A Vancouver city staff report is recommending that the bike lanes on Hornby Street and the Dunsmuir Viaduct become permanent.
The report shows a 19-per-cent increase in bike trips on the Dunsmuir Viaduct between April 2011 and March 2012, compared to the previous year. On Hornby Street, the city recorded 380,000 bike trips last year.
However, the bike lanes have sparked controversy for business owners from the get-go.
Bok Soo Kim of Kim's Shoe and Bag Repair on Hornby Street says he doesn't see many cyclists using the bike lane. When it was installed last year, business went down by 20 per cent.
"If we continue to have bike lanes, I think I will have to move to another place," he said.
Other businesses, however, say they have not been negatively impacted by the downtown bike lanes.
Nathan Mellalieu of Studio 55, a boutique health club, set up shop on Hornby Street four months ago. He says the bike lane has not deterred customers.
"I think all the tenants who opened the last few months are happy with how much traffic is out there," he said, adding that most of his customers are "destination" customers. "[They're] people driving elsewhere, coming to a specific store, or people who live close by walking to and from work, and that's good enough for us."
The city is also looking into installing bike lanes on Kitsilano's Cornwall Avenue and on Commercial Drive.
With files from CTV British Columbia's Jina You
