SpongeG
02-21-2007, 10:51 PM
Transit crisis deepens
Buses may be leased from other parts of B.C. to put more rubber on the road in a fresh bid to ease transit congestion that has hit extreme levels.
“We’re trying to find if there’s buses West Vancouver can loan us for a bit or Vancouver Island,” Coast Mountain Bus Co. spokesman Doug McDonald said, adding the aim is to get more buses and improve service by April.
Four buses have already been borrowed – two each from Abbotsford and Chilliwack – and more sources of surplus buses will be investigated.
The rare move to seek outside help comes amid rising complaints of long waits and frustrating commutes because there aren’t enough buses and new ones arriving aren’t keeping pace with increasing ridership and the need to retire old vehicles.
“We went through a real crisis in the last couple of months at least,” McDonald said, adding the vehicle shortage was compounded by bad winter weather, delays due to Canada Line construction and now problems that have forced 39 new electric trolley buses off the road.
“We’ve had some real significant holes in the service.”
Proof of the transit troubles is in the number of “pass-ups” happening.
Those are incidents where a driver with an already full bus no longer makes stops, cruising past would-be riders at the curb with perhaps a grimace or an apologetic wave.
http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals/uploads/surrey/.DIR288/Strawberry_hills_bus_loop_070221.jpg
Full buses drove past passengers on nearly 2,000 occasions in Surrey last year.
The latest statistics show that in 2006, bus drivers across the region reported a staggering 19,000 pass-ups.
Although Vancouver had the largest number of pass-ups – 8,454 – it’s considered less serious there because bus service is much more frequent. TransLink officials liken a pass-up there more to the minor inconvenience of missing a green light trying to drive through an intersection.
In the rest of the region, where service is slower, pass-ups can add up to waits that drag on for hours for angry transit users.
Coast Mountain statistics show pass-ups were worst as a percentage of service in Richmond, where 4,454 were recorded.
Burnaby drivers recorded 3,305 pass-ups last year. Nearly 2,000 were measured in Surrey. And there were 686 for North Vancouver buses and 536 for buses based out of Port Coquitlam.
Union reps say the figures are well below the true magnitude of the problem, noting drivers are sometimes told to stop reporting pass-ups on particularly harried days.
And they say the pass-up stats also don’t take into account when a scheduled run is cancelled altogether – as has been happening with 10 to 20 runs per day in Surrey in recent weeks.
In those cases, the bus never does show up – full or otherwise – and waiting passengers are just left to wonder what happened.
Passengers sometimes take out their frustrations on drivers – the number of assaults on them hit a new high of more than 200 last year.
Local politicians, like Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, say they’re under pressure to help transit-dependent commuters.
“They can’t count on the bus being on time,” she said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Watts invited union reps for the drivers to meet with Surrey councillors last week and says she’ll push TransLink for answers and improvement.
And if equipment shortages aren’t enough, the bus company is often short of drivers and mechanics. Coast Mountain is planning to recruit and train 1,000 more drivers.
But Gavin Davies, union rep for bus drivers based in Surrey, says the staff shortage is worsening every week because more drivers are opting to retire early rather than continue to work under extreme pressure and often abuse.
“They’ve had enough,” Davies said. “They don’t have enough money to retire, but they can’t take it any more.”
Those drivers often keep working – but for another employer.
“They go to drive a school bus or pick up golf balls at a driving range,” he said.
Transit trouble tales abound
With many people rethinking their driving habit in the face of climate change fears, high gas prices and worsening traffic congestion, it’s not the most opportune time for transit troubles.
But residents who are trying to park their cars say they’re being stymied by TransLink’s service.
“I can’t count how many no-shows I’ve had to endure,” Arthur Laskowski wrote on a web site dedicated to transit serving White Rock. “We need more buses, more often – at least as a starting point.”
Langley resident Alf Leake said he had to recently wait three and a half hours trying to commute by bus from Surrey Central station to Aldergrove.
He said the incident was blamed on a breakdown, but said it underscores the lack of spare buses in the system.
“It is ridiculous that when there is a mechanical issue on the bus, there is no replacement,” he said.
The bus shortage also recently disrupted transportation for students at some high schools.
Coast Mountain had to cancel a special “school tripper” run to Kwantlen Park Secondary School in Surrey because the bus was needed elsewhere.
Smaller community shuttles couldn’t handle student volume, forcing students to either walk or more often get rides.
“We’re not going to have our kids walking from there through the Gateway area or downtown Whalley’s crack alley to get home,” said Bolivar Park resident Skip Angus.
Service was restored the next week, but Angus said many students and parents still won’t use it because they can’t trust it.
“It’s just a farce,” he said.
TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said the run had to be cancelled because the bus was needed for other congested routes.
“We’ve had similar problems in Coquitlam,” he added.
In some cases, Hardie said, the transit system upgraded school runs to full-sized buses to pick up the slack for bus service formerly provided by school districts.
“It’s nice to be able to provide these special trips to schools but in some cases we’re doing it in areas the school system used to provide buses and has pulled out,” Hardie said. “But they are difficult to sustain when the system itself is short of buses.”
http://www.surreyleader.com/
Buses may be leased from other parts of B.C. to put more rubber on the road in a fresh bid to ease transit congestion that has hit extreme levels.
