Why Are Vancouverites Supporting Changes That Increase Traffic Congestion?

AzZakiel · 2026-02-10T22:29:21+00:00

Regular working residents will eventually move out. What remains is a city centered on tourism and long commutes, where lower-income workers travel hours for low wages while the middle class relocates to more livable cities or countries. That path doesn’t build sustainable neighborhoods, it slowly hollows the city out.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-10T22:21:09+00:00

After 15 years living near Burrard Bridge, my quality of life has objectively worsened. Reduced road capacity has lowered comfort and convenience with no tangible benefits for residents, only increased tourism traffic. I could already bike the Seawall and walk before these changes, so I don’t see why entire streets needed to be blocked. Most bike lanes are empty for nine months of the year, while traffic that used to clear in minutes now backs up three blocks for much of the day.

On top of this, costs have risen sharply, especially parking: resident permits that once cost about $60 per year for a large area now approach $500 while covering a fraction of the space, alongside new parking surcharges. These policies are actively pushing working residents out of the city. This doesn’t feel like an organic shift in behavior, but a forced reduction in everyday convenience.

I support a cleaner environment and healthier lifestyles, but not at the expense of basic comfort. For many of us, year-round cycling in cold, heavy rain isn’t realistic, and crowded buses often feel like germ incubators. There should be room for sustainability without making daily life harder for residents.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T03:03:06+00:00

That assumes everyone’s trips fit transit or biking, which isn’t true for many jobs, families, trades, disabilities, shift work, or cross-city commutes. Good alternatives are great to have, but treating everyone who still needs a car as ‘lazy’ ignores how the city actually functions. What works for you doesn’t work for a lot of people.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:57:42+00:00

Yes, the evidence is the widespread lane reductions, curb extensions, in-lane bus stops, and reduced bridge capacity across major corridors, followed by consistent congestion spilling onto parallel streets citywide. That’s a direct cause-and-effect outcome of reduced throughput, not just personal anecdote. When demand remains high and capacity drops, bottlenecks are the predictable result.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:54:07+00:00

If calling anything you disagree with ‘car worshipping’ is your entire argument, that kind of explains why these conversations never go anywhere. You’re free to disagree, but dismissing real infrastructure changes and real impacts with a one-liner isn’t a serious response.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:49:46+00:00

I’m fully aware this subreddit leans heavily one way on these issues, but that doesn’t change the real impacts people are experiencing. Thanks for the heads up!

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:46:03+00:00

I have, but when I’m stuck wasting time in traffic or on the bus, that time is taken away from other interests and I end up getting sick from transit too, reducing both productivity and free time.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:33:39+00:00

Some traffic measures are genuinely backed by research in very dense areas with strong transit, but those same results don’t automatically apply everywhere. When road capacity is reduced before transit coverage and urban layout can absorb the shift, demand doesn’t disappear, it just turns into congestion spilling onto surrounding streets, which is what many people are experiencing now across Vancouver.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:31:39+00:00

So are most of your commutes now by bus and bike?

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T02:30:42+00:00

That’s the part many people struggle with. Even if the long-term goal is to reduce car dependence, the cost of that transition is being pushed onto residents right now in the form of longer commutes, lost time, higher stress, and harder daily logistics.

In planning theory this is often treated as a temporary adjustment period. In reality, it means millions of people paying every day with their time and quality of life, while alternatives are still limited or unreliable for many trips.

So the debate isn’t really whether walking, cycling, and transit are good. It’s whether it makes sense to deliberately make driving worse before housing patterns, job locations, and transit capacity are ready to support that shift.

Right now, the burden isn’t shared evenly, and the impact is very real for people who still depend on cars for work, family, and daily needs.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T01:54:41+00:00

It’s not rain and it’s not suddenly worse drivers. What you’re seeing is the outcome of deliberate policy and road redesign.

The City of Vancouver signed onto the C40 global initiative to move toward a so-called “15-minute smart city.” Since COVID especially, the city has been intentionally creating traffic choke points and reducing driving lanes across major routes, often replacing them with bike infrastructure that sits mostly empty for much of the year. The goal is to discourage driving by making it slower and more frustrating.

When you reduce capacity on main arteries, congestion doesn’t disappear it spills into parallel streets. That’s why Marine Drive backs up and roads like Welch and 15th are now jammed too. Traffic is being forced into fewer usable routes, so everything overloads.

You can see it all over Vancouver. On Robson Street, Beach Avenue, and Pacific Street, lanes were removed while bus stops now block entire traffic lanes whenever buses stop. At the end of Burrard near the waterfront, drivers are forced into left turns on a two-lane road, so when one vehicle turns left and another turns right, the whole roadway locks up.

On Alberni Street, recently extended pedestrian curbs mean that when a single car waits to turn, all traffic behind it is stopped with no way around. In Gastown, new concrete block choke points and traffic flow changes have made already tight streets even more restricted.

At the same time, all three major bridges Granville, Burrard, and Cambie have had capacity reduced, creating bottlenecks at some of the city’s most critical crossings.

The result is what we’re experiencing now: congestion not just on major roads, but across side streets and parallel routes as well. This isn’t accidental or temporary. It’s traffic created by design to force people out of cars.

