Capturing the last days of the 98 B-Line
Capturing the last days of the 98 B-Line
David Lam has sent along a new photo gallery of the final days of the 98 B-Line bus route, which was discontinued on September 7.
The photos are from David and George Prior, and cover the 98 B-Line along its entire route. They also capture the very last run of the 98 B-Line, at 1:07 a.m. on September 7 (see here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Plus, here’s a photo of the last 98 B-Line not in service at Steveston and Shell, the very last stop for the line before returning to the depot.
As well, David has a sped-up video of the entire 98 B-Line route, taken through the front window of a bus. Check it out here: part 1 , part 2, part 3.
As many of you may know, David and George are behind the vast Trans-Continental transit photo archive. It was formerly named the Trans-Vancouver photo archive, and I did an interview with George and David about it last year.
Great footage, guys — and thanks for sharing it with us, Dave!
Edit: Ivan has also shared a gallery of 98 B-Line photos!
Raphael also has two very nice videos: one of the 98 B-Line and one of the 424.
Where are those D60LFs now? I heard that they were going to be transferred to Surrey but no sign of them.
I think some have been put onto the 135 and 145. The extras will only going to Surrey if we have the funding to provide that new route next year, and it’s not clear at the moment what funding we will have — the Mayors’ Council comes back with their decision at the end of October.
Apparently the links don’t work saying “object not found”
Fixed!
Great photos and videos! As for the buses, I think I saw some of them on the 480 route.
Will the 98 B line bus shelters be removed or will they be left for the forseeable future?
I’ve been curious, at present, what percentage of the buses involved in the lines being retired are planned to continue operating, and what portion of them are expected to be retired along with the lines they served?
Is it primarily older model buses or will Translink be parking newer buses as well?
Also, I got my chance to ride the Canada Line over Labour Day! It’s fantastic! I took it from the airport and went straight to a friends place at King Edward for tea.
The “Richmond” B-line buses are still being used in Richmond, mostly on the #480 & #620 routes right now… The plan was to move them to Surrey for their new #399 B-line which was supposed to start in March 2010, BUT those plans may be in the process of being delayed due to funding issues…
I still see these buses on the 620 and 480 routes. It feels weird seeing the articulated buses pass by without them displaying 98 Richmond Centre/Burrard STN B-Line.
It also feels weird seeing some of the Orion V buses on routes like the 402, 403 and 404.
And all this time I never managed to get on a 98 Steveston & Shell (it was one of my goals).
I was kind of planning on taking a B-Line on the last day of service but I never managed to.
@Jhen Do you know if and when Richmond-Brighouse Exchange will be receiving street furniture? I see so many people filling the sidewalks, standing for their next bus.
Also, do you know if there are any plans to have some sort of pedestrian overpass or pedestrian crosswalk lights for people crossing from the east side of 3 Road (station side) to the west side (mall side) at Richmond-Brighouse?
I get a little misty-eye over the 98 BLine. I remember the planning meetings and long debates (200 delegations and individuals) about introducing the 98. There was a 2 or 3 month transit strike that suspended the service before it could start. The No 3 Bus only lanes really worked, however they were too short. It would sometimes take 15-20 minutes to get from Save-on on Ackroyd to Richmond City Hall. Jay-walkers running in the bus lanes also restricted service. Perhaps the biggest achievement the 98 did was established a foundation for the Canada Line and proved Richmond commuters do take transit, disproving many arguments the Canada Line would be running empty.
I saw pieces of the shelters thrown on the Oak and 41st transit yard lawn a month ago.
I hear many of the older buses are getting an extended life for 2010 coverage.
@ ;-) I don’t think so, most of the older D40s and D60s will likely retire by the end of next year as they will be replaced by the new 40 ft nova hybrids coming next year. But the older buses will stick around for the Olympics.
First off I’d like to say great photos to David and others from Trans-Cont.
