Going to town: A Travel Survey of Downtown Langley Summer 2016

Author: Nathan Pachal

Special thanks to the Downtown Langley Merchants Association for supporting this survey with the Downtown Dollars ballot draw, and to the merchants who made space in their shops for the ballot boxes and encouraged their customer to participate in this survey.

About the Author: Nathan has been writing, researching, and talking about issues that affect the livability of Metro Vancouver, with a focus on the South of Fraser, for over 8 years. He has been featured in local, regional, and national media. In 2008, Nathan co-founded South Fraser OnTrax —a sustainable transportation advocacy organization— and the Greater Langley Cycling Coalition in 2009. He was recently elected to City of Langley Council in early 2016. Nathan previously published his research on land use and the ALR in his report, “Decade of Exclusions? A Snapshot of the Agricultural Land Reserve from 2000-2009 in the South of Fraser” (2010). He also co-authored “Leap Ahead: A transit plan for Metro Vancouver” with Paul Hillsdon in 2013. This plan was a precursor to the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation Transit Plan for Metro Vancouver. He also authored the 2015 and 2016 Transit Report Card of Major Canadian Regions. More information is available on the South Fraser Blog. (http://www.southfraser.net/)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Introduction Downtown Langley is the heart of our community. It is the civic, cultural, and commercial hub. Because Downtown serves such an important role, government, merchants, and residents need answers to some important questions about who accesses Downtown Langley, and how. With the help of seven Downtown businesses over the course of the summer of 2016, some of these important questions were answered:

How do people get to Downtown Langley? Knowing how people travel to the Downtown core can help shape where investment in infrastructure is needed to improve access to meet demand. It can also identify gaps in the transportation network where improvements could be made.

Who goes to Downtown Langley? Knowing who goes to Downtown Langley can help identify gaps in services, shops, and activities in the core of our community. With these gaps understood, strategic investments can be made to ensure that our Downtown is providing opportunities that are appropriately matched to the people who visit the area.

Figure 1 Salt Lane

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The Survey Between June 4th, 2016 and September 9th, 2016 ballot boxes were places with seven downtown merchants. Customers were invited to submit a ballot whenever they visited these merchants. They were incentivised to respond by having the opportunity to enter a draw to win $100 Downtown Dollars.

Figure 3 Back of Ballot

Figure 2 Front of Ballot

Customers’ names and phone numbers were only used for the draw, not in the results of this survey. This personal information has since been destroyed. As seen on the ballot, people were asked to answer three questions: what mode of travel did they use to get to Downtown, what were the first three digits of their postal code, and what date did they visit the merchant? The goal of the survey was to find out what mode people used to get downtown, and if they were local or non-local visitors. For the sake of this survey, local is defined as people who live within the V3A postal code which includes Langley City and certain sections of Brookswood and Murrayville.

Figure 2 Postal Code V3A in Purple. Source: Canada Post

A total of 717 ballots were used in this survey after filtering. Page 2 of 13

Key Findings Downtown Langley was visited by both local and non-local participants. Non-locals made up the majority of people who participated in the survey. It should be noted that are three types of merchants in Downtown. Those that cater primarily to locals, those that cater primarily to non-locals, and those that serve both equally. This can be observed by looking at The Details section of this survey.

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Almost half of all local participants that visited Downtown Langley did so by foot. About another half drove to Downtown Langley. Other modes of travel to Downtown Langley were not significant. These results are not surprising given the limited cycling infrastructure and locally-focused transit service within the City of Langley.

Please note that the percentages in these charts do not equal 100% as they are an average of each statistic from each merchant.

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Regionally, the clear majority of non-local participants drove to Downtown Langley. Surprisingly, 11% of non-locals walked to Downtown Langley, likely from adjacent neighbourhoods in the Willoughby/Willowbrook area of the Township of Langley. More non-local participants also cycled or took transit to Downtown Langley.

