New Travel Survey Reveals How People Get to Downtown Langley

Downtown Langley is the civic, cultural, and commercial hub of our community. Because of its important roles, it is critical that safe, comfortable, and easy access be provided to everyone, no matter their mode of travel or where they start their journey.

A successful downtown is a multi-modal downtown where walking, cycling, taking transit, and driving are all viable options for access.

In order to plan for the future, it is critical to know what is happening today. During the summer of 2016, a travel survey of who accesses Downtown Langley, and how, was completed with the help of local merchants. The extensive survey found that 62% of trips to Downtown Langley were from outside of Langley City and close vicinity, while 38% of trips were local.

How local Langley City residents get downtown. Select graph to enlarge.

Of the regional trips, the majority of trips (84%) to Downtown Langley were by driving. For local trips, around 50% of trips to Downtown were on foot.

How people from the rest of the region get downtown. Select graph to enlarge.

Looking at the results of the survey, it is important that parking in the Downtown is managed to ensure that people visiting have convenient access to parking facilities. Walking is a significant mode of travel for locals who visited Downtown Langley. It is important that sidewalks and the public realm within Downtown Langley be inviting and safe, and that walking from other areas within the City of Langley to Downtown be safe and inviting as well.

Cycling and taking transit to Downtown were not significant modes of travel. Langley City has only just recently started to invest in cycling infrastructure. TransLink is planning to increase transit service to Downtown Langley by introducing a new B-Line route in the near future. As investments are made in these modes of travel, results from other communities show that the amount of people using them will increase.

This survey would not have been possible without the support of Downtown Langley Merchants.

The full results of the travel survey, “Going to town”, can be downloaded from the document archive.