Tourists and the City: Another Opportunity Forgone

For the 25 years I've lived here, with the exception of COVID, tourists have been a critical part of what keeps the city fully employed and a good share of those tourist dollars are directly attributable to those who arrive to our city via cruise ships. Before COVID the tourists disembarking at Ogden Point dropped millions of dollars into the heart of our city - supporting local livelihoods in our touristic core namely: Old Town, Chinatown, Wharf St. and Government St. 

Now, with COVID looking to be subsiding as uptake of vaccination has been strong, many have been eagerly awaiting the return of tourists to our city, and in particular those who come here via cruises. Many have had to make do while their livelihoods have been put into a kind of suspended animation with some not surviving the pause in business. Further, as a result of COVID, a law that required cruise ships to stop in Victoria (or Vancouver) on their way to Alaska was rescinded. Victoria is no longer a prerequisite destination - but rather an optional one. As such, if cruise ships are to stop here, it will be because doing so offers a lot of value to their customers. In short: now how Victoria presents itself and how those tourists enjoy our city matters because if it isn't enjoyable, they'll quit coming. They will take their dollars somewhere else, and those who have relied upon those dollars will have to find other ways to make their living.

As such, it is a bit mind boggling then, that our council would move to make the stay here less satisfying, yet that is what they've done. 

During COVID, council decided that they would "pedestrianize" Government St. and prohibit traffic from transiting it. That combined with the location of the bike lanes on Wharf St. has meant that traffic does not flow as well as it once did - as anyone trying to use Wharf Street on a regular basis while in a vehicle can attest to.

Making Government Street a pedestrian mall in and of itself is neither a good thing, nor a bad thing as it really is a decision that needs to be taken in context. Just as having the bike lanes on Wharf St is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but needs to be taken in context.  Placing the bike lanes on Wharf, while continuing to have a two way configuration, means the loss of Government St. to Northbound traffic has consequences. The bike lanes also make the transiting of tourbuses (in the context of two way traffic) on Wharf St. challenging. As such, with the return of cruise ships, there is also the return of tourbusses - and the decision of the route they'd take to get to the touristic heart of the city. Historically, the would go via Government St., past the Empress and be deposited on Government South of Fort St. 

With Government now an exclusive pedestrian mall, tour busses are no longer able to take their previous route absent approval from council. Which is what Stephen Andrew attempted to do, after conversations with the businesses on lower Government St.  A simple request, permit tourbusses to still access Government St. for the purposes of depositing tourists in our City.

Rather than do that - the City decided that it would be better for tourbusses to change their route entirely, and to go up Blanshard, turn left onto View (making View a two way road for the length of it) and to deposit the tourists on the north side of the Bay Centre.

Most locals will concede, this isn't exactly a scenic route. There's nothing particularly charming about Blanshard St., nor really View St. They are pragmatic places - focussed on serving the needs of locals. As such the ire of local Government Street businesses (particularly those closer to the inner harbour) is understandable.

The route chosen for tourist busses should be "appetizing" - there is logic to spreading the wealth of tourist dollars around and to having a more central drop point, however, taking the "back way" there is not providing much of a service. Surely, working with the local business community, could have resulted in a better solution than the one ultimately arrived at.