The wheels on the bus may come to a grinding halt.
Approximately 700 residents turned out a B-Line bus consultation meeting Thursday night where opinion was largely divided between those who opposed the plan to bring the bus to Dundarave and those who vociferously opposed the plan to bring the bus to Dundarave.
“I’m trying to find some middle ground,” said Mayor Mary-Ann Booth. “From what I’m hearing from the community, the fallback position is to at least Park Royal.”
Three options for the B-Line's western terminus are at Park Royal, or Marine Drive and 21st Street, or at Marine Drive and 24th Street; although steering clear of Irwin Park Elementary.
A TransLink report noted 8,000 passengers commute daily between Dundarave and Ambleside.
Asked if rejecting the plan would complicate working with the transit provider, Booth said she hoped West Vancouver can “maintain our relationship with TransLink.”
Staged at the West Vancouver Community Centre gym, the three-hour meeting hosted by the municipality included TransLink display boards, video simulations, and a Q-and-A session, the expense of which rankled longtime resident John Bishop.
“I wish they’d spend as much time trying to solve the gridlock problem as they are on this problem,” he said, his comments drawing applause as he described chronic congestion on Taylor Way.
Nigel Malkin, an Ambleside merchant who spearheaded the drive against the B-Line, lauded the community’s efforts for undoing what he said had been presented as a “done deal.”
“I’m 100 per cent in favour of the B-Line if it stops at Park Royal,” he said.
The meeting itself is evidence West Vancouver council is listening, according to Jim Bailey, the municipality’s director of planning and development services.
“This is not a done deal,” Bailey told the crowd, repeating the phrase twice.
Discussing her opposition to the plan, physiotherapist Kerry Maxwell described a 2016 incident when a speeding car making a rat run off Marine Drive careened into her son.
“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 isn’t enough ridership to support a B-Line to Dundarave, Maxwell said, describing consistently empty buses in Ambleside.
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 and we’d be happy to put it there,” he said, before being interrupted by derisive applause.
Meeting moderator Judy Kirk implored the audience to restrain themselves.
“I won’t allow the meeting to disintegrate into name-calling or shouting or heckling,” she said.
Despite a declining population, transit ridership in West Vancouver has ticked up by approximately six per cent if ridership for the 257 bus is excluded, Cross said. Each day about 1,000 riders transfer at Park Royal, “even though it’s not a very good” transit connection, he added.
“We’re not looking to put service out there that’s not going to be used. As I said, there are needs absolutely everywhere else.”
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.
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 and guess what? Everybody’s going to be sleeping in the hallways, shooting drugs,” he said.
Over more than 30 years in West Vancouver Walker said neither he nor his staff have ever had a problem with bus service.
“Some of them come in all the way from White Rock. They don’t complain about it because it’s a great place for them to work,” he said.
According to TransLink figures, 78 per cent of West Vancouver employees commute from outside the municipality with 40 per cent from North Vancouver and 38 per cent from other municipalities.
However, Cross was unable to answer a question about the value of the parking spots that would be lost if the project is approved.
Seventy-year resident John Cave heaped shame on TransLink and district council, calling the B-Line plan: “the worst thing that has ever been brought to the people of West Vancouver.”
The debate over the B-Line has been characterized by “toxic rhetoric,” lamented Coun. Nora Gambioli, who described a flurry of email full of capital letters, exclamation marks, and threats to ruin the political careers of councillors.
“I’m really depressed about this level discourse,” Gambioli said. “Politicians make decisions for the next election. Statesmen make decisions for the next generation.”
Anyone wanting to have their say on the B-Line can send an email to [email protected] or by filling out a form at westvancouverITE.ca/b-line. The deadline is Feb. 28.
