Expanding business parks present challenge to TransLink

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by quobobo

^^ I don't think that's pathetic at all for a bus route that only runs every half hour. I imagine that would double or triple the commute for a lot of people.

Agreed. Generally, you don't get a good transit uptake until you approach 10-15min. frequencies.

[DKaz]

The West Coast Express runs on 30 minute frequencies (40 and 50 minutes for the last two trains) and it's not too much of a problem. If it was any more frequent, I would not have an excuse to not stay in work longer than I want to. If I'm going to work overtime, I might as well work 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, so I get the full benefits of getting paid overtime.

[quobobo]

People treat buses and commuter trains differently, partly because the trains are way more reliable and punctual, partly for reasons I don't understand.

[DKaz]

Edmonton has business parks well served by buses. I commuted by bus from Whyte Ave to around 103 Av and 174 St and it was a comfortable 45-50 minute commute. That bus I took from West Jasper Place TC to the business park was packed running at 15 minute frequencies, which was surprising for a car-centric Edmonton. I think Translink does need to get off their arses... if you provide a good transit service, people will use it. But businesses need to do their part by not building their businesses in the middle of nowhere.

One thing I must note is that Surrey probably has the same density as Edmonton... but the bus system in Surrey is beyond pathetic in comparison. No wonder Surrey is upset.

[nickinacan]

Originally Posted by Whalleyboy

i dont think surrey is doing bad with its business parks
the one along fraser may seem out of the way but it is in a spot it is because it by the docks
and my work which is in an up and coming business park area is right beside panorama ridge and theres plenty of housing areas just across the street

and you can't fully blame surrey its trying to give business that have been kicked out of vancouver new homes that work for them
surreys taking the biggest percent of the factories and warehouse in the lower mainland in fact there taking more then half and why should surrey put all these places in its city area it wants the same thing vancouver does out of site...

and the parking on the one by scott road isnt much my friend works in van kam down the hill here and there parking lot is over packed cause its not big enough

It was reported that Surrey now contains 45% of the industrial land in Metro Vancouver. It's not like it is spread all over the map, it is all in concentrated areas. Surrey already has poor transit service (Thank you Translink!), so it makes more sense for people to drive rather than take transit.

I used to work on Annacis Island and had to commute from Downtown to there for work every day. It was absolutely horrendous. Not only did the buses not always leave at the same time, they were very infrequent. For the amount of people that work on the island, you would think that Translink would do a study to figure out when people are coming and going from the island and run the buses accordingly. Instead, I abandoned transit altogether and started driving there instead.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by quobobo

People treat buses and commuter trains differently, partly because the trains are way more reliable and punctual, partly for reasons I don't understand.

buses are ghetto

they are seen as welfare

high school kids call busses the "loser cruiser"

the same kids will gladly jump on skytrain

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Edmonton has business parks well served by buses. I commuted by bus from Whyte Ave to around 103 Av and 174 St and it was a comfortable 45-50 minute commute. That bus I took from West Jasper Place TC to the business park was packed running at 15 minute frequencies, which was surprising for a car-centric Edmonton. I think Translink does need to get off their arses... if you provide a good transit service, people will use it. But businesses need to do their part by not building their businesses in the middle of nowhere.

One thing I must note is that Surrey probably has the same density as Edmonton... but the bus system in Surrey is beyond pathetic in comparison. No wonder Surrey is upset.

i think translink needs to start serving the cities in the region separately better than trying to treat it as one region and provide better service between each place instead of focusing it on each place >> vancouver

such as better surrey >> richmond service or surrey >> coquitlam service

as it is now you have to go via a 3rd city to get from one to another

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by nickinacan

I used to work on Annacis Island and had to commute from Downtown to there for work every day. It was absolutely horrendous. Not only did the buses not always leave at the same time, they were very infrequent. For the amount of people that work on the island, you would think that Translink would do a study to figure out when people are coming and going from the island and run the buses accordingly. Instead, I abandoned transit altogether and started driving there instead.

I lived in Queensborough for 8 months, yea the 104 was pretty horrendous before but it's gotten A LOT better since September 07's service changes.

[crazyjoeda]

Langley is even worse than Surrey for unsustainable development. Surrey is bad but Langley has created a transportation nightmare unlike any other city in the region. Metro Vancouver needs to outlaw low density business parks; I don't think every office needs to be in downtown Vancouver, places like central Surrey, Metro Town and Richmond centre are on Skytrain routes too.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by crazyjoeda

Langley is even worse than Surrey for unsustainable development. Surrey is bad but Langley has created a transportation nightmare unlike any other city in the region. Metro Vancouver needs to outlaw low density business parks; I don't think every office needs to be in downtown Vancouver, places like central Surrey, Metro Town and Richmond centre are on Skytrain routes too.

thats the problem with the region

Langley will never give up allowing sprawling business parks - they don't want to lose the taxes - if they say no than surrey will say yes or coquitlam or whatever will say yes

Metro Vancouver is not a cohesive region and probably never will be for a while - so no matter what authority metro vancouver has is really just token authority and dependant on what the members within there do

[Whalleyboy]

i think south of fraser needs its own transit company