Gregor Robertson rolled out his mayoral platform on Monday. (Vision Vancouver)

A Vancouver mayoral candidate wants to revive a plan to add bike lanes to the Burrard Bridge.

If elected in the Nov. 15 civic election, Vision Vancouver candidate Gregor Robertson says, he'll take one lane of car traffic from the bridge connecting downtown Vancouver with Kitsilano and divide it into two bike lanes.

The promise was one of several the former NDP MLA, devoted bicycle commuter and fruit juice entrepreneur made on Monday when he unveiled his platform.

Other promises included eliminating homelessness by 2015, building more affordable housing, improving street safety, making Vancouver the greenest city in the world, and fostering creative business innovation.

Divisive proposal

Robertson's proposal to add a bike lane to the Burrard Bridge revived a divisive proposal that left many drivers seeing red when it was proposed a few years ago.

The original proposal to devote two of the six lanes on the busy bridge was dropped by the current NPA-dominated city council when Sam Sullivan was elected mayor in 2005.

Robertson's new vision would turn one lane over to cyclists, while using traffic controls to keep three of the remaining five lanes for traffic flowing in the direction of rush hour.

But the director of the Vancouver-area Cycling Coalition isn't at all happy with the proposal. Jack Becker wants two lanes devoted to bikes, not just one.

"They're taking — let's call it the easy way out," Becker said.

Once the new Canada Line light rapid transit operation opens next year, having two bikes lanes wouldn't be as disruptive as people think because many drivers will start taking transit instead, Becker said.