Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[queetz@home]

A very interesting article about Langley's greviances on the lack of transit expansion South of the Fraser.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2431445/

Gotta admit, she does have a point regarding the Burnaby mayor which we all love to hate...

She refers to what she calls “a booming little empire sitting in Burnaby,” which, if I were to guess, would be the Metro Vancouver Board or, to continue the analogy, The Capitol, whose wealth and success is fuelled by the industry and forced labour in the surrounding districts.

See how this all fits?

Wait, it gets better.

At the centre of it all sits a hegemonic leader – in this analogy played by Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan.

Mr. Corrigan, you see, has been less than sympathetic about the plight of those in the districts beyond, especially when it comes to the lack of transit.

For Ms. Richter, the straw that broke the camel's back, as she puts it, were the comments Mr. Corrigan made to a local Langley newspaper, comments she was happy to read to me verbatim after quoting source and page number.

“Langley politicians have themselves to blame for pushing the province to expand the Highway 1 freeway, which Metro planners warned would undercut future demand for transit. Langley residents are now absurdly complaining about both the tolls as well as the lack of transit, but they wanted the bridges and the roads and now they say they want transit too.”

Councillor Richter's response prompts her to abandon her first metaphor, and move on to the French Revolution. “I mean, this Marie Antoinette attitude to the outlying areas in Metro Vancouver is just simply no longer tolerable. The arrogance has reached a level where it has to cease and desist. We don't need cartels, and we certainly don't need, I think, a Vancouver-Burnaby ‘let them eat cake’ cartel.”

Clearly, the councillor is upset, and when it comes to transit services, she has a legitimate grievance. People who live south of the Fraser will tell you transit service there is woefully inadequate. But residents there pay the same premium at the pump borne by residents of Vancouver or Burnaby, which, combined, have 31 rapid transit stations and frequent bus service.

[Gordon]

Once the New Port mnn Bridge opens can they just run a current bus that will use the new Park and Ride usng the same route that the Rapid Bus would use until there is funding fro the Rapid Bus.

Is there Currently a HOV lane on Highway #1 from Langley to the port mann bridge?

[queetz@home]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Once the New Port mnn Bridge opens can they just run a current bus that will use the new Park and Ride usng the same route that the Rapid Bus would use until there is funding fro the Rapid Bus.

Is there Currently a HOV lane on Highway #1 from Langley to the port mann bridge?

They can but they won't. That's just the way Translink operates. Their priority is the "status quo" and any "improvements" has to come from "new" sources of funding. WRT the Rapid Bus, why can't just simply assign a few bendy buses on that route once the bridge is finish is beyond me...I'm sure allocating some bendy buses with existing drivers from Burnaby or Vancouver won't cost $30 million...

[nname]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Once the New Port mnn Bridge opens can they just run a current bus that will use the new Park and Ride usng the same route that the Rapid Bus would use until there is funding fro the Rapid Bus.

Is there Currently a HOV lane on Highway #1 from Langley to the port mann bridge?

Its not like they don't have money to buy buses. They actually had all the buses ready (for the B-Line - they had the bus ready since 2009), but they don't have money to run them.

Originally Posted by queetz@home

They can but they won't. That's just the way Translink operates. Their priority is the "status quo" and any "improvements" has to come from "new" sources of funding. WRT the Rapid Bus, why can't just simply assign a few bendy buses on that route once the bridge is finish is beyond me...I'm sure allocating some bendy buses with existing drivers from Burnaby or Vancouver won't cost $30 million...

Using the service hours stated in the supplemental plan and the cost mentioned in the commissioner report, the annual cost to run the rapid bus service is around 9 millions. The cost for the King George B-Line is about 8 millions. In comparison, the cost for new 531 route is only about 3 millions.

Further more, if they run the new service even by mean of cutting service elsewhere or drawing the reserve, they'll never get the extra funding they wanted, right?

[nname]

Summary of June changes.. seems like they are starting to cut service again...

