Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit - Park Royal-Metrotown via 2nd Narrows | BRT/RRT?

[chowhou]

All just election promises, but there's a tiny mention of BIRT on the BC NDP platform they released today:

https://www.bcndp.ca/actionplan#pillar6

Providing more affordable transit options in Metro Vancouver
Completing the Surrey to Langley SkyTrain | Finishing the Broadway Subway | Three new Bus Rapid Transit corridors: Park Royal to Metrotown; Surrey Centre to White Rock; Maple Ridge to Langley | Moving towards SkyTrain or light rail to the North Shore.

Seems like they're confident the North Shore will have some form of steel wheel transit in the coming future.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Who ever said that BRT/RapidBus was the most revenue-neutral part of the bus network? I have extreme doubts that the R2 which is arguably the most suburban RapidBus (The only one to not connect to a Skytrain station) is anywhere near revenue neutral at the moment.

The last time TransLink bothered to run the cost per passenger was six years ago. The 99 and 96 were in 1st and 2nd place ($0.80 and $1.05/boarding); none of the others came close. Granted, many of their riders were likely on U-Passes.

Indeed: the R2's handicapped by being isolated from the rest of the rapid transit network (SeaBus doesn't really count). Once its replacement goes to Brentwood and Metrotown stations, things may change.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The last time TransLink bothered to run the cost per passenger was six years ago. The 99 and 96 were in 1st and 2nd place ($0.80 and $1.05/boarding); none of the others came close. Granted, many of their riders were likely on U-Passes.

Indeed: the R2's handicapped by being isolated from the rest of the rapid transit network (SeaBus doesn't really count). Once its replacement goes to Brentwood and Metrotown stations, things may change.

The R2 replaced the 239 which in 2018 numbers was sitting at $2.20 per rider. At least the 130 at the time (which the R2 is set to also replace I guess) was running at $1.71 per rider. And unfortunately, higher frequency and bigger busses means higher operating costs. Unless you think that the ridership gains from service increases outweigh the higher operating costs, doesn't sound very revenue neutral.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The R2 replaced the 239 which in 2018 numbers was sitting at $2.20 per rider. At least the 130 at the time (which the R2 is set to also replace I guess) was running at $1.71 per rider. And unfortunately, higher frequency and bigger busses means higher operating costs. Unless you think that the ridership gains from service increases outweigh the higher operating costs, doesn't sound very revenue neutral.

Again, that's mostly due to the North Shore's virtual isolation. All the other B-Lines/RapidBuses benefit from the network effect except for the R2, and so its demand is artificially low.

Never said it was cheap, I said it was revenue neutral - high cost, high income. The only other lines that cost less than a dollar per boarding are the SkyTrains, and those actually turn a profit.