, and then
you end up with the, you know, yeah.
Even our flight from Vancouver to
Vegas is so quick, but you spend
more time at the airport I feel like,
but you're like, okay, we'll do it.
Uh, but that, that's a nice thing is we're
hearing so many different options and I
know they're also trying to eventually get
something from, uh, Vancouver to Seattle
as well, that's a little bit faster.
So all these things are opening up that
could help many of the different, um,
smaller cities here in Vancouver grow.
And like you say, it's really
just giving choice, right?
A lot of people, they have a car of
course, um, but if they see that the
traffic's bad and they don't want to
drive Highway One, um, because they
know that it's gonna be slow, having
an option for some trips to, to kind
of like not take the car is fantastic.
It is.
And, and that's the thing is I
try to tell people, it's like when
we're putting more transit, it
actually like, it benefits you.
Like you said, if you can get more
people on the transit during the peak
times, that means there's gonna be
less cars on the road, which means
it's gonna be a better flow for people.
And it's not about take away your
car, maybe use it on the weekend,
maybe use it for groceries, maybe
use it once in a while to go to work.
But like I said, I've flown over the
lower mainland and I know the pain
points, and I could probably tell you
exactly what traffic is doing right now
because it's the same pattern every day.
And that's the thing is, it's like we
can't operate like this with the current
infrastructure and the amount of cars on
the road because we just, you don't move.
Like, I, I hate getting in a car now and
going on a highway because I know when
the traffic is and I hate being stuck.
So I think it's important.
There's something else that's kind of
coming into play more and I see them
more and, and, you know, they're a
little bit controversial, but I see a
lot of people in Vancouver use them.
And, uh, even in New York, I
saw them hauling like little
trailers for businesses.
But electric bikes are becoming
a more popular thing, but I
think that's something hard,
and I kind want your opinion on
this, is like, where do they go?
Because even in New York,
they were on the sidewalks.
They were sometimes in the bike lane.
They had a lot of bike lanes there.
Here, you know, we see DoorDash and
all them on, uh, bikes here and all the
delivery services, which is fine, but
they're big and they're on the sidewalk.
But they, I'm a, a regular
biker, um, in the bike lane.
I think it's tough too because
they go so much faster.
But I do think they do
play an important role.
But where do we stick them?
Yeah, no, I think that that's like a,
a, a new consideration that's really
affected cycling design because it's,
it's probably even with the eCargo
bikes, um, the right place for them
is the, the separated bike light.
The, the trick is that, um, for the
busier ones, that means that we have
to design for that extra width, uh,
and for this variation in users too.
Already we're seeing that with, um,
e-scooters, with, uh, e-bikes versus,
classic bikes, you wanna call it
that, or, um, being able to pass or
overtake the, the person ahead of
you is becoming really important.
Uh, you know, on a long hill, like going
up, uh, the hill over the Burrard bridge.
You know, the person on a classic bike
is like, it's a, it's a slog, it's a,
it is a, but the person on the e-bike
is just like gonna go right past them.
But, uh, but that, in the end, the cycling
option for like a city like ours ends up
being the fastest way of getting around.
So there's a reason that, uh, all
those, um, delivery and service
providers are switching to scooters
and electric bikes because, uh,
you're kind of immune to traffic.
You know, there's not enough
traffic in the bike facilities
yet that it feels like traffic.
Even though they can be busy, you
know, they're not gonna be queued
up at a signal if this, the next
light signal you'll get through,
uh, unlike all the vehicle traffic.
And because your point to point,
uh, ability is actually often more
convenient than what transit can
provide, uh, the transit option
will be quite a bit slower as well.
So, uh, clearly faster than walking.
Generally, almost always faster
than transit and in almost all cases
in our city, faster than driving.
You've been in, like I'm in central
Broadway here and, uh, you know, we
have parallel bikeways for, on Broadway.
So we don't really have a bike facility
on Broadway, but we have one on 10th
Avenue, one fork off Broadway, one
a couple blocks to the north and
those routes parallel the corridor.
Um, but for the cyclist, the advantage
is their local streets, and you only hit
a traffic signal at the major street,
so you hit a traffic signal at Oak.
Right?
And then, you know, not until Cambie
or something like that, and then
you'll have another signal at Main.
If you're going down Broadway,
you'll, you have a traffic signal
on every single intersection.
Every single intersection.
And you know, even when there's
no traffic, no traffic at all,
that's gonna slow you down, right?