Huge Improvement:
14 (weekends)
16 (mon-sat)
25 (weekends)
97 (all days)
229 (weekends, new ftn route)
323 (all days)

Big Improvement:
2 (sat)
19 (evening)
210 (sat)
230 (sun, new ftn route)
240 (sat)
410 (peak)
640 (am peak)

Small Improvement:
159 (am peak)
319 (early morning)
320 (late night)
345 (early morning)
407 (late night)
701 (evening)

Small Cut:
10 (early morning)
14 (early morning)
32 (pm peak)
100 (early morning)
214 (am peak)
246 (am peak)
351 (early morning)

Big Cut:
19 (peak)
402 (peak)
404 (peak)

Huge Cut:
26 (mon-sat)
27 (mon-sat)
29 (mon-sat)
177 (peak)
232 (peak)
403 (weekday)

[dreambrother808]

Are there really enough people in Langley who want transit? The argument still comes down to this. When improvements have been made they have not been financial successes SOF. So the solution is to make cuts to areas that have already shown that they do want transit? I'm sorry but the people I know SOF are firmly entrenched in a car-oriented lifestyle. They don't even want nor care about better transit.

[Metro-One]

I agree with this, however, the high-horse smug mentality of the Vancouver / Burnaby elected officials does nothing to help relations within Metro-Vancouver.

And we should remember, it is the mayors who yet again recently axed funding for the new services south of the Fraser, such as the highway 1 rapid bus.

So I would be pissed off as well if in Langley, because that was going to be a good step in the right direction.

[DKaz]

The 502 is packed at all hours. Even Aldergrove to Langley Centre has a good number of passengers, though this portion runs half as frequent as the main Langley to Surrey portion.

[st7860]

Originally Posted by nname

Summary of June changes.. seems like they are starting to cut service again...

Huge Improvement:
14 (weekends)
16 (mon-sat)
25 (weekends)
97 (all days)
229 (weekends, new ftn route)
323 (all days)

Big Improvement:
2 (sat)
19 (evening)
210 (sat)
230 (sun, new ftn route)
240 (sat)
410 (peak)
640 (am peak)

Small Improvement:
159 (am peak)
319 (early morning)
320 (late night)
345 (early morning)
407 (late night)
701 (evening)

Small Cut:
10 (early morning)
14 (early morning)
32 (pm peak)
100 (early morning)
214 (am peak)
246 (am peak)
351 (early morning)

Big Cut:
19 (peak)
402 (peak)
404 (peak)

Huge Cut:
26 (mon-sat)
27 (mon-sat)
29 (mon-sat)
177 (peak)
232 (peak)
403 (weekday)

where did you read about these?

[usog]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Are there really enough people in Langley who want transit? The argument still comes down to this. When improvements have been made they have not been financial successes SOF. So the solution is to make cuts to areas that have already shown that they do want transit? I'm sorry but the people I know SOF are firmly entrenched in a car-oriented lifestyle. They don't even want nor care about better transit.

Well, when current capacity is pretty well utilized, in fact sometimes being over capacity now, what can you say about that?

[go_leafs_go02]

The biggest problem is that Translink does not provide bus service until there is the supposed demand available.

Surrey and Langley have worked on these transit orientated neighbourhoods where it was planned that decent transit would be available at the same time occupation of the neighbourhoods was expected. Instead, transit wasn't made available, people were essentially "forced" to drive to work, school, etc. when they moved there, and the demand for transit is non-existent.

In a way, you can't really win. Either you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly on a bus that's practically empty until things develop (which can take 5+ years), or you have major parking issues, little/no modal splits, and where everyone needs to drive or has learned to rely on it.

[queetz@home]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I agree with this, however, the high-horse smug mentality of the Vancouver / Burnaby elected officials does nothing to help relations within Metro-Vancouver.

And we should remember, it is the mayors who yet again recently axed funding for the new services south of the Fraser, such as the highway 1 rapid bus.

So I would be pissed off as well if in Langley, because that was going to be a good step in the right direction.

To be fair, its really Burnaby that has the high horse mentality, and it isn't limited to Derek Corrigan. Its his entire council that thinks this way, a casual viewing of Burnaby Now articles on the topic seem to indicate that. Its easy for them to say it with two Skytrain Lines (funded solely by the Province) and a geographic centre where no matter how left wing crap you are, your city will still have the jobs (even office tower projects with no tenants moving forward....must be nice) and residential development, as long as people still want to live, and companies still want to setup shop, in the region.

