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

[vinnycox]

Originally Posted by madog222

The bridge doesn't really need bus lanes for the Rapidbus to be successful, just add a queue jump lane for the Hastings on (and off?) ramp.

There is a bus queue jump lane already on the North Shore South Bound onramp from phibbs exchange. On the Vancouver side NB East Hastings onramp will partially be solved with a full time bus only lane along hastings, but there isn't a proper queue jump. There is a queue jump from McGill onramp which would put a R2 stop at the Hastings and Renfrew by the PNE which may be worth the detour.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by vinnycox

There is a bus queue jump lane already on the North Shore South Bound onramp from phibbs exchange. On the Vancouver side NB East Hastings onramp will partially be solved with a full time bus only lane along hastings, but there isn't a proper queue jump. There is a queue jump from McGill onramp which would put a R2 stop at the Hastings and Renfrew by the PNE which may be worth the detour.

For westbound (fantasy mode) I was thinking of a turn up Boundary, left on Cambridge and some merge into the existing bus lane.

But I guess with an all day Hastings bus lane you could just add a third queue jump lane on the current Cassiar Connector section as a more practical option.

[Tvisforme]

Originally Posted by vinnycox

....On the Vancouver side NB East Hastings onramp will partially be solved with a full time bus only lane along hastings, but there isn't a proper queue jump. There is a queue jump from McGill onramp which would put a R2 stop at the Hastings and Renfrew by the PNE which may be worth the detour.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

For westbound (fantasy mode) I was thinking of a turn up Boundary, left on Cambridge and some merge into the existing bus lane.

But I guess with an all day Hastings bus lane you could just add a third queue jump lane on the current Cassiar Connector section as a more practical option.

Another possibility might involve a short elevated ramp from the Hastings onramp (near Oxford) connecting to the McGill onramp bus lane near Cambridge.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Another possibility might involve a short elevated ramp from the Hastings onramp (near Oxford) connecting to the McGill onramp bus lane near Cambridge.

That's what I envisioned, though if all these mumblings about a new crossing lead anywhere a project that scale would not be worth it.

[jollyburger]

NDP pledges rapid transit link as mayors push for cure to North Shore gridlock

Royal in West Vancouver to Metrotown in Burnaby.

North Vancouver-Lonsdale NDP candidate Bowinn Ma said the party would commit to construction on the BRT line in 2025, and begin working on plans to upgrade it to either light rail or SkyTrain in the long term.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10788519/...rapid-transit/

[idunno]

$500M commitment for the project - woo hoo!

(still need to figure out that $600M annual operating deficit tho)

[Metro-One]

Can we just skip the mid term BRT step that pisses away hundreds of millions of dollars and go straight into seriously planning the Skytrain? And yes, Skytrain, can we also skip the pointless step of “considering” LRT that only wastes more time and causes project costs to balloon even further?

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Can we just skip the mid term BRT step that pisses away hundreds of millions of dollars and go straight into seriously planning the Skytrain? And yes, Skytrain, can we also skip the pointless step of “considering” LRT that only wastes more time and causes project costs to balloon even further?

Agreed. Doesn't Translink have three huge issues? Lack of operating funds, lack of busses, lack of bus drivers. Expanding the R2 or doing whatever they'll do to make it BRT will exacerbate all three of those issues. Not so if it's an automated rail system.

Keep the R2 as it is, and run the train from Metrotown to Phibbs along with a new Second Narrows bridge. It's not too much to ask in an election cycle.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Can we just skip the mid term BRT step that pisses away hundreds of millions of dollars and go straight into seriously planning the Skytrain? And yes, Skytrain, can we also skip the pointless step of “considering” LRT that only wastes more time and causes project costs to balloon even further?

But BRT will just be a glorified RapidBus and ready in 2-3 years while Skytrain is easily 15-20 years out.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

But BRT will just be a glorified RapidBus and ready in 2-3 years while Skytrain is easily 15-20 years out.

For $300 million dollars...? (as I recall)

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by chowhou

For $300 million dollars...? (as I recall)

They promised $500 million funding

Though Ma seems to not envision a new bridge anytime soon

Ma, sticking to ministry projections, said the bridge has “a few decades” of life left.

https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-ele...to-north-shore

[Migrant_Coconut]

Even if an alignment and funding comes tomorrow, it'll be at least two years before it's shovel ready, and another few years before it opens. In the meantime, we could at least have bus lanes with curbs - that is, if Hastings businesses would stop being such dicks about it.

As for $500 million, that's a one-time cost for the most revenue-neutral part of the bus network. It's not like not spending it fixes the budget (currently bleeding $600m every year).

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Even if an alignment and funding comes tomorrow, it'll be at least two years before it's shovel ready, and another few years before it opens. In the meantime, we could at least have bus lanes with curbs - that is, if Hastings businesses would stop being such dicks about it.

As for $500 million, that's a one-time cost for the most revenue-neutral part of the bus network. It's not like not spending it fixes the budget (currently bleeding $600m every year).

She said Translink was ready to start construction next year and it would take two years to build.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Clarification: SkyTrain is going to take decades. We can have BRT within this election cycle.

[BaddieB]

It would have been better if they announced they'd work on BRT now and stress that they would begin to work on a new bridge in the mean time.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Can we just skip the mid term BRT step that pisses away hundreds of millions of dollars and go straight into seriously planning the Skytrain? And yes, Skytrain, can we also skip the pointless step of “considering” LRT that only wastes more time and causes project costs to balloon even further?

Mmmhmmm.

#facts

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by scryer

Mmmhmmm.

#facts

A 1.4km water main under Stanley Park costs $495 million. They've done zero engineering/geotechnical/funding work for the line (ie. that will easily take 5 years) BRT is just a bunch of paving and traffic light installation unless they plan some massive new ramps near the Second Narrows.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

As for $500 million, that's a one-time cost for the most revenue-neutral part of the bus network. It's not like not spending it fixes the budget (currently bleeding $600m every year).

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.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

A 1.4km water main under Stanley Park costs $495 million. They've done zero engineering/geotechnical/funding work for the line (ie. that will easily take 5 years) BRT is just a bunch of paving and traffic light installation unless they plan some massive new ramps near the Second Narrows.

Hopefully large shelters and associated infrastructure at the stations, that will take up a lot of the budget.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

A 1.4km water main under Stanley Park costs $495 million. They've done zero engineering/geotechnical/funding work for the line (ie. that will easily take 5 years) BRT is just a bunch of paving and traffic light installation unless they plan some massive new ramps near the Second Narrows.

BRT is still millions of dollars to piss away for paving when it's just gonna be Skytrain anyways.

IF/when BRT is built, there's also about 15+ years of operating and maintenance costs to consider as well. If we're gonna spend that kind of money, I'd rather get the engineering/geotechnical work done for infrastructure that's actually going to solve the problem, not place a bandaid over it.