Bus lane paves way for shoppers
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thousands more people will travel into Richmond next year, courtesy of a new rapid bus link from South Surrey and White Rock.
Transportation minister Kevin Falcon and Richmond East MLA Linda Reid broke ground last week on Highway 99 where a dedicated bus lane will be built to facilitate the new route.
Instead of running directly into downtown Vancouver, the new route, serviced by RapidBus BC, will ferry in commuters to the Bridgeport Canada Line station when it opens late 2009.
It's anticipated that many people will then use the Canada Line to continue their journey into Vancouver.
But the kicker for Richmond could come from White Rock and South Surrey people choosing the city as a shopping destination, as opposed to heading to Vancouver.
Both of Richmond's shopping attractions, Lansdowne Centre and Richmond Centre, will have Canada Line stations on their doorsteps.
When constructed, the new 2.8-kilometre bus lane will link Westminster Highway and Bridgeport Road.
"Transportation infrastructure projects like this bus-only lane will give commuters more reasons to take transit," Reid said.
"With this new bus lane, and the Canada Line's estimated 100,000 riders daily, improved transit connections to and through Richmond will provide tremendous benefits to our local economy."
Jacob Bros. Construction Ltd. of Surrey was awarded the $4.7-million contract to build the four-metre-wide shoulder bus lane, which will be complete in summer 2009.
Falcon is adamant the introduction of the new bus lane and rapid transit route will encourage more drivers to use transit.
"This dedicated bus lane will move transit riders past rush-hour congestion on one of the busiest stretches of Highway 99 northbound," he said. "When we provide transit options like this that are quicker and more convenient than the single-occupant vehicle, we'll get people out of their cars and reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
The shoulder of Highway 99 northbound from Westminster to Bridgeport will be widened to create the bus-only lane. Warning signals at on-ramps along the route will be automatically activated to give priority to buses.
The lane will be used by current northbound transit service, and will also be used by RapidBus, once in operation, to carry commuters to the Canada Line's Bridgeport Station. "The new bus lane will offer superior travel time reliability for south of Fraser commuters connecting to the Canada Line and we appreciate the province's initiative to move quickly on this project," said Tom Prendergast, CEO of TransLink.
"There's no doubt that motorists will notice how well the bus-only lanes help our highway coaches avoid the heavy traffic line-ups and we expect this is going to entice quite a few more Vancouver-bound commuters onto transit."
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http://www.canada.com/richmondnews/news/story.html?id=230319dc-8376-4897-8ff8-b99282a54615
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Maybe there's only so many spaces on campus. Look, a commute from the valley into the city is not that unusual.
Now that we will have 2 (technically 3) north-south lines intersecting Broadway and nothing connecting them other than buses, it's a bit silly not to have rapid transit from at least Commercial to Cambie.
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