Further to yesterday's post

RideTheCity.com is a site/app that lets you plan routes around a city based on cycling data. You plug in your start and your destination and it suggests a "safer," "safe," and "direct" route. (The "direct" route comes with a warning that there has been no effort made to steer you toward safer streets and you should be careful.)

This is the direct route from Alta Vista and Bank to 200 Kent downtown (picked because it's a government office with hundreds of employees). It's a straight shot down Bank, about 5.8 km, takes about 22-29 minutes according to the site.

This, however, is the "safer" route.
It's 16.5 km, and takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and 20 minutes. You'll also note it never actually takes Bank Street at any point. (It's also pretty much unusable in winter.)

Yyyyyeah.