Dear Editor:
At the recent western stakeholders’ meeting about the B-Line bus with the mayor and three councillors in attendance, TransLink representatives could not answer basic questions. How would the B-Line help residents past 25th Street in West Vancouver? No response. If the B-Line stops at Park Royal how much money will West Vancouver taxpayers lose that will be spent elsewhere in the Greater Vancouver area by TransLink?
When asked by one of our retailers as to how much per year is each parking space worth, TransLink staff had no answer. In fact, business owners in the area estimate each parking space in central Ambleside is worth more than $300,000 in retail sales per year. If you look at 30 parking spaces being lost then you are also looking at $9 million in lost retail sales. This is not a one-off loss. This is $9 million every year. These are retail sales that will be taken to Park Royal or other retail areas where parking is more plentiful. This is not a small amount of money. It can be the difference to staying in business or closing the doors.
People are commenting on how insignificant the loss of four per cent of the total parking spaces would be. These people do not have any skin in the game. They are not employing workers, they are not running a business and they have not invested thousands of dollars in a store. You can be assured that the retailers in West Vancouver are not going to allow one parking space to be lost in Ambleside to help large empty B-Line buses save two minutes getting from Dundarave to Park Royal.
It is truly amazing that those West Vancouver residents who are in favour of this B-Line change their minds once they are told the B-Line is not going to be making the trip to downtown Vancouver a shorter and quicker commute. This is strictly a route across the North Shore to save a few minutes to get to the Phibbs Exchange. I have lived all my life in West Vancouver and take the bus downtown weekly. I have never taken a bus to the Phibbs Exchange. The majority of the ridership are going to Vancouver. This will not change with a B-Line. Build it and they will still not come.
John Cave
West Vancouver
Editor’s note: According to TransLink’s Compass card data, roughly half of West Vancouver bus riders are heading into Vancouver (including downtown). About 13 per cent travel within West Vancouver, about 22 per cent travel to North Vancouver and about 16 per cent are travelling to other parts of Metro Vancouver.
Planners estimate the B-Line plan would result in the loss of 25 parking spaces.