“We’re trying to find if there’s buses West Vancouver can loan us for a bit or Vancouver Island,” Coast Mountain Bus Co. spokesman Doug McDonald said, adding the aim is to get more buses and improve service by April.
Four buses have already been borrowed – two each from Abbotsford and Chilliwack – and more sources of surplus buses will be investigated.
The rare move to seek outside help comes amid rising complaints of long waits and frustrating commutes because there aren’t enough buses and new ones arriving aren’t keeping pace with increasing ridership and the need to retire old vehicles.
“We went through a real crisis in the last couple of months at least,” McDonald said, adding the vehicle shortage was compounded by bad winter weather, delays due to Canada Line construction and now problems that have forced 39 new electric trolley buses off the road.
“We’ve had some real significant holes in the service.”
Proof of the transit troubles is in the number of “pass-ups” happening.
Those are incidents where a driver with an already full bus no longer makes stops, cruising past would-be riders at the curb with perhaps a grimace or an apologetic wave.
http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals/uploads/surrey/.DIR288/Strawberry_hills_bus_loop_070221.jpg
Full buses drove past passengers on nearly 2,000 occasions in Surrey last year.
The latest statistics show that in 2006, bus drivers across the region reported a staggering 19,000 pass-ups.
Although Vancouver had the largest number of pass-ups – 8,454 – it’s considered less serious there because bus service is much more frequent. TransLink officials liken a pass-up there more to the minor inconvenience of missing a green light trying to drive through an intersection.
In the rest of the region, where service is slower, pass-ups can add up to waits that drag on for hours for angry transit users.
Coast Mountain statistics show pass-ups were worst as a percentage of service in Richmond, where 4,454 were recorded.
Burnaby drivers recorded 3,305 pass-ups last year. Nearly 2,000 were measured in Surrey. And there were 686 for North Vancouver buses and 536 for buses based out of Port Coquitlam.
Union reps say the figures are well below the true magnitude of the problem, noting drivers are sometimes told to stop reporting pass-ups on particularly harried days.
And they say the pass-up stats also don’t take into account when a scheduled run is cancelled altogether – as has been happening with 10 to 20 runs per day in Surrey in recent weeks.
In those cases, the bus never does show up – full or otherwise – and waiting passengers are just left to wonder what happened.
Passengers sometimes take out their frustrations on drivers – the number of assaults on them hit a new high of more than 200 last year.
Local politicians, like Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, say they’re under pressure to help transit-dependent commuters.
“They can’t count on the bus being on time,” she said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Watts invited union reps for the drivers to meet with Surrey councillors last week and says she’ll push TransLink for answers and improvement.
And if equipment shortages aren’t enough, the bus company is often short of drivers and mechanics. Coast Mountain is planning to recruit and train 1,000 more drivers.
But Gavin Davies, union rep for bus drivers based in Surrey, says the staff shortage is worsening every week because more drivers are opting to retire early rather than continue to work under extreme pressure and often abuse.
“They’ve had enough,” Davies said. “They don’t have enough money to retire, but they can’t take it any more.”
Those drivers often keep working – but for another employer.
“They go to drive a school bus or pick up golf balls at a driving range,” he said.
Transit trouble tales abound
With many people rethinking their driving habit in the face of climate change fears, high gas prices and worsening traffic congestion, it’s not the most opportune time for transit troubles.
But residents who are trying to park their cars say they’re being stymied by TransLink’s service.
“I can’t count how many no-shows I’ve had to endure,” Arthur Laskowski wrote on a web site dedicated to transit serving White Rock. “We need more buses, more often – at least as a starting point.”
Langley resident Alf Leake said he had to recently wait three and a half hours trying to commute by bus from Surrey Central station to Aldergrove.
He said the incident was blamed on a breakdown, but said it underscores the lack of spare buses in the system.
“It is ridiculous that when there is a mechanical issue on the bus, there is no replacement,” he said.
The bus shortage also recently disrupted transportation for students at some high schools.
Coast Mountain had to cancel a special “school tripper” run to Kwantlen Park Secondary School in Surrey because the bus was needed elsewhere.
Smaller community shuttles couldn’t handle student volume, forcing students to either walk or more often get rides.
“We’re not going to have our kids walking from there through the Gateway area or downtown Whalley’s crack alley to get home,” said Bolivar Park resident Skip Angus.
Service was restored the next week, but Angus said many students and parents still won’t use it because they can’t trust it.
“It’s just a farce,” he said.
TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said the run had to be cancelled because the bus was needed for other congested routes.
“We’ve had similar problems in Coquitlam,” he added.
In some cases, Hardie said, the transit system upgraded school runs to full-sized buses to pick up the slack for bus service formerly provided by school districts.
“It’s nice to be able to provide these special trips to schools but in some cases we’re doing it in areas the school system used to provide buses and has pulled out,” Hardie said. “But they are difficult to sustain when the system itself is short of buses.”
http://www.surreyleader.com/