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Observations Driving is the way that most participants visited Downtown Langley. With this in mind, it is important that the inventory of parking in the Downtown is managed to ensure that people visiting the core have convenient access to parking facilities throughout. Having clear wayfinding from highways and other major regional roads to Downtown Langley is also important, as is wayfinding within Downtown directing people to parking facilities. Walking is a significant mode of travel for local participants who visited Downtown Langley. It is important that sidewalks and the public realm within Downtown Langley be inviting and safe for people who visit the core by foot. Equally important is to ensure that walking from other areas within the City of Langley is safe and inviting as people who are visiting Downtown by foot walk through other areas of the City to get there. The City of Langley has only recently started to significantly invest in cycling infrastructure. In other cities1, investment in cycling infrastructure has resulted in more people using bicycles to get around. This will likely happen in Langley City as this infrastructure comes online. Transit is not the responsibility of the City of Langley.

The Details The rest of the survey results show more detailed information about the each of the merchants where ballot boxes were located.

1

City of Calgary Bikes Count Data. http://www.eco-public.com/ParcPublic/?id=4190 City of Vancouver: Month Web Release of Bike Data. http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Bike-lane-stats-by-month.pdf

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All of Oils - Regional (Exclude V3A)

All Of Oils - Local (V3A)

Walking 4%

Cycling 8%

Walking 44% Driving 56%

Driving 88% Walking

Driving

Cycling

Driving

Walking

All of Oils - Local/Regional Split

Local 39% Regional 61%

Local

Regional

Merchant Name: All of Oils Address: 20450 Douglas Crescent Number of Participants: 41 Page 7 of 13

Coastal Coffee & Tea Local (V3A)

Walking 48%

Coastal Coffee & Tea Regional (Exclude V3A)

Driving 52%

Driving

Walking 46%

Driving 54%

Walking

Walking

Driving

Coastal Coffee & Tea Local/Regional Split

Regional 38%

Local 62%

Local

Regional

Merchant Name: Coastal Coffee & Tea Address: 20555 56 Avenue Number of Participants: 10 Page 8 of 13

Everything But The Groom - Local (V3A)

Everything But The Groom - Regional (Exclude V3A) Scooter 2%

Driving 45%

Walking 55%

Driving

Walking

Driving

Driving 98% Scooter

Everything But The Groom - Local/Regional Split Local 28%

Regional 72% Local

Regional

Merchant Name: Everything But The Groom Address: 20478 Fraser Highway Number of Participants: 57 Page 9 of 13

Forever Yours Lingerie Local (V3A)

Forever Yours Lingerie Regional (Exclude V3A)

Transit 5%

Cycling 1%

Walking 2%

Driving 42% Walking 53% Driving 97% Driving

Walking

Transit

Driving

Cycling

Walking

Forever Yours Lingerie Local/Regional Split Local 10%

Regional 90% Local

Regional

Merchant Name: Forever Yours Lingerie Address: 20460 Fraser Highway Number of Participants: 184 Page 10 of 13

McBurney Coffee & Tea House - Local (V3A)

McBurney Coffee & Tea House - Regional (Exclude V3A) Transit

Scooter 1%

Cycling 3%

8%

Driving 35%

Walking 14% Cycling 2%

Walking 61%

Driving

Driving 76% Walking

Cycling

Scooter

Driving

Cycling

Walking

Transit

McBurney Coffee & Tea House - Local/Regional Split

Regional 50%

Local 50%

Local

Regional

Merchant Name: McBurney Coffee & Tea House Address: 20504 Fraser Highway Number of Participants: 127 Page 11 of 13

The Passionate Home Local (V3A)

The Passionate Home Regional (Exclude V3A)

Cycling 5%

Transit 2%

Walking 5%

Walking 23%

Driving 72% Driving

Walking

Driving 93%

Cycling

Driving

Walking

Transit

The Passionate Home Local/Regional Split Local 19%

Regional 81% Local

Regional

Merchant Name: The Passionate Home Address: 20528 Fraser Highway Number of Participants: 215 Page 12 of 13

Phoenix Rising Metaphysical Emporium Local (V3A)

Phoenix Rising Metaphysical Emporium Regional (Exclude V3A)

Cycling 4%

Transit 13%

Walking 3%

Driving 37%

Walking 59% Driving

Driving 84% Walking

Cycling

Driving

Walking

Transit

Phoenix Rising Metaphysical Emporium Local/Regional Split

Local 46%

Regional 54%

Local

Regional

Merchant Name: Phoenix Rising Metaphysical Emporium Address: 20497 Fraser Highway Number of Participants: 59 Page 13 of 13