Posted Jun 16, 2009, 11:52 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 40,106
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not surprised to hear of this
Quote:
Chartered bus considered
Want an alternative to Translink? Why not charter your own bus?
That's what South Surrey resident Debby Gill – a regular commuter on the current 351 service to Vancouver – is pondering.
In light of the impending cancellation of the one-seat ride to Vancouver in favour of a bus connecting with SkyTrain's Canada Line in Richmond, she wonders whether there are others in the community who would be willing to club together and charter a bus on a regular basis.
And she's trying to arrange for Sheldon Eggen, president and CEO of Charter Bus Lines of B.C., to come to the Peninsula with one of his buses to explain to the public what his service can offer commuters.
"Since (Translink) is not going to listen to the customers, I thought maybe we could charter a bus and have a more decent service to get to work," Gill said.
She added she organized an online petition to oppose the removal of the current 351, 352 and 354 bus routes before Translink announced last month that it would not be pursuing any other service options for the Peninsula.
In only four days, and with very little fanfare, she gathered hundreds of names, she said.
Gill said she has only been riding the bus for a year, but her decision to sell her car and take a more green route to Vancouver was predicated on the fact the 351 stopped in front of her home and in front of her office at Dunsmuir and Burrard in Vancouver.
"There's a lot of negative feedback about Translink's changes of route," she said.
"Translink says it's something they are doing because of their current financial situation; that there is only a 24 per cent return on outlay for the 351 route, while other routes return 59 per cent.
"But that bus is jam-packed in the morning and in the evening, constantly."
Eggen, whose company runs regular Vancouver airport and tourist bus services, says he also has questions about how Translink compiles ridership statistics and the decision to scrap any vestige of the 351, 352 and 354 routes.
"Looking at this as an outsider, it seems to have nothing to do with the environment and nothing to do with the economy," he said.
"It has everything to do with some other agenda that's going on."
Eggen said current licensing rules prevent independent bus lines from operating in direct competition with Translink by charging independent fares, but that wouldn't stop a group of commuters hiring a bus to take them to and from Vancouver every day.
He also wonders why, unlike major cities like L.A, and New York, private charter bus companies couldn't be used to augment the existing transit system, just as his company used to run a commuter service from Tsawwassen to Vancouver 30 years ago.
"I have buses going from Delta into Vancouver to pick up tourists every single day, empty. I don't know why I couldn't take some people downtown. There's something like 30 independent bus companies in the Vancouver area – most not as big as our company – who could do some portion of a service like this."
But charter buses are expensive, and Eggen says frankly that he's not pretending that an independent line such as his can compete with Translink on a cost-per-ride basis, particularly for lower income commuters.
"Translink is very heavily subsidized. We pay fuel taxes just like everybody else, which means we're also subsidizing Translink."
But Eggen said his line can provide an entirely different and more luxurious level of service, ranging from fairly basic charter buses all the way up to deluxe coaches with leg room, reclining seats and full internet facilities.
"It would be like travelling business class to Vancouver," Eggen said.
Even so, based on a full bus in a worst-case, peak-season scenario, he said, the cost per individual commuter would be $15. In everyday operation, he said, that could probably be brought down to $10-12 per rider, he added.
If that seems steep, Eggen said, it compares favourably for what a business commuter in a private car would pay per month in fuel and parking fees.
"This might be something that would make a guy think twice about driving his BMW to work and paying $300 a month for a parking space."
Eggen agreed that a private bus service could not make as many stops in as many locations as public transit. But advantages would be a coach service that would wait a few minutes for subscribers, and on which to would be possible to reserve a seat – or two seats, for even less crowding – and get to Vancouver much faster than in a car or regular buses.
Eggen said that he can't initiate a service, and that it would need someone in the community to champion it and help organize it. But he would be very willing to work with Peninsula commuters to make it viable, he said.
"We could even give them smaller buses at first to reach the price point they need," he said.
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http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/peacearchnews/news/48190722.html
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