With the exception of Suzanne Anton's streetcar pet project (where Translink, including Langley taxpayers are expected to pay for) and the NPA's insistence that the UBC Line goes before Surrey Rapid Transit, most Vancouver politicians regardless of party overall support transit improvements throughout the region, not just the city of Vancouver.

I even remember back in the day when I had such dislike over Larry Campbell and the COPE party, but when RAV was defeated the first time, Larry was interviewed. Despite the defeat (ironically by Vancouver politicians themselves), he says the Northeast Sector rapid transit still needs to move forward, and from then on, I had a lot of respect for him.

[metroXpress]

Translink going consistent with the new "T" logo signage across all bus stops.

http://buzzer.translink.ca/index.php...nd-the-region/

[GeeCee]

Nice big T for a bus stop... I like it!

[Mac Write]

Great for the signs, but I wish it had the route number or destination the bus goes to. The sign will be easier to read for the visually impaired (me).

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

Great for the signs, but I wish it had the route number or destination the bus goes to. The sign will be easier to read for the visually impaired (me).

Translink (Jhen) made a reply regarding that in the blog. Community stops with the simple sign above containing only stop number will stay the same. This is to avoid possible route changes that will result in wrong signage.


Major bus loops will still have them:




Perhaps they should add a QR code scanner that links to the new NextBus service so people don't need to enter the bus number on their smartphones.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by queetz@home

...With the exception of Suzanne Anton's streetcar pet project (where Translink, including Langley taxpayers are expected to pay for) and the NPA's insistence that the UBC Line goes before Surrey Rapid Transit, most Vancouver politicians regardless of party overall support transit improvements throughout the region, not just the city of Vancouver.

I even remember back in the day when I had such dislike over Larry Campbell and the COPE party, but when RAV was defeated the first time, Larry was interviewed. Despite the defeat (ironically by Vancouver politicians themselves), he says the Northeast Sector rapid transit still needs to move forward, and from then on, I had a lot of respect for him.

I'm not sure where you're getting that from. The NPA made it clear the streetcar was to be a P3 project. Translink wasn't required to kick in a thing. Of course, the NDP farm team, Vision Vancouver, with their nice bag o' donations from CUPE (there's a conflict of interest if I ever saw one) won't touch a P3 with a 10 foot pole, therefore we will have the nice streetcar scar running through the OV for years to come.

As to Larry Campbell, the term "gasbag" was invented for just such a figure.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by metroXpress

Perhaps they should add a QR code scanner that links to the new NextBus service so people don't need to enter the bus number on their smartphones.

While the idea may sound good, QR codes require ongoing maintenance to signs because people can easily stick another QR code overtop of the bus stop one that will, for instance, link you to somewhere that will install a virus on your phone. For reasons of liability, it is perhaps not in the best interest of TransLink to do.

[ryanmaccdn]

Originally Posted by deasine

While the idea may sound good, QR codes require ongoing maintenance to signs because people can easily stick another QR code overtop of the bus stop one that will, for instance, link you to somewhere that will install a virus on your phone. For reasons of liability, it is perhaps not in the best interest of TransLink to do.

The bigger question here is who uses QR codes!?

I feel like I'm in a marketing dept meeting and the CEO is saying to add QR because its hip and cool, but all the young people are shaking their heads going who the &*$^ uses them.

I find I can type the info into my Iphone faster then having to launch an app, balance for a photo and wait to be directed to a site.

Plus are QR codes a mainly BB thing? I though they were going out of business next year or something.

I think the auto location tool on the mobile site fixes the issue to the original question?

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by ryanmaccdn

The bigger question here is who uses QR codes!?

I feel like I'm in a marketing dept meeting and the CEO is saying to add QR because its hip and cool, but all the young people are shaking their heads going who the &*$^ uses them.

I find I can type the info into my Iphone faster then having to launch an app, balance for a photo and wait to be directed to a site.

Plus are QR codes a mainly BB thing? I though they were going out of business next year or something.

I think the auto location tool on the mobile site fixes the issue to the original question?

Agreed. I don't know anyone who uses QR codes. Seems like a marketing thing that never took off