Commercial Drive businesses against proposed bike lane route

The City of Vancouver's plans to build abike lane on Commercial Drive is irking businesses along the busy shopping and eating area.

The lane, which is slated to runbetween First and 14th avenues,was one of 12 the city approved in Decemberto be built in the next five years.

"I'm concerned.I'm really concerned," said business ownerLenaDemetrioff. "If you see Commercial Drive and how tight the street can actuallybeeventhe buses have a hard time with parking and pedestrians."

• Vancouver approves plan for 12 new bike lanes

According to the Commercial Drive Business Improvement Society, Demetrioffisn'tthe only shop owner concerned about the new bike lane.It says a survey it recently sent out to its 650 members revealed 84 per cent of those who respondeddon't support it.

"The loss of parking could have an adverse effect on the economic viability of businesses on the drive," said the society'sCEO, Nick Pogor.

Pogorsays the city should consider moving the lane to a nearbyresidential street instead.

Some businesses in favour

But environmentally-friendly transportation advocateStreets for Everyone disagrees.

The group says it knows of 25 businesses that are in favour of the lane. And it has apetitionof 3,000 community members who are also on board.

"Nearly 20 per cent of Grandview-Woodlands needs or uses their bike to do errands, spend money, to go to different services, and they're not beingaccommodatedon the street,"said AlexThumm with the organization.

And many cyclists in the areasay the lanewillenhance business,not hinder it.

"Cyclists are consumers too and customers of businesses, and you can fit more bikes in front of a business than cars," said cyclist JordanBober.

Lane needed for safety: city

The city says it's aware that not everyone agrees, but the bike lane isneeded for safety.

"Commercial Drive has particularly high cycling collision rates, so we do want to implement some changes," said LonLaClaire, the city's acting director ofTransportation.

The city says it will consult with businesses and cyclistsbefore it makes the final decision onwhere exactly the lane will go.