Transportation Hard Costs
Victoria’s transportation choices are becoming a cost-of-living issue.
There is a real and important conversation to be had about safety, cycling, transit, and the kind of city we want to build.
There is also a second conversation that we need to have with local government: the economic impact of reallocating road capacity in a growing region where, according to Census data, 80% of people rely on vehicles to get to work, deliver goods, and access services.
Here at The Chamber we talk to lots of people – from visitors to owners and employees – and not once have we heard, “I wish there was less parking and fewer lanes coming into downtown Victoria.”
The scale of lane reduction is no longer incremental. Two major corridors illustrate what’s happening.
On Cook Street, a roughly two-kilometre stretch (between Haultain Street and Maplewood Road) is being redesigned so that motor vehicle lanes are reduced from two in each direction to one, with protected/raised bike lanes added. This is not a minor tweak. It is a material reduction in vehicle capacity on a key north-south route. On Blanshard Street (between Caledonia Avenue and Kings Road), the number of vehicle lanes has been reduced from three in each direction to two, with protected bike lanes added. That is not marginal. It is a deliberate reallocation of roadway space on one of the city’s primary through-routes.
Meanwhile, Victoria’s cycling network expansion has been rapid and significant. The city has built about 36 kilometres of lanes (as reported in regional media). Cycling volumes are also real and measurable. At a single key crossing on the Galloping Goose, the Capital Regional District reported 706,241 bicycle journeys in 2022, roughly 1,900 per day. But the policy question is not whether cycling counts. It does. The question is whether we are reducing vehicle capacity faster than the region can realistically shift travel behaviour, especially for people commuting in from outside the downtown core, shift workers, trades, deliveries, service calls, and families juggling care responsibilities.
Here is the uncomfortable economic math: traffic is not free.
Congestion is not just a quality-of-life issue. It is a cost-of-living issue because time lost has value, and delays get priced into everything. Statistics Canada-linked reporting shows B.C.’s average hourly wage was $38.60 (based on a Labour Force Survey summary). Another Canadian analysis (using a Statistics Canada average hourly rate) shows how transportation analysts routinely attach a “value of time” to commuting when evaluating policy.
So, what is the price of “just” 10 extra minutes?
If a commuter loses an additional 10 minutes each way due to reduced capacity and spillover congestion, that is 20 minutes per day. Over roughly 5 days/week, that is about 1 hour 40 minutes per week. Over a year, it adds up quickly. Using the $38.60/hour benchmark, the time cost alone becomes significant. The lesson for Victoria is not “don’t build bike infrastructure.” The lesson is: get the sequencing, corridor selection, and stakeholder process right, or you risk creating expensive, divisive, and ultimately reversible outcomes.
You cannot claim partnership while skipping the stakeholders most affected, and the core issue we are hearing about right now is Blanshard Street. The Chamber’s door is open to Mayor Alto, Council and City staff to consult with and offer solutions on a top issue that impacts the business community.
