Look out: the second round of consultation on alternatives for future UBC Line rapid transit service starts on Wednesday, March 30, 2011!

As you’ll recall, in April and May 2010 we did a first round of consultation on alternatives for rapid transit, on the Broadway corridor from Commercial Drive to UBC. Now, our project team has done more design and evaluation work on those alternatives, and they’re bringing them back for your feedback, before they finalize the results.

Starting Wednesday, March 30, 2011, we’ll be holding four in-person events and one webinar so you can learn more and share your views.

You can also go to the main UBC phase 2 consultation site to examine our work and offer your feedback online until Friday, April 22, 2011. (Details of the alternatives won’t be up until March 30, however!)

Here are the consultation dates and locations:

Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Vancouver Masonic Centre, Jewel Ballroom, 1495 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver (Google map)

Thursday, March 31, 2011, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m
Ponderosa Centre, 2071 West Mall, UBC (UBC map)

Monday, April 4, 2011, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Online webinar
(Homework: make sure to review the alternatives before the webinar, which will be posted on March 30!)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Kits Secondary School Gym, 2550 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver (Google map)

Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Tenth Avenue Alliance Church, 11 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver (Google map)

I’ll also stick these up as events on TransLink’s Facebook page, in case you prefer remembering and sharing events that way.

Webinar on April 4: pre-register, submit questions, do homework

Just like the Surrey rapid transit study consultation, we’re going to do a webinar for the UBC Line!

So if you can’t make it to one of the in-person sessions, join us online on Monday, April 4, 2011 from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. PST, for a live, one-hour online discussion.

Jeff Busby, TransLink’s Manager of Infrastructure Planning, and Erin McConnell, our Manager of Corporate Communications, will talk about the preliminary design alternatives, criteria and initial results in their evaluation, plus the feedback we are looking for. There will be lots of time for questions!

Before the webinar, you can do a few things in advance:

• pre-register on our webinar page
• do a bit of homework: on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, return to the main UBC Line phase 2 consultation page to review the alternatives and evaluation information, so you’re familiar with the topic
• and submit your questions in advance in the blog comments, or to thebuzzer@translink.ca. (You can ask during the webinar too, but advance notice helps ensure we get to the most popular inquiries! Use the Like comment function to vote on questions you’d really like answers on.)

And don’t worry if you can’t attend the webinar, either — we’ll record it and the video will be available after the event, just as we did for Surrey. We’ll also make sure to answer all questions that don’t get covered in the online session.

Spread the word!

If you know anyone who’s interested in this consultation, please share this info on! And let me know if there are any further questions: I will make sure to get you the answers. Hope to see you all at the sessions!