Although bittersweet as the #98 B-line shouldn’t have gotten the axe when the Canada Line took reign. Guaranteed that another incarnation (or even resurrection) of the #98 B-Line will come back once the overcrowdedness of the Canada Line reaches critical (won’t be long I’m afraid)
I don’t think the 98B-Line should have been retired. The Canada Line isn’t a good replacement for an ‘express’ bus along Granville Street … which is how it served a great many riders in Vancouver. I live at Granville and 10th Avenue and ride to Waterfront (and back) as my daily commute. I chose this ‘hood because I could get to Waterfront so rapidly. The trollies and their many many stops make the commute longer for me (and far more
motion-sickness-inducing). With the 98B gone, I’ll actually likely buy a motorcycle. But I hope Translink will consider an Express Bus style service along corridors other than Broadway.
I loved the sped-up video clips of the B-Line route… thanks David for making them!
@ Graham Vaughan, I agree that express service along Granville Street should return. Perhaps not all the way to Richmond, but even part way down Granville would be a valuable route. I and many others I know found the B-Line service the best way to get from downtown to Granville & Broadway. Tons of people would always empty out at Broadway, no matter what time of the day or night.
Jhenifer, a couple years ago I remember talk of introducing a downtown/Fairview/East Van loop route going around Broadway, Granville, Hastings, & Commercial (and reverse). Can’t remember whether it was to be express or not. Are there any plans to create such a bus route in the near future? I know I’d use it all the time, and it would take a lot of heat off heavily-used portions of the 99, 20, 135, and 10 (ex-98) routes.
Tsushima:
Lo and behold, the City of Richmond is indeed installing a traffic signal-controlled crosswalk just outside of the Richmond-Brighouse Station entrance.
No one in particular:
I have mixed feelings about the 98 B-Line. When I was a teenager and all the 400-series buses were serving Richmond, I thought it had been so neat that at one time (until 1977), there’d been a “60 Richond Express” bus that provided express service along Granville and the Oak Bridge, between Downtown and what is now Sexsmith Park & Ride. And then one day, it returned, better than ever!
The bus lane down No 3 Road was innovative, and definitely speeded up service—as did the fact that B-Line buses could extend the green phase on almost all the traffic signals it went through in Richmond and Vancouver (outside of Downtown), thus reducing the number of red lights it had to wait at. The City of Richmond was rightfully proud of the bus lane and the way it transformed the streetscape—Number 3 Road had been so ugly before—and it became a showcase for other cities considering similar facilities. I believe it was also designed so that it could be converted to streetcar operation at a later date. Being able to make legal U-turns along Number 3 Road was kind of neat too!
But as construction of the Canada Line progressed, the bus lane was removed, and the B-Line bus had to go through various detours, it seemed to get increasingly slow and unreliable. It wasn’t the B-Line’s “fault,” but the many times I was trying to get Downtown in a hurry only to be let down by a painfully slow B-Line bus left a bitter taste in my mouth. (I wouldn’t be so cynical as to think that TransLink did that on purpose to make the Canada Line seem more attractive when it opened! ;) )
A case could definitely be made for restoring some kind of express route along Granville, perhaps between Marine Drive Station and Downtown. It’s my recollection that trolleybus service along Granville used to be much better than it is now, before the 98 B-Line was introduced. It is a major corridor, and a long way to Downtown. Then again, a similar case could be made for the Main, Fraser, Knight, and Victoria routes—and the Granville has the advantage of running practically nonstop between 63rd and 16th Avenues—so where do you draw the line?
@Reva: I don’t think it was going to be an Express route. But what made it special was that it was going to be FREE. Click on my name link for details.
The problem with these great ideas is how will it be funded. Will the immediate neighbourhoods that benefit be prepared to see their property taxes increase to cover the cost? Especially at a time when Translink has problems paying the current bills and residents are challenged living paycheque to paycheque?
Then there’s the administration…. with free service (remember when Canada Line was free for just one day), what will the frequency be (once an hour?) and will it be 24hr service? Will it be so crowded that it will be unusable (eg 49th discussion)? Will the homeless just make it a home and ride it all day? With a premium service, will the immediate neighbourhoods be prepared to pay for that premium on their property taxes?
