Yea, left stick forward to pump seems to be working fine. It just seems like a bad option. Now you have to squat with the left stick to pump, but also squat with the right stick to do tricks? If right stick pumping worked, you could just use a single stick. Also pushing forward at the edge of the bowl/half pipe is how you pop out of the bowl. So now you have to worry about doing that on accident.
Not to mention, if you want to ollie at the top of the bowl, you have to crouch with the right stick, which overrides whatever you're doing with the left stick, so the timing is really tight. You have to press the left stick up, then release, then press the right stick down, then flick, all before you reach the coping.