Public transit and transportation is the top municipal election issue for most Vancouver-area businesses, according to a Vancouver Board of Trade survey of its members.
That category was picked by 68 per cent of respondents as most important to their business, while 50 per cent chose real estate development, increased density and long-term planning, 40 per cent listed community engagement/government transparency and 35 per cent said affordable and social housing.
The survey also found respondents’ top transportation priorities were to “properly fund transportation and transit development without shifting the burden further onto business” (49 per cent), followed by “better traffic management during development/construction” (46 per cent), removal of bike lanes (34 per cent), rapid transit for the Broadway corridor (32 per cent) and building more bike lanes (26 per cent.)
The survey results were released Tuesday and came barely a month before residents vote Nov. 15 for mayors and councillors to represent them for the next four years.
The more than 200 VBOT members surveyed included businesses from both inside and outside the City of Vancouver.
Members were also asked if they want their next civic government to champion the “Yes” side in next year’s TransLink funding referendum on the approval of new taxes to help finance a $7.5-billion transit expansion plan for Metro Vancouver.
Nearly 49 per cent were unsure, while 41.6 per cent said yes and 9.6 per cent said no.
Metro Vancouver mayors are still in negotiations with the provincial government over the final scope of the projects, the type and amount of new taxes and the wording of the question.
View full survey results.
