Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I commuter cycled downtown to Richmond for a number of years, all seasons. I started using Cambie south of about 16th, not really knowing any better.

Once I "discovered" Ontario, it was no contest how much nicer it was. Better views, quiet, better air quality, safer, etc.

I strongly feel the city should actually remove the Cambie painted lanes and direct people to Ontario, and improve the facilities along Ontario where possible.

Thanks, that's what I would think.
Key factor of course is having push buttons at major arterials, which I think Ontario and Heather do have (?).
I tend to think that people have a destination in mind when travelling (whether by bike or car or walking).
You take a safe and convenient route to the destination and then park the bike or car.
You're not window shopping from your car or bike (or shouldn't be).
In the case of driving, the most direct route isn't necessarily the fastest (ie 6th/2nd/GNW instead of Broadway)
Likewise for biking, the most direct route may not be preferrable for risk or enjoyment.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Thanks, that's what I would think.
Key factor of course is having push buttons at major arterials, which I think Ontario and Heather do have (?).
I tend to think that people have a destination in mind when travelling (whether by bike or car or walking).
You take a safe and convenient route to the destination and then park the bike or car.
You're not window shopping from your car or bike (or shouldn't be).
In the case of driving, the most direct route isn't necessarily the fastest (ie 6th/2nd/GNW instead of Broadway)
Likewise for biking, the most direct route may not be preferrable for risk or enjoyment.

Yes they definitely have push buttons for all major crossings. I didn't witness much rat-running along Ontario south of Broadway, but between 2nd and Broadway, I see more of it, which needs to be reduced somehow. Blocking N-S access for cars at 1 intersection would probably do the trick.

I'd definitely move a block or two over for peace of mind and a relaxing ride.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Yes they definitely have push buttons for all major crossings. I didn't witness much rat-running along Ontario south of Broadway, but between 2nd and Broadway, I see more of it, which needs to be reduced somehow. Blocking N-S access for cars at 1 intersection would probably do the trick.

I'd definitely move a block or two over for peace of mind and a relaxing ride.

If I recall that's a part of the Mount Pleasant Industrial area transportation plan. Major separated infrastructure as they already did at 2nd ave intersection. That neighbourhood is very busy with limited visibility and lots of cyclists at rush hour.

[officedweller]

Yeah, probably more traffic generally north of Broadway because of the industrial and office uses in the area.

[Aroundtheworld]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I commuter cycled downtown to Richmond for a number of years, all seasons. I started using Cambie south of about 16th, not really knowing any better.

Once I "discovered" Ontario, it was no contest how much nicer it was. Better views, quiet, better air quality, safer, etc.

I strongly feel the city should actually remove the Cambie painted lanes and direct people to Ontario, and improve the facilities along Ontario where possible.

I think Vancouver has a decent network for long-distance commuting and for longer trips I would use bike boulevards like Ontario as well.

However, having protected bikelanes serves on arterials serves a different kind of trip: the shopping or commercial activity trip that accounts for around 70-80% of all trips. For an effective network, we need both kinds of bike infrastructure and there are many cities in the world where they have both.

[Migrant_Coconut]

So long as we don't need to give up the whole lane - two and a half feet and an outer curb should be enough for Broadway or Commercial. Rest can be trees, benches, patios, bus bulbs, whatever.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Aroundtheworld

I think Vancouver has a decent network for long-distance commuting and for longer trips I would use bike boulevards like Ontario as well.

However, having protected bikelanes serves on arterials serves a different kind of trip: the shopping or commercial activity trip that accounts for around 70-80% of all trips. For an effective network, we need both kinds of bike infrastructure and there are many cities in the world where they have both.

I might agree with you more if we had a highway system through the city, but we don't. Broadway and Commercial are some of the only major routes cars have to get places.

That said, I'd rather see arterial parking removed first. Maybe we can squeeze in a bike lane and some left turn lanes instead of a parking lane.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

So long as we don't need to give up the whole lane - two and a half feet and an outer curb should be enough for Broadway or Commercial. Rest can be trees, benches, patios, bus bulbs, whatever.

It's going to be interesting to see how the new layout on Nanaimo Street between 1st Avenue and Hastings works out. They reduced the street from four through lanes to two (one in each direction) and added painted bike lanes, a two-way left turn lane, and designated right turning bays. That means that, although traffic will have fewer through lanes, there won't be any more need to stop behind left- or right-turning vehicles. I have a feeling that it's going to work out pretty well.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

It's going to be interesting to see how the new layout on Nanaimo Street between 1st Avenue and Hastings works out. They reduced the street from four through lanes to two (one in each direction) and added painted bike lanes, a two-way left turn lane, and designated right turning bays. That means that, although traffic will have fewer through lanes, there won't be any more need to stop behind left- or right-turning vehicles. I have a feeling that it's going to work out pretty well.