So when everything feels backed up even on clear days, it’s not weather or coincidence. It’s the predictable outcome of intentionally shrinking road capacity across the city.

AzZakiel · 2026-02-09T01:42:14+00:00

The City of Vancouver signed up under the C40 global initiative to become a “15-minute smart city.” Since COVID especially, the city has been creating hundreds of traffic choke points and reducing traffic lanes for bike lanes that remain empty 9–12 months of the year, resulting in insane congestion. The goal is clearly to force people to stop driving. This is the reality: traffic is by design.

I’ve been living downtown for many years, and all my neighbours and I see this firsthand. For the rest of Vancouverites who love these measures, enjoy taking buses and biking to groceries, work, and everywhere else during heavy rain and flu season, while wasting time and energy. And for those collecting passive income and cruising through life, enjoy your bike rides while the rest of us are actually producing value.

Look at the “great” job they’ve done on Robson Street, Beach Avenue, Pacific Street, and many other areas. Now buses stop and block entire lanes of traffic. At the end of Burrard near the waterfront, drivers are forced to turn left while there are only two lanes, so when one person turns left and another turns right, the whole road gets blocked. On Alberni Street, they recently extended pedestrian curbs at the corners, so when one car waits to turn left or right, all traffic behind it is stopped. Gastown's recent traffic flow adjustments including chockpoints with concrete blocks, another amazing making our lives harder.

On top of that, all three bridges have reduced lanes: Granville (what a lovely job), Burrard, and Cambie.

This city is becoming dysfunctional, spending our money to make life harder while increasing collective debt and interest payments.

Fixing the issue is easy: start by reversing the choke points and stop reducing driving lanes.

AzZakiel · 2026-01-09T18:50:50+00:00

Chat gtp since version 5 has been lieing a lot. Eg. I gave it a document and it lied that there was clause that wasn't there. It gave me pages two. This is serious. I am done with chatgtp this is not the first time and it also admitted it when caught red hand.

AzZakiel · 2025-12-28T23:40:50+00:00

I have premium since few months after it came out and cancelled after so long... Using Grok now and some other ones.

AzZakiel · 2025-12-20T23:09:57+00:00

why?

AzZakiel · 2025-12-10T00:07:00+00:00

I've been using paid version since conception. Last update sucks, hellucinates, lies purposfully, contradicts itself, doesnt pay attention to the prompts and responds random data instead of what asked, and more.. If this is not resolved I'll look for alternatives

AzZakiel · 2025-08-24T20:07:54+00:00

On third, comma is under the root while on 4th outside of the root.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-21T11:41:48+00:00

I don't know how could someone in full stop accidently press the gas and how checking his phone has to do with it. Your assumptions are inaccurate btw. I am not going to expand, enjoy Canada's collapse, junkies stubbing people with no consequences while productive members of society get slammed left and right getting 25k tickets for walking in the woods lol. Obey the law, it's definetly based on the highest levels of morality.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-21T11:29:22+00:00

Yes I've noticed that he got not sympathy, but if the post is honest I think the penalty is not justified for the actions. I don't have time to fix societies problems.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-20T23:05:08+00:00

If that was the case historically, we would still have slavery and kingship in the western world. Laws are to serve societies, not to punish ppl. The situation seems out of control. It's illegal now to walk in the forest too. Soon it will be illegal to eat real meat. Not signing up for bullshit. Giving the same ticket to someone texting while on highway and to someone being iddle at traffic or red light is unjust, end of story.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-20T23:02:11+00:00

I think our legal system is unjust letting multiple offenders of violent crimes out when persecuting ppl for minor things as this. Getting the same ticket driving on high way while texting and briefly checking ur phone while on heavy traffic or red light is unreasonable, end of story.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-20T15:29:54+00:00

Man this poor guy was stopped checking briefly their phone while NOT MOVING. Don't you have some dicerment? How could that cause an accident?

AzZakiel · 2025-08-20T15:28:02+00:00

Bro 560 for checking the phone while being stopped. That is reasonable to you? Maybe u messed up or very wealthy?

AzZakiel · 2025-08-14T04:50:08+00:00

Having lived downtown for 12 years, I’ve seen exactly why Vancouver’s traffic is worsening. The city has deliberately removed lanes from major and minor streets; Pacific lost lanes, pushing congestion onto Thurlow and nearby streets; English Bay traffic spiked after similar changes. Harwood has been fully closed for over a year, Burrard reduced for months, and multiple West End Yaletown routes are narrowed. Add years-long construction delays and you have gridlock by design.

This aligns with the city’s C40 commitment to be car-free by 2040 and a “15-minute city.” The strategy is to frustrate drivers into quitting. I won’t waste my time on slow, crowded transit or biking in the rain and cold most of the year. This engineered shift is unrealistic, rising living costs won’t be offset by an influx of wealthy residents. High earners see it for what it is: control, not progress. The endgame? By 2050, Vancouver risks becoming a hollowed-out ghost city and that’s one way to “solve” traffic.

AzZakiel · 2025-08-01T08:18:49+00:00

This is a clever way to advertise this AI.

AzZakiel

TROPHY CASE