It’s not clear where the B-Line bus will stop nor when the B-Line debate might halt.
West Vancouver council is set to address the issue March 4, after Coun. Peter Lambur called for staff to investigate Park Royal as the terminus for what was originally slated to be the Phibbs Exchange to Dundarave bus route.
Lambur’s motion, which includes reviewing a plan to scrap bus priority lanes through Ambleside, prompted a testy exchange with council colleagues Monday evening, with Coun. Nora Gambioli noting Lambur didn’t consult staff or anyone else on council.
The notion of using Park Royal as a terminus “is a moot point because that’s already going to happen,” Gambioli added.
Lambur repeatedly refused to answer questions from Gambioli and Coun. Craig Cameron, explaining he would field all queries March 4.
“Your editorial comments are not germane to the subject matter,” Lambur told Gambioli.
“Have you already made up your mind?” Gambioli asked.
“I’ll address your concerns on March 4,” Lambur said.
“I think that’s a ‘Yes,’” Gambioli replied.
As Mayor Mary-Ann Booth urged respect and Lambur charged he was undergoing a “bit of a lawyerly interrogation,” Cameron also persisted with a series of questions on whether Lambur’s motion ruled out a bus terminus in Dundarave and priority bus lanes in Ambleside.
“These are simple questions and I think the public is entitled to answers,” Cameron said.
After devoting 500 hours to keeping bus priority lanes out of Ambleside, Nigel Malkin said he’s hopeful March 4 will mark “the end of this thing.”
Malkin led hundreds of likeminded residents on a march through Ambleside Saturday, many of whom carried signs reading: Why Are You Throwing Us Under the Bus Mayor Booth?
“Sometimes it’s good to miss the bus,” Booth told the crowd. “And we’ve heard loud and clear that this is the wrong bus.”
Speaking after the rally, Booth expressed regret for those comments, explaining she hadn’t made a decision and was searching for a compromise.
“As soon as I left the rally I said, ‘You know what? That wasn’t necessarily a good thing to say.’”
Holding signs reading Let It B-Line, approximately 40 transit advocates also walked through Ambleside chanting: “Leave your cars behind! We are, we are, we are, supporters of B-Line!”
Besides their competing rallies, the opposing groups also launched rival crowdfunding campaigns recently. Buttressed by donations from former councillor Christine Cassidy, Stop the Road Closures raised $3,080 at press time. A campaign supporting the B-Line plan raised $510, including a donation from North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma.
The vast majority of the approximately 700 attendees at a B-Line consultation meeting Thursday voiced opposition to the B-Line, with physiotherapist Kerry Maxwell blasting a Dundarave terminus. “To imagine a double articulated bus cruising around and doing U-turns through that neighbourhood is the most insane thing that you can ever possibly imagine,” she said.
There’s overcrowding on a number of buses for at least three hours each day, according to TransLink vice-president of planning Geoff Cross.
“We hear that a lot: ‘Why do we need more buses? Aren’t we well served?’ If that was the case it’d be great because there’s 21 other municipalities asking for more service,” he said, before being interrupted by derisive applause.
Resident Alan Bardsley noted previous plans to introduce a bus priority lane on Marine Drive were scuttled to protect customer parking.
“I already avoid Marine Drive because it doesn’t work. It’s congested with cars turning left blocking one lane and cars turning right blocking the other,” Bardsley said.
The Phibbs Exchange to Dundarave plan would give buses priority on Marine Drive, allowing drivers to use outside lanes only to parallel park or turn right. The plan would introduce left-turn bays and new bus stops at a cost of approximately 25 parking spots.
Cross was unable to answer a question about the value of those parking spots.
That plan will turn Marine Drive into Granville Street, warned businessman Chuck Walker.
“If you’re going to shut the traffic down here you’re going to kill the retail business,” he said. “Everybody’s going to be sleeping in the hallways, shooting drugs.”
Speaking Monday, B-Line advocate Peter Scholefield was critical of Lambur’s motion, asking how staff could sum up hundreds of survey responses, consult with TransLink, and prepare a report by Monday.
Scholefield also noted that the Capilano Students’ Union is slated to show support for the B-Line by staging what they’ve dubbed The Aggravating Race on Wednesday. The event is set to feature three students racing from Capilano University to Dundarave – one travelling by car, one by bike and an-other by bus.
“It would be just wonderful to be able to get on a [B-Line] bus at Ambleside or Dundarave . . . and go zipping right by on these priority lanes and get over to Lonsdale Quay or the Phibbs Exchange,” Scholefield said.
Having spent years commuting from his home near Lighthouse Park to Capilano University, student Joshua Millard said the B-Line would cut his commute time in half.
With limited frequency and unpredictable traffic jams, current transportation options are lacking, Millard said.
“It’s an untenable way to get from Point A to Point B when it takes you over an hour each way, to go a distance that would take a driver 15-20 minutes,” he said.
Gridlock sometimes means a trip on the 255 bus takes 90 minutes, Millard said, adding that a missed transfer can also add 30 minutes to his travel time. “There’s a lack of sensitivity to the groups that don’t have access to a car,” he said.
Millard characterized claims the B-Line will ruin Ambleside as “ridiculous.
“When it comes down to it,” Millard said, “this isn’t that big of a deal.”
According to TransLink figures, 78 per cent of West Vancouver employees commute from outside the municipality and approximately 1,000 riders transfer at Park Royal. Lambur’s motion, however, has called TransLink’s ridership figures into question.
Anyone wanting input on the B-Line can fill out a form here. The deadline is Feb. 28.