I looked at the pictures of the ol’ 98 (btw…I did ride a 98 stevie & shell :plol), and I almost thought it was the toxic bus a few years back…but the last number was wrong….it was R8074…this one is R8078….rats! Oh well….lol
Anyone remember the toxic bus?
Reva, cree, Graham:
Sadly, I’m not sure that new routes are likely in our immediate future, since our funding situation is rather uncertain. As you know, we have a large shortfall in our budget for next year, and the Mayors’ Council will be deciding in October about how much funding we can raise to cover that shortfall. That might well be a smaller lift in funding, as our CEO Tom Prendergast spoke about in the Surrey Leader.
Tsushima:
Street furniture at almost all stops are actually handled by the municipalities (we only own the sign and the pole at stops). So I suppose you’ll have to ask the City of Richmond if they’re going to put in the street furniture!
Hey think you could send some of those retiring buses our way? Here in Toronto I ride to school on a gm ” new look ” bus- the likes of which were retired in van in the early 90s.
Tristan:
I think we’re going to need some of them around here for the Olympics, at least :)
@ ;-) : Ahh, so that’s where I heard about the loop route, in an election platform! Sigh.
Well, the easy solution to all the issues that go along with “free” service would be to make such a route part of the regular transit system, i.e., charge regular Translink fares to ride it.
That being said, the funding shortfall issue will definitely have to be dealt with before Translink decides to introduce any new services. :(
Keeping fingers crossed for a workable solution in the funding department.
Patrick Meehan:
Here’s the answer to your bus question from our folks at fleet management (and btw, glad you enjoyed the Canada Line!):
I saw a B-Line painted bus operating on the #43 route this morning.
I have to think that some of the people who took the 98 to Broadway and Granville are now using Canada Line to Broadway and Cambie.
The lack of express buses in Vancouver highlights the fact that we’ve gotten used to having bus stops on virtually every corner. In other countries bus stops are often so far apart that it’s hard to find a stop if you arrive half way between two. I recall trying to find a bus stop in London and eventually giving up and walking to the nearest Tube station. While widely spaced stops discourage people because they have to walk farther, the Vancouver system discourages people because the service is too slow. There are several locations along the #41 route where there are two stops within spitting distance of each other. Westbound stops at Chester/Fraser and Ash/Cambie are two examples.
Somehow a happy medium needs to be found.
My wife and I like the new #33 because it has widely spaced stops. That makes it faster in non-peak times than the 25 or 41 and more comfortable too because there are fewer stops/starts. Having said that the 33 has to cope with some truly awful traffic congestion at times. The lineup for the light at Knight Street regularly stretches half way to Fraser on the west and half way to Victoria on the east. Hopefully things will improve when King Edward re-opens to traffic.
Re downtown to Broadway loop bus route, my recollection was for a trolley route to provide same bus service between the West End and Central Broadway, returning via the Cambie Bridge. This was shelved in 2005 mainly due to RAV-line construction starting up shortly afterward along Cambie. What was never made clear to me was how the southbound buses would turn left to go east along Broadway; Granville is too narrow to put in a left turn lane, thus wires would need to be strung along the Fir Street offramp (a good backup plan when capital resources permit this project).
Quick comments about express buses along Granville: ironically the best/quickest way for SouthOfFraser riders to make this happen would be to use the RAV-line so heavily that express buses would become necessary. Another (longshot?) possibility would be a premium bus service analogous to the WCE Trainbus. My $0.02 worth.
Robert: The turn from SB Granville to EB Broadway can be accomplished, in a trolley in the following manner, right 10th, right Fir, right Broadway. This wire has existed for as long as I can remember.
I have to say, I am continually amazed by everyone’s detailed knowledge of the system :) Who knew the trolley wire was there?
Jhenifer: All the drivers know most of the wire!!
