Phase 2 of the Downtown Bus Service Review begins April 2
Phase 2 of the Downtown Bus Service Review begins April 2
Since our last Buzzer post on the Review, TransLink and City staff have worked together to develop and evaluate dozens of route alternatives that respond to the themes identified in Phase 1 and take into account the road closures being considered by the City of Vancouver that could affect which streets are available for transit use. Now we want to share the most promising design concepts and get your feedback!
To refresh your memory, our goal is to establish a shared vision for the future of the downtown local bus network. We asked for your input and heard a lot about how getting around downtown by bus could be improved. Service frequency, consistent and reliable routes, access to rapid-transit, and connections between downtown neighbourhoods were identified as four of the top ten themes.
Have your say and get involved!
Attend an open house or fill out the online questionnaire by April 21, 2014. Open Houses are taking place on:
- Saturday, April 5 – 11 am to 2 pm – West End Community Centre
- Wednesday, April 9 – 3 pm to 6 pm – Woodward’s Atrium
- Thursday, April 10 – 3 pm to 6 pm – Roundhouse Community Centre – Great Hall
- Saturday, April 12 – 11 am to 2 pm – Vancouver Public Library Central Branch – Atrium
All materials presented at the open houses are available on the TransLink website.
Author: Angela Salehi
Could have been worse…but could be better…
Don’t forget to check this proposal:
http://voony.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/vancouver-downtown-transit-network-the-local-view/
If route C21 and C17 is redesigned as per Translink proposal, I believe the proposed route 5 and 6 routing are better than the one proposed by Translink (even if the eastern expension to Main can be discussed)
@Voony
Had good look at your proposal and I really like it!! I really can’t think of anything that could be improved/changed
As a West End resident, I’m just happy Translink is finally looking at something. You’re proposal for the 5/6 drastically improves the connectively with Gastown/DTES. I currently hate having to take 2 busses to get something like 4km. And the connectively of the 6 with Stadium-Chinatown Station at Expo and Abbott is wonderful and much closer than at Cambie and Dunsmuir as Translink proposes. And your routing of the 5 has it on Beatty which provides a seamless transfer as well.
And the extensions of the north shore busses to Main St Station, a definite thumbs up for that! The 5/6 extension to Denman I’m neutral about. The connectivity seems great and I could be swayed. I’m just not sure how losing the direction connection from Robson to English bay would go over.
Overall you’ve put a lot of thought into it! Why aren’t you working at Translink?!?
I definitely don’t think closing Robson square is a good idea, but I’m happy Translink is prepared to finally get a left turn in at Robson at Burrard if the City of Vancouver unfortunately goes ahead with it. I’m also happy Translink is looking at moving the 5 Robson from Richards to Granville. It is so inconvenient; you can’t even transfer from the Expo line to it without walking two blocks.
I don’t ride the other buses as much, but the changes all seem positive and I would definitely support!!
Although, I hope Translink is listening that I really prefer Voony’s suggestion for the 5/6 :)
I like the combining of the c21 and c23 – a 10 min and a 23 min route. TransLink understandably doesn’t want too many short routes when some can be reasonably joined together.
The proposed changes, especially A1, B1, and C1, will make the bus network easier to understand and better connected to rapid transit.
For the proposed network to remain simple and easy to use, the city will have to commit to leaving Cambie open to buses between Georgia and Dunsmuir. If the city will continue to close Robson Square to buses regularly or seasonally, the 5 should always use Burrard instead of Granville so that people are able to learn where to catch the bus and where the bus goes.
The routes in the Hastings corridor are improved under the proposed network, with buses going similar places on the same street. I think that a review with a different scope could be useful to improve service along Hastings east of Main. One of the problems is that there are several routes in the corridor each operated either too infrequently off-peak and sometimes on adjacent streets to provide consistent headways and minimal wait times. The current and proposed arrangements also transmit disruptions to service downtown into unreliable service on the busier parts of Main, Fraser, and Commercial/Victoria.
It would be nice to have a way to overlay the maps of any one of the options so that we can see how they all come together.
It’s great to see that the network design concepts being presented are resonating with Buzzer Blog readers. We’re pretty excited about them! We’re definitely open to suggestions for how they can be refined or improved, though, so keep ‘em coming. And make sure you fill out a questionnaire!https://www.talkvancouver.com/S.aspx?s=89&r=3K_X8edmgEa5Wv7oTlhtzA&so=true&a=240&fromdetect=1
We’re reading through Voony’s proposal now and there are some great ideas in there, and a lot of similarities with the concepts being presented, so thanks for sharing that.
Alex makes a good point about how the concepts can work together, this will be an important consideration as we develop the final network vision.
I like the proposed changes.
No. 5: If the city is going to keep closing Robson then I think the 5 should ber permanently routed away from that closed portion – via Burrard for example, so it is consistent year round. I’d like to see trolley wires erected to allow this to happen with minimal detouring.
No. 6 – I like the connection, but will this require additional wires? Is there a demand for the 6 to continue to Stanley Park making a connection with North Shore routes at Denman and Georgia? Doing this will Eliminate the interlining of the 5 and 6 at Denman and Davie.
I want to make sure that it is very important to see whether or not his is something that is going to improve in many way.