Streetfilms.org’s Vancouver

Originally published on the ECOreport

Streetfilms.org is an incredible video gateway to the world’s sustainable transportation network. There are nearly 500 videos, made in North America, Europe and Asia, to entice people into the movement for livable streets. For my first tour around the site, I decided to explore Streetfilms.org’s Vancouver.

Exploring Vancouver Through Streetfilms.org

As I lived in the suburbs for over five decades, this adds the “I’ve been there!” factor to my viewing. It also gives me some insight as to usefulness these videos have for the virtual tourist.

Ignoring the categories, I typed “Vancouver” in the “browse” search engine. I was soon enthralled by visions of streets that I have walked, or driven, many times in years past.

Elizabeth Press made two videos when Vancouver hosted the Velo-City Global 2012 Conference. The city had introduced separated bike lanes into the down area two years prior to that. As a result, cycling was already the city’s fastest growing mode of transportation.

“The city’s investment in bike infrastructure is paying off and city leaders continue to set their goals high. The city’s Cycling Vision includes developing new bicycle and greenway networks, building ample bicycle parking, making access to transit easier, prioritizing cycling education and promotion, and creating a friendlier pedestrian environment with more livable neighborhoods,” wrote Elizabeth Press, in the description accompanying “Safe Biking for All Ages.”

Her second video show how TransLink, which provides transit service for Greater Vancouver’s 22 regional municipalities, enables cyclists to utilize other forms of transit. In addition to allowing bikes onto public transit, Translink provides bicycle racks and storage lockers so that people can leave their bikes and take the skytrain, buses or a ferry.

The third video, made by Clarence Eckerson Jr in 2014, describes how the city of Vancouver dedicated part of the Burrard street Bridge to Bicycle traffic.

Based on what I have  seen of a city I know in these three documentaries, I would recommend Streetfilms.org to virtual tourists anywhere.

Reprinted with permission.