RIDGEWAY-AREA residents are accusing TransLink of putting their lives at risk with reckless late-night bus driving.
Dave Brett and Ryan Prox allege that over the past 18 months maintenance mechanics have taken to using East Fourth Street both as a route to their depot and as a "stop-and-go" test track for buses' brakes.
"The buses being shuttled around while maintenance is conducted on them, they're being driven by maintenance workers," Prox told City of North Vancouver council in a May 7 presentation. "These maintenance workers drive very arrogantly down the street at high speeds and literally play hogs of the road."
Starting at 6 p.m., Prox said, "they drive around community streets, gunning it up and slamming on the brakes. That goes on until three in the morning in front of our houses. They roar when they go past at high speeds. The windows on my house literally shake."
Prox played a brief video of a bus speeding down a residential street.
During busier hours, Prox added, "they lay on the horn when we don't get out of the way on our own street."
Brett said TransLink has been "unresponsive" to their concerns and he brandished a 250-signature petition in support of his allegations. Signees were also protesting B.C. Hydro operations in the area.
Mayor Darrell Mussatto asked if he was pushing to have the depot moved, which council has wanted to see happen for decades. While they would like to see it go, Brett said, they are asking only for the city to speed up planned traffic calming measures slated to be started two to three years from now.
"We fully support (moving the depot) but we didn't want to come to you with the same old arguments. It's a safety issue. We're just saying that they do not need to go down residential streets and make it unsafe for my children," he said.
"We're not NIMBYs," Prox added. "I moved in knowing full well there was a bus depot there."
Coun. Guy Heywood said he had visited Brett's home and witnessed buses driving at what he felt were "excessive speeds."
Coun. Rod Clark asked city engineer Doug Pope if his staff had discussed the question with the transportation authority.
TransLink's position, replied Pope, was that East Fourth is not used to test buses' brakes, a comment that drew derisive laughter and cries of "no" from the residents in the gallery.
Speaking with the North Shore News, TransLink spokesman Drew Snider also insisted that buses don't test their brakes on Fourth. High-speed brake checks are performed on the Upper Levels Highway and slower speed tests are held at Phibbs Exchange, he said.
But residents can expect to continue seeing buses on that street, he said, as it provides the only safe access into the TransLink parking lot at the northeast corner of the depot.
As to accusations of arrogant driving, Snider said "road hogging is actually safe driving because it's narrow there and you have parked cars there. It's going to look like they are road hogging but it's more a matter of being safe and leaving as much space as possible on either side."
Snider said he was aware of "three or four" complaints in the area over the past few months, each regarding buses using Ridgeway Avenue.
"Night supervisors have been assigned to monitor buses and speak to any operators as necessary," he said. "We did receive complaints, we acted on them, and as far as we are concerned those have been dealt with and the bus drivers are behaving themselves pretty much."
Snider stressed that residents should contact TransLink if they see a bus driven in an unsafe manner. Customer information is at 604-953-3333, or at www.translink.ca.
"If the people in the area have any complaints," Snider said, "please let us know times, dates, the number of the offending coach would help, although I realize at night that might be hard to get. Let us know because we do listen and we do act on it."
