Dear editor:
After reading the April 17 editorial Who’s Driving the Bus? or listening to some District of West Vancouver councillors (West Van Halts B-Line at Park Royal, April 17 news story), you’d think there is a mass of downtrodden working folk who struggle to commute from the far eastern reaches of North Vancouver to serve the disdainful residents of West Vancouver who are so lacking in compassion and foresight (and don’t forget gratitude!) that they won’t give up road lanes or parking spaces to accommodate the B (for behemoth?)-Line buses encroaching upon the privileged enclave of Dundarave.
Ridiculous. Unhelpful. Insulting.
Version two of this scenario is that there are masses of potential shoppers/tourists in North Van wanting to spend their money in Dundarave, if only it was possible to get there more quickly via public transit. Similarly ridiculous and unhelpful, although only insulting to our intelligence.
The fact is many West Van residents use the transit system – so many that buses to and from Vancouver are regularly standing-room-only (or “Sorry – Bus Full”) at all times of the day. The trouble is, the B-Line will not address that demand. It will only run east-west – a route already served by regular-size buses that are rarely even half full when they leave and enter West Vancouver. Nor will the B-Line serve the majority of West Van residents who live north of Marine Drive – a large area on a very steep hill.
The B-Line’s long buses can’t use most existing bus stops, cannot be easily re-routed to respond to changing demand, and they require expensive infrastructure in the form of special bus stops and turn-arounds.
Any objective assessment of the B-Line reveals that it is a bust when it comes to West Vancouver’s current and future transit needs. Given this, is it any wonder that so many residents don’t consider this questionable project worth the loss of two full traffic lanes and multiple parking spots? These are reasonable concerns, not the parochial views of car-clinging, climate-change-denying snobs.
Stephanie Slater
West Vancouver
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