Metro Vancouverites Ponder Best Way to Enjoy Granville Island

While 44% would turn the venue into a pedestrian zone, 61% say they would visit more often if parking were easier.

Vancouver, BC [January 8, 2019] – Granville Island remains a popular destination for Metro Vancouverites, but there is no clear consensus on whether personal vehicles should be allowed inside the venue, a new Research Co. poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative sample of Metro Vancouverites, 22% say they have gone to Granville Island six times or more over the past two years, while 42% have visited two to five times.

Among those who have visited the venue, 29% say their main reason was to go shopping at the Public Market, while 25% went sightseeing. Other reasons cited by visitors to Granville Island are going for a meal ort snack (17%), going to an Arts and Culture performance (16%) or shopping at a store that is not located inside the Public Market (5%).

Respondents were provided with three statements about the future of Granville Island. Metro Vancouverites are almost evenly split on whether the venue should be turned into a pedestrian zone where no personal vehicles would be allowed (44% agree with this idea, and 47% disagree).

Three-in-five Metro Vancouverites (61%) say they would visit Granville Island more often if it were easier to find a parking spot, and a majority (58%) disagrees with making all parking spaces at the venue paid.

“Residents of the City of Vancouver are decidedly more likely to support the notion of a car-free Granville Island,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “But more than three-in-five of those who live in Surrey and other Metro Vancouver municipalities say they would actually make the trip to Granville Island more often if it were easier to find a place to park their vehicles.”

Methodology:

Results are based on an online study conducted from November 24 to November 25, 2018, among 700 adults in Metro Vancouver. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Metro Vancouver. The margin of error— which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.7 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.

Find our full data set here and download the press release here. 

For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca