Street furniture in Vancouver

New street furniture added to Vancouver's sidewalks over the past few years and continuing in 2009, is helping keep our city tidier, making the City more attractive, and providing added convenience for citizens.

A new item currently being added to the furniture range is a newsrack that holds up to six different publications and a newspaper recycling box - over a hundred of these units will be installed by the end of 2009.

In addition, three more public toilets will be placed at various locations around the Downtown area to complement the five units already installed at Main & Terminal, Richards & Davie, Nelson & Granville, Powell & Main, and Robson at Richards. These toilets are automatically cleaned and sanitized after each use, and are free for public use

» Automated public toilet locations ( PDF, 144kb).

Additional benches, litter containers and bike racks will be placed over the next several years, as well as a network of wayfinding signs. Some business areas of the City have selected specialty designs and colours to provide a more distinctive look to their area.

The new street furniture program operates under a long-term contract between the City and CBS/JCDecaux, a partnership of two international companies with experience in providing street furniture in numerous cities around the world. The contract gives CBS/JCDecaux the rights to transit shelter advertising in exchange for installing and maintaining a variety of street furniture elements including bus shelters, benches, litter containers, bike racks, automated public toilets, and direction signs. The City also receives a percentage of the advertising revenues, along with fresher, coordinated, more effective street furniture