Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by punface

Jarrett Walker of HumanTransit.org's most recent blog post states he is going to be working for Translink for the next six months:

From his blog (http://www.humantransit.org/2011/03/next-move.html):

Excellent news! Maybe he'll get Translink to address "the gap" between Commercial and City Hall, explaining to them the chaos that will ensue at Commercial/Broadway upon the completion of the Evergreen line.

[TransitJack]

Originally Posted by mrjauk

Excellent news! Maybe he'll get Translink to address "the gap" between Commercial and City Hall, explaining to them the chaos that will ensue at Commercial/Broadway upon the completion of the Evergreen line.

He's coming over to work under contract for Translink, not bring them 100's of millions of dollars for Skytrain expansion.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

it could run along something else but until the m line is extended they need to do something

It's not so much running it along another road, it's about the capacity of the streets around Broadway station. At peak times you have lines for the 99, 9 and 20. The curbs around Commercial Drive can't handle any more parked buses. If it were possible to add more bus pickups at Commercial Drive, then they would add more 99B lines. If it were possible, why wouldn't you? A Cambie shuttle sounds good, but the B line does that, and is at capacity, and capacity is needed PAST Cambie as well. So if you could add more pickups at Commercial, why not just have more B lines?

Besides, if you need to make the connection from Expo to Canada Line you may as well just make the transfer at Granville/VCC. You only lose about 10 minutes in the worst case, and to me, a potential 10 minutes doesn't justify taking the B line.

And I just checked with the trip planner right now, making the transfer downtown would cost you 2 extra minutes vs the B line for getting to City Hall from Metrotown.

The other option it to increase the 84 service, or add a bus between Main Street Station and Olympic Village Station. I think they should just add a new bus route that does what the proposed Downtown Streetcar would do and use it to gauge support for the potential streetcar.

[logan5]

How about double articulated buses?

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by TransitJack

He's coming over to work under contract for Translink, not bring them 100's of millions of dollars for Skytrain expansion.

Though that would be a pretty sure fire way to get hired as a consultant.

As for staging more 99 B-Lines, they could do what they did during the recent construction of the concrete pad at the 99 stop. For a few weeks the east bound 99s had their route changed so that the B-Lines would turn north at Clarke Drive and then run along Grandview "Highway" to Commercial Drive. There is already some plaza space on Grandview the west side of Commercial for another couple of B-Line buses and if the tiny grass median were filled in with cement pavers or poured concrete then the drop off and layover space could go on and on.


Google streetview

[nname]

Official list of April service changes:
http://www.translink.ca/en/Schedules-and-Maps/Transit-Service-Changes.aspx

403 Bridgeport Stn/Three Road
Permanent

Morning 403 trips converted to 480 UBC trips at Bridgeport Stn.
Evening 480 trips converted to 403 trips at Bridgeport Stn.

At least this would make some people happy..

[SpongeG]

the bus stops can be close enough but they don't have to be at the station itself if capacity or space is an issue

just hearing from friends and others busses along that stretch make them use their cars if they are lucky enough to have one

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

it could run along something else but until the m line is extended they need to do something

They already have the 84 running between VCC-Clark Stn and Olympic Stn.

I have been thinking for a while there could be a new B-Line to UBC starting at VCC-Clark with stops only at major cross-streets (Main, Cambie, Granville, Burrard, &tc) so it acts like an express route along 4th Ave, leaving the 84 and other 'regular' routes to deliver people to the express stops or SkyTrain stations, or allow people to travel between the local stops without using the express bus.

[SFUVancouver]

^ That's basically what the 84 was intended to be; a parallel B-Line that would carry the Millennium Line folks west and leaving the 99 for Expo/Millennium Line folks. Trouble is Translink didn't have the resources, both financial and vehicular, to launch the 84 as a proper B-Line service. Instead it is a pseudo B-Line, much like the 43, though I cannot speak to that route from personal experience so I don't know if the analogy is apt.

[DKaz]

When I worked at Brentwood and had a job site in UBC, the 84 was my route of choice. Very fast, consistently took half an hour while the 99 would take up to 45 minutes midday and more during rush hour.

[DKaz]

J***s f**k this city needs a transit etiquette class or something. Crowding the middle of the bus. Wearing backpacks.

[SpikePhanta]

North America needs an etiquette class....

The lack of respect for other people is absolutely disgusting, especially on public transport, at the cinema ect. (in public)

[Metro-One]

Not to mention public and private property, the amount of graffiti, gum stains and garbage found throughout our metro recently is disgusting. Everyday I walk to and from production station and the amount of garbage along side the road is offensive. Then it seems everyday in the area there is a new graffiti tag on the lamps posts, or on the walls of businesses, or etched into the windows on the bus, or on Production station itself, etc

(my biggest pet peeve is the huge amount of Graffiti on the backs of businesses seen from Commercial Station to Rupert station on the Millennium Line. Not to mention the vast amount of garbage in the rail cut from Commercial to Nanaimo street. I really, really hate it when I see graffiti sprayed on trees our people's cube vans, absolutely no respect at all. Currently if you are transferring from Commercial to Broadway you can see tons of Graffiti on the Expo Line in the joints between the west bound and eastbound tracks as they fly overhead of the pedestrian walkway. I wish Translink would clean such graffiti within days instead of allowing it to sit for months.).

[LotusLand]

Originally Posted by DKaz

J***s f**k this city needs a transit etiquette class or something. Crowding the middle of the bus. Wearing backpacks.

Vancity Buzz did a great job on Transit Etiquette:
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2010/10/vancity-buzz-guide-to-simple-bus-and-train-etiquette/

They also have one on Umbrella etiquette but i'm too lazy to search it right now

[SpongeG]

how about that shooting at royal oak?

[SpikePhanta]

South Burnaby = sketchy, but much better compared to the past.

[Alex Mackinnon]

I wouldn't say that. There's definitely quite a few gangs and grow ops, but I lived around there for 18 years and I wouldn't say it was sketchy, nor would I say it has it really changed all that much.

I've pretty much just come to expect that gangs and organized drug crime are prevalent in most parts of the city, and don't really use it to judge one area over another.

[tybuilding]

Here is a good film on congestion pricing.

Could it be done here? Downtown Vancouver? London's congestion pricing goes directly to transportation projects.

http://www.streetfilms.org/mba-congestion-pricing/

[adrianroam95]

Sorry for interrupting guys, but I've a question about the fare that I've to pay on translink. If I were to go on the 97 B line from the Clarke Rd. McDonalds down to Lougheed Town Centre , would it be a 1 zone ticket or a 2 zone ticket? And if the Lougheed Town Centre bus loop/SkyTrain station is part of the Burnaby fare zone, would every bus route coming into the loop from Coquitlam charge riders fare for 2 zones?

531 Clarke Rd is just short of the Burnaby/Coquitlam zone boundary, it'd be absurd to have to pay $3.75 for such a short trip.
This is another reason that TransLink needs to rethink the way they charge riders instead of using this outdated zone system. -.-

[GeeCee]

According to the Trip Planner, it's only a single zone. Lougheed Town Centre's stops are considered both zone 2 and 3, I believe.