Vancouver bike lanes plowed, sidewalks not in first snowfall since new policy

A Vancouver city councillor is explaining what happened when the city prioritized bike lanes over sidewalks during the first snowfall of the season.

Sarah Kirby-Yung wrote on social media Sunday that earlier this year she'd identified what she called a "gap" in the city's snow response, noting that pedestrians were not prioritized when the snow started to fall last week.

The councillor posted in a series of messages on Twitter that her motion to update the snow and ice treatment policy was brought forward earlier in the term, and was put in place in March.

This was the first "significant snow event" since the city's updated policy came into effect, and, as she said, it would show if pedestrian routes were indeed prioritized.

She posted about it urging the public to call 311 to report unplowed sidewalks to the city, if they came across any routes that hadn't been cleared.

Kirby-Yung said Vancouver has 2,200 kilometres of sidewalk, and that her motion established a priority system. That designation covers 255 kilometres to be cleared by the city, she said.

For much of the pedestrian network, it's up to business and property owners to ensure sidewalks are clear, and they can face fines for failing to shovel.

But it appears the policy wasn't properly put in place when the snow started to fall this time.

Many residents of Vancouver posted on social media that bike routes were cleared, but snow was left in those so-called "priority" pedestrian routes.

So Kirby-Yung looked into what happened.

"Update to all on snow response," she wrote on Twitter late Sunday evening.

"City staff confirmed there was a gap in implementing the direction from council – operators did not treat priority pedestrian pathways in advance of adjacent bike routes as (they) should have."

She said steps were being taken to treat the missed sections of sidewalk, and helped those responding to her posts get in touch with the city to ensure the complaints were addressed.