With the closure of the Third Street bus depot last weekend, all of North Vancouver’s transit buses are joining the commute to the North Shore from the Burnaby Transit Centre.
TransLink says bus riders won’t notice a difference in services, and since the buses will cross the bridge in the early morning and late at night, bridge traffic shouldn’t be an issue. Maybe.
But if those buses get stuck on the wrong side of the bridge during an earthquake, we’re going to rue this plan, even if it is providing millions of dollars in “efficiencies” that TransLink’s critics have been howling for.
It could be argued we’d have had a better shot at finding a new location if North Vancouver had put up a united (or, if you like, amalgamated) front.
The land-poor City has been fighting to find a new location since the decision to close the depot was announced in 2012. The District didn’t pass a motion asking TransLink to find a new location until late 2015.
Also worth noting, in 2005, the transit authority was set to purchase land on West First Street for a new depot but district council voted the plan down, citing objections from Norgate residents. Instead, they’re getting a sewage treatment plant.
Of course, the real frustration here is that the decision to close the depot was made unilaterally by TransLink’s unelected, unaccountable, provincially appointed board without any local input.
Your four North Shore MLAs will be on your doorstep sooner or later, asking for your support in the next election. So will a crop of new challengers. Be sure to ask every one of them who they think should be in charge of making local transit decisions.
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