Reader and West Vancouver resident Graham McIsaac wrote to the News earlier this week with a number of questions concerning the proposed Park Royal to Dundarave segment of the Marine-Main B-Line bus service TransLink plans to launch later this year.
We posed these to Chris Bryan, TransLink’s senior media relations advisor, who answers below:
Graham McIsaac: We know that many owners and employees of businesses in West Vancouver commute to West Vancouver. What we don’t know is where they commute from and if they use transit to get to work today and if they don’t use transit would they with the B Line. The largest employers in West Vancouver beyond Park Royal are the municipality and the school board, yet they cannot or will not answer those questions. Construction workers (a significant other employee base) all come in their own vehicles with tools etc. and are very unlikely to use transit.
Most West Vancouver citizens who use transit use it to cross the Lions Gate Bridge and go downtown - very few now or with a B Line would use transit to go to North Vancouver.
TransLink: Most people (78 per cent) working in West Vancouver for municipal services such as police, fire, library, community centres and schools are coming from outside West Van. Forty per cent of these employees are coming from North Vancouver District or City. Frequent, fast and reliable transit service will give many of those people an attractive alternative to driving which will ease congestion for everyone.
Graham McIsaac: If you exclude passengers that board and alight at Horseshoe Bay, how many passengers per day travel along the corridor between Park Royal and Dundarave and beyond Dundarave?
TransLink: Dundarave and Ambleside is a busy transit corridor today. On an average weekday, there are 8,000 boardings and alightings (people getting on and off) in in this section of Marine. The 8,000 figure does not include people that have already boarded the 257 at Horseshoe Bay and are just passing through. Most people on the 257 are travelling to Park Royal or downtown Vancouver.
Graham McIsaac: How does this compare to the planned capacity of the B-Line between Park Royal and Dundarave, and the existing buses that are to be maintained? Is this capacity too much or too little?
TransLink: Transit ridership in West Vancouver grew by 9.8 per cent between 2017 and 2018 - higher than the growth rate of either North Vancouver municipality. The B-Line will add more capacity to buses picking up and dropping off along Marine Drive in West Vancouver and will create better transit options for people trying to get to their workplaces from other communities. There may be excess capacity initially during parts of the day in the West Van section but these buses will fill as they hit major centres such as Park Royal, Capilano Mall and Lonsdale Quay. Ridership will continue growing in Dundarave and Ambleside as more people live in the area and see transit as a quick and reliable option for getting around.
Graham McIsaac: What is the estimated time saving for buses between Park Royal and Dundarave with the traffic light improvements and road improvements only? What is the estimated time saving when you include the dedicated bus lanes and traffic road closures?
TransLink: Today, congestion can create significant differences in travel time for all vehicles in this area. In good conditions, the trip takes about 15 minutes. But at other times, such as weekday afternoons heading westbound, a bus trip can take 30 minutes or more. These delays contribute significantly to people’s decisions about how to travel, and make it difficult for buses to run to schedule. Dedicated bus lanes would make all 10 bus routes that operate along this corridor faster and more reliable. The benefits would accrue on virtually every run, every day. The District of West Vancouver will be consulting residents soon about what the final street design will be.
Graham McIsaac: What are the exact number of parking spaces expected to be lost with the additional pull in areas for the long B Line Buses and for the left-hand lane improvements?
TransLink: Specific details are still being worked out and will be a subject of discussion during District of West Vancouver’s consultation. For more on the District of West Vancouver’s consultation, please visit westvancouverite.ca/b-line.
For more detail on information provided above, see the presentation on TransLink’s website.
