Letter to Granville Island

Please find in its entirety (minus names) the letter I drafted to CMHC GI a few days ago. I received a standard thank you response that others in the industry have received as well. It did include a promise to keep us advised of the Revised policy as well as informed of an industry working group. More details to come __________________________________________________________________________ I hope this message finds you well. I want to thank you for the time you spent meeting with us last week. This is an item that many of us are passionate about, and while I would have liked to see more companies there, the turnout that did come over the two days represented the majority of the tourism sector and the transportation sector for the greater Vancouver area. They represent a significant amount of tourism dollars and are vital to the industry as a whole, not only in Vancouver but Vancouver Island and much of the rest of the province. Not only is there experience vast in terms of tourism, but transportation as well. If there is a suggestion that comes from this group, I ask that it is taken with all due regard. I did not know who would show up the second day, so I took it upon myself to be present. Thank you for allowing me to return, as there were some large tour and destination management voices there. I wanted to ensure that us as an industry were all on the same page in terms of viable options and solutions to this issue. I think you have been made well aware of my stance on this, a stance which on both days received clear support from everyone (industry related) in the room. It is an answer to your congestion issue that could be immediately implemented. One that could also allow your survey and parking staff to do an in-depth count of the daily arrivals during the busy season with minimal extra effort. The removal on a short term daily basis of personal vehicles on your initial approach on Granville Island is your single best option to reduce the congestion. For a 4 hour period daily, which would only be necessary during the peak season, you increase drastically the amount of people arriving on the island, while using the same footprint as cars that would bring approximately 25% of the same amount of foot traffic ( assuming 1 bus holds 56 passengers, and has a footprint of 3 cars, which would, in theory, carry 12, I’m being generous with that). Your approach would not be stalled because there would be a minimal amount of vehicles pulling into and out of traffic, buses bring more, and depart less often. I understand that you will receive considerable blowback from all sides, no matter how you implement or create a policy. The question is, if you really wish to reduce congestion, the banning of bus parking is not the answer. The banning of all parking of buses during non peak hours is also very questionable. There is simply no logical reason to keep buses from being able to park there during the evening and early morning hours when there is minimal congestion. It creates a logistical nightmare for companies which had previously brought dozens or hundreds of people at a time for dinner and shows during the evening. Furthermore, since the current bus parking zone would be used as a Pickup Zone during the daytime, It would not be utilized during the evening. That is unless you have plans to turn it into evening vehicle parking, a point I would find hard to understand since there is never a parking issue with the current spots during the evening as it is. It is the general consensus of those in industry, that this plan to ban buses, not to solve congestion. It was explained to us in the initial meeting that these policies were being implemented because of congestion due to buses double parking. I personally feel this is simply a scapegoat excuse to have them banned. Numerous conversations with industry folk have reinforced the fact that the photos you had in the presentation were the exception, rather than the norm. It would be unfair to use that as the sole excuse when one can go there year round and see personal vehicles doing the same thing. Even if it takes 10 minutes to unload that bus while double parked, it is still increasing the foot traffic on the island far more than the vehicles would (which would take more time for them to wait, pull out, and then have another park). Let me be clear, neither I, nor others in the industry support bus drivers doing this. I think that was a frustrated driver that was being pressured by their tour director to get them off fast (after having been waiting in traffic on the initial approach). It was wrong of them to do so and puts a negative light on an industry that is the front line for guests experiencing British Columbia. Please find attached a summary link to an Industry Survey that is ongoing https://goo.gl/17ReEQ If you wish, contact me to discuss any of the results. The survey is anonymous, but it is clear from the breakdown that there is both ground level and tourism management who are responding. There are trends emerging. We do not want to avoid Granville Island, but the industry will if necessary. This late in the game with the proposed fee structure is too much. The recommendation at the second meeting of a no/lower cost permit this year to help determine accurate numbers is a great start to fill in the missing survey gaps. You can also see the timings most arrive, being noon. This means a short term accommodation of the buses (the timings I mention being 10-2, or even shortened to 11-2) would alleviate any issues. Proper signage is needed informing the public of more options for parking if they keep driving to the second half of the island. Using your parking ambassadors to move traffic along that is double parked waiting for a spot would help as well. The comments are overwhelming in that Small Car congestion is the biggest issue facing professional drivers. With our safety record, it should be a no-brainer (your own reports state that). With signage, and staff (as well as a parking fee from personal vehicles paying for it), you will alleviate many of the issues. As most of the buses arrive at noon, it would be pointless to keep buses from parking in the off hours. Many of the companies can, with enough notice, stagger their arrivals throughout the day to spread it out, which will keep the buses from arriving at noon also Also, https://goo.gl/qDBc24 shows you the current support for an expansion of tour vehicle parking, via the petition. At time of writing, it is at 358 signatures, with a gain of 130 in the past 3 days alone. There is support for my suggested plan that extends far beyond the 30 people that were in the room over those 2 days. I’m sure by now the merchants on the island have started to express their displeasure at the potential loss of business. I’m also aware that you will be getting negative feedback from the public about putting any sort of restrictions on personal vehicles. Change is hard to accept for the human condition, I understand that. There will always be negative feedback about any policy, and I do not envy you, or anyone in a public position who has to deal with implementing policy. However, the question is to us, what is the most effective strategy to combat the congestion issue on Granville Island? If banning buses is your solution (who to your reckoning amount to 5% of traffic on the island), I wish you luck with that. I can guarantee that you will be faced with the same issues on the island if 1, or 100 buses arrive to the island, as we are not the issue. Accommodating us during that short 3-4 hour time period will require courage from CMHC Granville Island, but will have a much larger impact (positively) on your merchants, then you will receive negative feedback from the general car driving public for that short period of time daily (even seasonally as this would only need to be May-Sep). Thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you more extensively in the future.