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In the outer regions of Metro Vancouver, the car is king, as necessary for daily living as milk and bread. But in Vancouver, the car’s considered kaput, disdained by planners and green-city types who see it as a nuisance.

Somewhere between the two visions lies the middle ground, where an integrated transportation system respecting all modes of transportation — buses, bikes, SkyTrain, vehicles and sidewalks — functions to the benefit of all, says University of B.C. transportation planner Clark Lim.

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But until attitudes toward the car come into harmony, motorists will be caught in the middle. Lim says it’s a bit like a rowing crew where one side pulls forward, the other backward and the shell ends up going nowhere or at least not as quickly as it should.

“Transportation planners are all rowing in Metro Vancouver, but we’re rowing in different directions. We have to look at transportation collectively, otherwise we’ll have chaos,” says Lim, an adjunct professor in transportation.