Vancouver’s car-free festivals are famous for giving locals and visitors alike the rare experience of strolling along thoroughfares usually busy with traffic, but this year’s stroll on Main Street was peppered with politics. The event almost didn’t happen this year after organizers said it wasn’t financially feasible, but last-minute funding approved by city council allowed the events to take place on Commercial Drive over the Labour Day long weekend, and on Main Street Sept. 13. There were the typical buskers, aromatic food trucks, artisans hawking everything from ceramics to locally made clothing to custom poetry, and government services like TransLink, but alongside them were tents for local political parties running candidates in next month’s municipal election. CTV News observed volunteers for the Vancouver Liberals, TEAM Vancouver, and OneCity engaging with voters along the 1.5-kilometre route Sunday afternoon, with the latter holding a press conference announcing a new policy platform. OneCity candidates gathered outside their campaign office at East 10th Avenue and Main Street to announce their “Connect Vancouver” plan, which would see the city take ownership of the struggling Mobi Bike-share network, connect existing bike and walkways, and prioritize school routes and areas of the city that are “furthest behind.” “We hear from people of all ages feeling unsafe to walk or to take the bike,” said candidate Iona Bonamis. “I’ve knocked on doors talking to seniors about not being able to walk safely across the street.” Sitting OneCity councillor, Lucy Maloney, characterized it as a cost-effective strategy to build on the significant proportion of downtown residents who already use alternatives to car travel to get around – by making it more feasible to do so in other parts of the city. “It’s so important that we bring Mobi Bike into public ownership, we expand the network, and we make it connected with regional transport so that we can give people a choice,” she said. “(If we do,) we can give them an affordable way of getting around and connecting those ‘last mile’ trips with the existing transit to maximize the investment that we’ve made in our transit options.” With so many one-way streets, bike lane options, and congestion, leaving the car behind has become increasingly common in downtown Vancouver, but the city hasn’t committed to long-term pedestrianized sections except for one block of Robson Street between Hornby and Howe. Last year, the city experimented with pedestrianizing Water Street in Gastown on Sundays, and council did the same with Granville Street this summer – extending the road closure that’d been planned during the 2026 FIFA World Cup – but the results haven’t been positive enough to motivate a majority of council to make permanent changes. Several other communities organized their own “Car Free Day” this summer, from the north shore to Maple Ridge, with TransLink supporting efforts to promote the events and encourage festival-goers to get there with transit and take their time in the area.