Aha! I didn’t know you were an operator.
I have taken some pictures of the 98 BLine Busway on No. 3 Road back in 2006 and it is at this link on Picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/ivan.icchan/ALookBackAtThe98BLineBuswayInRichmondBC?feat=directlink
I’d say most regular riders would know about the 10th – Fir – Broadway wire, since the westbound 9 Broadway to Granville has its layover on 10th at Fir.
Furthermore, the 17 currently goes over the Granville Street Bridge and ends up eastbound on Broadway. The bus takes the 4th Ave offramp, turns right on Fir, right on 4th, right on Hemlock and left on Broadway. This route was established a few years ago for Canada Line construction. Wire was added at that time for a left turn from Hemlock southbound to Broadway eastbound. Click on my name for a visual aid. :-)
Good riddance to the 98 B-Line. Don’t miss it at all. Whenever I take the 98 it’s almost always from end to end as I live in Richmond. If the Skytrain Canada Line opened just 2 months earlier, I would’ve taken it to work, since I worked near Langara/Oakridge (I’m now in the US doing grad school). So I drove because of the 98.
Jhenifer, about the funding issues, I think Translink should first be ABOLISHED. Return it to the responsibility of the provincial gov’t, the BC Transit. And BC Transit should ONLY be responsible for public transit, not also with road maintenance. Translink is way too top-heavy at the bureaucratic level (also too much bureaucracy as you added the regional layer of the bureaucratic process for transit) to run efficiently. Cut salaries of BOTH overpaid executives, bus drivers and other transit related personnel. That should recover some of the costs.
If drivers are overpaid… Why does Translink need to advertise job openings? During a workforce shortage period, everyone is competing for workers, whether you work for Translink or not.
By Express Bus service, I don’t necessarily mean a different ‘line’ with different stops locations (ie. The B-Line had it’s own pullouts).
I mean make an ‘Express’ version of popular routes. Same pullouts, but only stop at every fourth stop … or only at major intersections or attractions. A Number 10 Express SB for instance would stop at 49th, 41st, 33rd, King Ed, Broadway, 4th, Davie, Robson, Waterfront.
Same for Main Street, Fraser, etc.
I think there’s an argument for all-day service, but even just commuting hours would be great!
As an additional note, I don’t know whether they are or not, but if the North/South trollies – when downtown – are going to return to running up/down the Granville Mall, then perhaps the bus-lane on Seymour could remain and be for express buses only.
The fact is, when I’m standing at my stop and and have two choices (fast but maybe stopping further from my destination, or slower but door-to-door) I will be a more satisfied transit user. Same route, but choice. And for the thousands of us who ride from transfer to transfer, Express Buses make sense.
I got home that night around 3 am, and couldn’t sleep for another hour, I was just sitting wide awake…
I had to get up before 8:30 the next morning. As soon as my eyes opened, the first thought that crossed my mind was… the 98 B-Line doesn’t exist anymore.
It was actually kind of hard to deal with.
I commuted to UBC that day via 401, Canada Line, 99. It was dead (this was Labour Day, yes I had to go to school that day, not for classes). It felt really weird.
Henry A:
Well, abolishing TransLink isn’t really something that I can do anything about — you’d have to write to your provincial and municipal representatives if you’d like movement on that issue.
However, in case you’re curious, the municipalities and the province worked together to build TransLink in the 1990s — the history can be found in our TransLink history book. Dedicated funding for our transit system was also found with the creation of TransLink, which didn’t exist before.
Our media resource guide also has explanations of our admin costs, which are roughly 13% of our total. Admin costs of 13% are also the average admin amount compared to systems in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton. It’s quite efficient when you bear in mind that we serve a larger area than some of those systems, too.
Why are the D60LF buses that were operating the 98 B-Line getting retired in 6-7 years? There still pretty good buses to by retired that early. These buses were only added to the fleet when the 98 B-Line was introduced.
Shouldn’t the older D60LF buses that are on 99 B-Line be retired first?