Transit crisis deepens (surrey/vancouver)

[SpongeG]

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.


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/

[twoNeurons]

wow... sounds bad...

I wonder if we had enough buses... if it would start to look like it would warrant an LRt or two?

[SFUVancouver]

This is a non-scientific observation: I take transit every day to school and work and for the times I've been at the front of a bus that is too full to pick up more people, I have never once seen the driver call in a "pass up". This is especially so at SFU where the buses are usually full when they leave the upper bus loop and fail to pick up people from the lower bus loops. If their figures are 16,000 pass-ups, I would say the real number is several mangnitudes greater.

[Glacierfed]

The Cambie bus is pretty bad in terms of leaving people behind at stops, at least at peak periods, combined with the Canada line construction, its a really rough time to be transit rider on Cambie. (obviously worth it in the long run).

[LordMandeep]

yeah transit is getting packed, and sometimes reminds me of my travels in India.

Like that time on the Yonge Subway at 9:30 in morning when i went downtown, i really did not have space to breate properlly.

[frinkprof]

Wow, sounds like a pretty big problem. Sorry, I'm not really familiar with the transit situation or plans for improvement; but is there a push for Skytrain or surface LRT in Surrey, and if so, how does it fit into the plans after the Canada Line and possible Evergreen Line?

[mr.x]

GVRD rules out tolls, for now
Directors, stung by public reaction, say they will keep investigating the 'road pricing' option

William Boei, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, February 24, 2007

GREATER VANCOUVER - The Greater Vancouver Regional District will keep looking into "road pricing" to manage transportation demand, but directors made it clear Friday they won't be slapping new tolls on roads and bridges any time soon.

Several directors were spooked by public reaction to news stories about the district considering region-wide tolling and other measures to control demand for road space.

"I'm starting to get e-mails and phone calls on this," Coquitlam Mayor Maxine Wilson said. "We're upsetting residents needlessly and we're causing them to lose confidence in the board."

"I've had millions of calls," said Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, adding that the wording of a motion for the GVRD to "consider" road pricing "made it appear imminent, and that means there has been a big public reaction."

Corrigan said the GVRD should "tell the public and the press we are not making any decisions at this point. We are simply learning about what the options are and how those will affect our sustainability for the next 30 years."

"I trust we don't believe that because we investigate something, it's going to happen," said GVRD chairwoman and Delta Mayor Lois Jackson. "We're looking out 25 and 50 years, I'm assuming."

The motion made it onto the GVRD board's agenda after consulting engineers and other participants in a public forum held in Vancouver last year on the region's future came out strongly in favour of road pricing measures to keep a lid on traffic congestion.

But Langley City Coun. Gayle Martin said the issue would play out very differently in the Fraser Valley.

Martin said south of the Fraser River, tolls are seen as a way to keep people from driving from the suburbs into Vancouver.

"Well, how the heck are we supposed to get in there if we can't use our cars?" she asked.

Vancouver Coun. Suzanne Anton, who is also a TransLink director, responded: "TransLink will be pleased to provide a rapid bus service from Langley to SkyTrain, and then the most excellent, excellent SkyTrain service from Surrey into downtown Vancouver."

Anton acknowledged there is "a big political price to pay" for talking about tolls, but said it is necessary to discuss the options.

"Let's have a good report on it," she said. "Let's see just what we need, what some of the options are, and then let's debate that report. It's not something that's going to happen tomorrow."

TransLink chairman and Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said he didn't understand why tolling had to be on the GVRD agenda at all, since the board went on the record last year saying road pricing should be investigated.

"All we've done, to my mind, is cause a great deal of alarm," Brodie said.

He scoffed at suggestions that there is broad public support for road pricing and asked directors to imagine what the reaction would be if there was a proposal to toll the Lions Gate and Ironworkers Memorial bridges, or the Lougheed Highway, Kingsway and Marine Drive.

In the end, the board approved a motion that asks GVRD staff to provide an analysis of road pricing, rather than to "consider" road pricing.

The board did not debate a suggestion to re-brand the GVRD as "Metro Vancouver," but asked staff to look into that possibility and report back.

bboei@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2007



i agree with the decision. until there is adequate public transit, tolling should not be in place.

[SpongeG]

i think it refers to Surrey and the suburbs where service is pretty bad

everything with translink seems to be geared to serving vancouver while the suburbs get the shaft

[bc2mb]

here's an idea.. build a highway!

seriously though, the road situation in vancouver is ridiculous for the size of the city.

[obscurantist]

Michael Smyth, Vancouver Province (subscription needed)

Two weeks ago, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon received the final "governance review" report on the fate of Greater Vancouver's transit board.

I'm told it sounds the death knell for TransLink. ...

Watch for Falcon to release this report in early March and announce a new transit structure for the Lower Mainland that will include more provincial government control over the bus system, SkyTrain, SeaBus and the WestCoast Express commuter rail.

I guess this represents the application of Colin Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule to regional transit planning: if you break it, you buy it (or take it back in this case). The province broke TransLink by constantly meddling in its affairs right from the start.

Clearly BC is not ready for regional transportation authorities -- I just don't think it's the fault of "parochialism and petty politics" at the local level as Falcon suggests. It's the fault of provincial politicians who claimed to be interested in giving regional politicians more autonomy over regional decisions, while in practice they steamrollered over those regional politicians.

[Lee_Haber8]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i think it refers to Surrey and the suburbs where service is pretty bad

everything with translink seems to be geared to serving vancouver while the suburbs get the shaft

Well that's partially because the suburbs are planned in such a shitty way it doesn't make sense to serve them with public transit. People in the suburbs should also recognize that nobody is pointing a gun at their heads and saying they have to live there. Instead of lets say living in Langley and waiting for a low-ridership transit line to come, why don't they move to lets say Burnaby, New West or downtown Surrey where it still isn't very expensive and they can be near rapid transit. Unless the suburbs have plans to completely remodel their neighbourhoods around transit so that it is actually feasible, there is no point in planning or constructing lines to serve them.

[CC420]

I know how to properly serve Surrey with Busses. Since the city has a grid road system of many avenues, then run busses up and down these avenues. Let's say you live in Cloverdale close to Hwy10 and want to get to downtown Vancouver. Under the current system you might as well give up and find a new destination. But if you had a bus route that ran up and down Hwy10 then you could grab that bus to King George Hwy and Hwy10. There you could have a small bus exchange where you would grab the bus that ran up and down King George Hwy. From there it would be a bus ride to the skytrain station. This may not be direct but it would be an effective and simple way of getting people around vast Surrey. Even with all the single family homes there are still plenty of townhouse devleopements in Surrey that could be serviced with transit. Just give people decent service and they will come.