I didn't know this but I like it a lot!

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

It's going to be interesting to see how the new layout on Nanaimo Street between 1st Avenue and Hastings works out. They reduced the street from four through lanes to two (one in each direction) and added painted bike lanes, a two-way left turn lane, and designated right turning bays. That means that, although traffic will have fewer through lanes, there won't be any more need to stop behind left- or right-turning vehicles. I have a feeling that it's going to work out pretty well.

I'd agree... except that the #7 uses that stretch as well. Two lanes only kinda sorta works as long as Nanaimo stays undeveloped (therefore light on passengers and local drivers) - otherwise it'll be like the whole 104th streetcar thing and we're better off shifting the bikes to Garden.

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I might agree with you more if we had a highway system through the city, but we don't. Broadway and Commercial are some of the only major routes cars have to get places.

Don't forget the buses. People tend to forget that just because the 99's going away doesn't mean all the trolleys are too.

[scottN]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I might agree with you more if we had a highway system through the city, but we don't. Broadway and Commercial are some of the only major routes cars have to get places.

That said, I'd rather see arterial parking removed first. Maybe we can squeeze in a bike lane and some left turn lanes instead of a parking lane.

Central Broadway and Commercial are very different streets in terms of the volume of traffic and the character of the businesses. There is a lot more underground parking on broadway, and a lot more traffic generally. I think these two street demand different solutions. Removing street parking might be preferred on broadway, but for commercial drive removing a through lane in each direction makes more sense.

Both Broadway and commercial have parallel arterial streets in 12 avenue and Victoria Drive. The northern portion of Victoria Drive (from 20th to Powell) is constrained by intersection capacity, particularly at 1st avenue. A better signal here with left turn lanes would make this a much more viable alternative to commercial drive that could make up for some of the lost capacity.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

It's going to be interesting to see how the new layout on Nanaimo Street between 1st Avenue and Hastings works out. They reduced the street from four through lanes to two (one in each direction) and added painted bike lanes, a two-way left turn lane, and designated right turning bays. That means that, although traffic will have fewer through lanes, there won't be any more need to stop behind left- or right-turning vehicles. I have a feeling that it's going to work out pretty well.

That may be in response to the use of Nanaimo St by trucks bound for the Port a few years back.

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Reecemartin

Seems you have a pretty car centric view of mobility, we should be working to grow cycling (its better than even EV road traffic obviously) and truth be told sometimes just like drivers cyclists have destinations on or may want to travel along arterials. They should be able to do so safely and with good separation.

I commuted by bicycle for almost a decade. Routes should be prioritized for different modes. I get equally frustrated driving behind a slow cyclist up Main St. during rush hour as I do by people rat running Ontario when I'm biking on it.

We should work to encourage cycling, but it's far from the solution for everybody.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Reminder: this is the transit thread. Less car space = less bus space.

[ilikeredheads]

you don't encourage cycling by reducing road space, especially on main arteries that are used by commercial traffic. Trucks won't magically turn into bikes. It only makes congestion worse because trucks still need the road space.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

you don't encourage cycling by reducing road space, especially on main arteries that are used by commercial traffic. Trucks won't magically turn into bikes. It only makes congestion worse because trucks still need the road space.

It's not trucks taking most of the road space, it's single occupancy vehicles.

It's been well established that when you create bike lanes, you create cyclists. Those cyclists are coming from somewhere, some of them from buses and some from cars.

[cganuelas1995]

I'm not sure if I asked this before, but what is that mechanical thing in the windshield of busses with the numbers? What do those numbers mean?

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

I'm not sure if I asked this before, but what is that mechanical thing in the windshield of busses with the numbers? What do those numbers mean?

I think you're talking about what I refer to as the "run" number.

The route number describes where the bus goes.

The bus number keeps track of the equipment so you know when to change the oil, etc.

The run number identifies a particular instance of a bus on a route. For example, there may be 6 different buses on the 100 route at any given time, each one has a unique run number.

[SpongeG]

there was a video posted on facebook about the westcoast express and some of the comments are strange, the amount of people who never knew that the service existed for instance. How can people live in a city or place and not know what it has to offer or what is there? or that Mission was close to Maple Ridge.

Also in another story about the Surrey extension some women commented that Maple Ridge needs Skytrain first, someone pointed out that Maple Ridge only had 90,000 people compared to Surrey with 500,000+ people, she thought Surrey and Maple Ridge were the same population size.