This is yet another fun fantasy network.
Google Map Project
The core of its focus is what I am calling the BC line (which in this case simply means backwards ‘C’
). This line is meant to improve the synergies between the 3 major existing lines and provide for better east-west and north-south trips. The thought experiments I followed to shape and design this line was to consider what it would be like to take transit between different municipalities and what could be added to reduce time or allow reasonable connectivity. Other fantasy lines here have had some sort of similar peninsular loop line that I have probably drawn from for inspiration but I think this is different enough. This network is meant to represent backbone transit, I assume that it is complemented by a Frequent transit network (FTN) that is primarily bus based. (There is of course space for streetcars or LRT where appropriate) Even though this is fantasy, I am trying to consider what would be practical and cost effective.
Summary: Primarily Bored tunnel that Travels from Kerrisdale (west boulevard & 41st) along 41s to Joyce where it continues over to Moscrop road. From there it curves North emerging from the ground to elevated rail travelling north along Willingdon. North of Brentwood it returns to tunnel, making a turn to the west to travel along Hasting until it reaches Waterfront Station. It is just over 23 km long and about 3 km would be above ground. (incidentally it divides neatly into two 10 km bored tunnels) It would take maybe about 40 mins to travel terminus to terminus although I figure that the average individual trip time on the line would be well under 15 mins.
Rationale & Thoughts:
Kerrisdale Terminus: I did not see a purpose to bring the line to ubc or to turn it north to intersect the UBC line. From Kerrisdale, UBC is already plenty accessible by bus (or even bike!) most other trips would be bound for somewhere east and then likely downtown. The short hop over to the Canada line fills this need handily. Similarly a northbound extension is not that useful as say UBC bound commuters on the BC line could easily transfer to the Canada Line before reaching Kerrisdale. Finally, it is conceivable that some sort of Streetcar/LRT that is part of some future false creek network might connect here.
Oak to Joyce: Most of what I thought about through here is where stations should be placed. The first impulse is to put stations at every intersection with a major north-south street, but then the stations are often too close together, not to mention that it just slows things down. I considered axing the oak st station, but there is this lovely large parcel of undeveloped land next to it (maybe there are plans for it already?). On oak the 17 bus also serves Women’s and Children’s hospital. Fraser I removed due to the proximity of both the graveyard and that it is quite close to Main. (I try to keep stop spacing over about 800 meters). There is no station between Rupert and Victoria due to crowding and also that there is no ‘good’ north-south street for a FTN connection.
Joyce Station Transfer station: This station would be tricky as there would be quite the vertical distance between platforms of the two lines. The station box would probably want to be built as close to the surface as possible. It’d like to think it is possible that an elevator could travel platform to platform .
Moscrop Station: I am tentative about the existence of this station and where exactly it should be situated. Boundary is too close to Joyce but Smith is not that much further either. There is then not another road that has reasonable north-south connectivity.
BCIT Station: I would stick with a single station to cover this area but then have some sort of heavily station integrated bike sharing network on the BCIT campus and other nearby IT sites like EA. I’d include some social engineering policy to prevent bike loss by having bikes returned to the station provide a ‘free’ transfer. (UBC Station should have similar treatment)
Brentwood Station: I would like to see more commercial office space around this station as it is a very central location in metro vancouver and even ‘close’ to the north shore (with a connecting north shore line). As all platforms are elevated there does not seem to be any major integration issues.
Brentwood to Boundary: I considered having a station near Willingdon and Hastings, but decided against it more for having too many stations then the difficulty of executing tight turns.
Boundary Station: This Station would have a connection to whatever system that the north shore uses (I have not thought too hard about the north shore yet although it is drawn). I imagine that there might be a system interchange for the train here, but I would think in normal operation you would not interline the trains due to frequency issues. I wonder what other people think about that though. We should also not presume that all north shore transferees are bound for downtown (Although a quick estimate suggested that taking the train all the way over here from Lonsdale and to downtown is about as fast as taking the Seabus and if the trains have reasonable frequency it would be a faster trip)
Boundary to Waterfront: This segment is not too hard to understand. Strathcona and Chinatown Stations are quite close. I positioned Strathcona closer to china town for two reasons. first above Glen drive the shore pinches in (so there is less area served by the station) and second, at Glen drive it would be surrounded by light industry. I feel that there is reason to preserve areas of light industry in the city and that a station in their midst would be a major pressure to redevelop.
Waterfront Station: Here is an open question: should it continue on/directly integrate into the expo line? Perhaps it might vary by the time of day? I also worry that having a super long line is less robust to disruption.
Here are some general thoughts about what this system addition does:
-Brings Richmond much closer to Burnaby and also Surrey. SFU is also closer (but with 4 transfers, hopefully the high frequency would make that tolerable and the 4th transfer would hopefully be hopping onto a Gondola
)
-Brings the North Shore closer the Surrey and other eastern municipalities
-Connect BCIT into the network
-Improves the robustness of the overall network. If any of the segments towards downtown fails, there are still 2 other routes in and it is is possible to take the train to them.
Other Lines and that I drew:
Canada Line extension in Richmond: I think it would make more sense to terminate the Canada line at 3 road and Williams. Then all the buses is richmond can focus primarily on east-west routes that also serve as feeders to the Canada-line. A possible Streetcar could connect to steveston village from here.
Expo Line extension and ‘Surrey Line’: These are ideas that are completely borrowed from Translink that I just felt like drawing in. I have more thoughts about how white rock and langley might be integrated that I will perhaps develop on later.
North Shore Line: I do wonder if a line would render the sea bus obsolete. In which case I would bring the line under 3rd avenue and not bother directly connecting to the Quay. Lonsdale ave could use some sort of high frequency circulator, perhaps streetcars? (However where would you store and service them) East of Taylor way I feel that the Line is too close to the water to provide service efficiently, but there is no where else to run it. I certainly would not go further then 25st. It would be nice to serve Horseshoe bay but I think a shuttles running from the end of the line that is well timed with actual sailings would be more cost effective.
I hope this is at least an interesting thought experiment!
EDIT: Fixed calling Kerrisdale Dunbar...
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