So the bike, the bike routes
are inherently quicker, uh,
even in a low congestion moment.
Well, I just love the fact that I'm
seeing, like I said, in the States,
even here at home, more companies
using electric bikes opposed to just,
you know, I think people thought,
oh, this is great for people that
maybe need to get somewhere faster,
have, um, a harder time of mobility.
This is great option for them.
But I love the fact that we're
adapting it and seeing more businesses.
But as I do see those bigger little
caravans on the back, I was wondering,
I was like, we're gonna have to adapt
our lanes because some of the ones I
saw in New York, I haven't seen them
that big here are like big and I was
like, how do I get past one of those?
Yeah, no, I think we have a maximum
size, so they, they, I don't think they
could get as big as they could based on
our Motor Vehicle Act, but uh, um, yeah.
Actually, just so you know too,
like a, when I first started in
engineering way back, you know,
before like everything went electronic
and online purchasing was a thing.
Uh, there was still lots of bikes moving
around, but they were all couriers.
So we had, uh, we licensed, uh, cyclist
couriers, uh, and really with the
advent of email, like, and e-documents,
uh, that need sort of melted away.
Uh, and it's had kind of been replaced
by this other thing that technology
has enabled, which is e-purchase.
You know, so whether it's food or
products or, or whatever, uh, people are
buying online, whereas in the old days
it was just moving around documents.
But they, back then it was worse.
Like I remember, uh, lots and
lots of cyclists on the sidewalks.
Lots of frustration with the, with
the bike couriers, uh, just because
there was no bike facilities.
Back then, they either had to be in the
traffic, which is kind of like, kind of
be pretty sketchy, uh, or on the sidewalk.
Both of them were not
really very good choices.
Uh, you now, you know, with the
network that we've built, um,
there's generally a good choice, you
know, at a place to be and a place
where you feel like you belong.
And, and touching on your background,
how did you ever get into transportation?
How were you ever like, this
is something that I wanna do?
Uh, you know, I never did, uh, I never
did think that I wanted to get into
transportation when I was, uh, was young.
I wanted to be an architect.
Uh, so I was going to school, you
know, studying in engineering as a
kind of a undergraduate degree before
going into architecture school.
Uh, when I was in university, I
took a couple courses in urban
design, uh, and planning, urban
planning, which really intrigued me.
And so then I thought, oh no,
now I have to switch careers to
urban design and, and planning.
But then I kind of did a
master's in transportation.
And I thought actually this, this is
kind of good because, uh, you know,
in the real, in, as you mentioned,
transportation and, and urban planning
and land use are so linked, inextricably
linked that, uh, working, getting
my first job here at the City of
Vancouver back in '97 in transportation
was like my, my dream come true.
'Cause suddenly I was involved in
city building the way I wanna be.
Um, and, and from the engineering
side, which is transportation, um,
but still working hand in hand very
closely with the land use planners.
Uh, so very much a part
of the city planning.
Yeah, I, I find just city planning
fascinating, especially after, like
flying above the city for like four
years, because you get to see a lot,
I always say people need to fly in
a helicopter to understand how a
city operates because you'll be able
to see the pain points right away.
Um, which is kind of, kind of fun.
Uh, with your knowledge and everything,
um, for anyone, like, well, like
just, we're gonna just play like
a little imaginary game right now,
but like, what do you feel, um,
would make like a really good city?
Well, the, the, the foundation of a
really good city, well, it's kind of one
of those things, there's a, if you do an
exercise, you ask your friends to kind
of like, I don't know, close their eyes
and imagine the best city, like, you
know, that they've, that they enjoyed
themselves or would want to go back to.
Uh, inevitably you can forecast
that they're thinking of a
place that's very walkable.
That's actually a joy to walk around.
Uh, the foundation of a really successful
city is a really great walking experience.
Like, you know, you enjoy the city,
you experience the city on foot.
That's how you like, that's how
you really get the most out of it.
And so cities that do a very good job
of the walking piece, that's, that's
what I would describe as success.
Now to get that to work, oddly enough, um,
you have to have a lot of great transit.
Because, uh, if you're, like, if you had
nothing but freeways, of course, you know,
uh, you can't make anything walkable.
So how do you get to these walkable
places that transit and like,
it's gotta be the number one way.
And so if I look at the great cities of
the world, you know, they usually have
the most crazy, great transit systems,
you know, hidden below the surface, often
not apparent, uh, you know, like Paris.
I will believe one of the best cities in
the world, uh, and one of the absolute
most amazing transit systems in the world.
But I also have to say, like,
everyone loves to compare.
Like, and they're like, oh, Vancouver's.
And, and they're not just mean
Vancouver, like lower mainland.
They're like, our transit system sucks.
They're like, it's not like
Paris or London or New York.
And I was like, you gotta
remember, these cities are also
very much older than us, still.
Like we're very young and we're
growing and these things were
established for a long time.
So sometimes it's not fair to compare.
Like I love walking London, love
walking Paris, love walking New York.
They're great places to walk.
Yeah.
But they also have a lot more
land too in their city center.
They do.
In fact, Vancouver does extremely well
on transit if you just look at the, at
the facts, you know, at the statistics
in terms of North America, which like
is probably the more fair comparison.
North American cities, uh, the only
cities that beat out Vancouver in
performance would be, um, New York,
Washington DC, Montreal, and Toronto.
And uh, like in terms of ridership per
capita or even total number of trips
on a train and stuff like that, those
are the only cities that beat out
this region, this metropolitan region.
And uh, and as you say,
they have a huge head start.
When Vancouver was celebrating 100 years
as a city, Montreal was celebrating 350.
Yeah, they're a little older.
You know, it's because of the way the
continent was settled with colonization.
It started in the east, right?
And it took a long time to get west.
And so they have a huge head start.
And you look at the legacy systems in a
city like New York, you know, hundreds
of years of kind of like background.
And here we're relatively new to the
game and yet still, you know, we just,
uh, recently, uh, like, uh, just halfway
through this pandemic period and kind of
post, just overtook Chicago and Boston.
You know, core transit and it just
seems like, how is that possible?
And we're talking total ridership,
like on the, the, the, the Chicago
L, our SkyTrain moves more people.
It's,
Well, I didn't expect that.
Yeah, we, we had already passed, you
know, San Francisco's BART system,
which is three times the size.
Like, you know, just in terms of
like kilometers, the, the kind of the
coverage and the, the size of the trains.
Uh, but we have more ridership
in our kind of relatively
small system compared to them.
Yeah, and I think a lot of
things are changing too.
Like I know a lot of younger people that,
um, are like in their teens and they're
not getting their driver's licenses
and they're not wanting to own a car.
So I think, you know, we
gotta evolve with that.
Or they're not gonna have a place to go
'cause they won't even be able to rent
an EVO because they won't have a license.
But you know, it's really nice
to see that our SkyTrain system
is picking up in popularity.
So is the West Coast Express,
some of our longer haul buses.
Because really this is so important
for not just Vancouver, all the
cities around it 'cause they are
thriving, like Chilliwack, and I know
that's one of Mark's big ambitions.
Like I said, he really wants to
make sure it's transit accessible.
He really wants to make sure
there's a ton of options.
He bikes to work all the time.
That's what he likes to do.
So it's something that it's really
nice to see that it's happen everywhere
and as we continue to grow, and I
know that SkyTrain is expanding,
it's expanding right out your window.
Um, and then eventually,
hopefully we'll get to UBC.
Hopefully we'll get to Chilliwack.
Hopefully we'll get further
into Surrey and Langley.
But again, it takes time.
We're not that old.
Uh, so,
I'd likely say actually, that growing
population of those that chose not
to, chose not to own a car or even
choose not to give a driver's license,
uh, they do wanna go to these places.
You know, they do, uh, whether it's for
family or friends, where they wanna move
there, you know, they, they like more
and more that market is growing, you
know, for the, yeah, the transit option.
Yeah, and I love that.
And so there's so many great places to
live here in the lower mainland and more
options are coming and that's great.
So thank you so much, Lon, for
coming onto the podcast today.
I feel like I could talk to you forever
about transportation, but like I said, I'm
a little nerdy about it, so I like, I know
it's a big part of how our cities operate
and something that we don't think about
enough is transportation infrastructure.
And I said, that's not just
transit, that's everything.
How are cars moving down a highway?
Bikes, you know, more people
bike than ever now because we
do have options for longer haul.
If you want an electric bike.
Um, way products are moving
are not just trucks, it's being
moved by, uh, people on bicycles.
So it's a really exciting time.
Yeah, it is.
Well, thanks for having me.
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much.
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the Design, from Yaletown to Andmar.
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