Bus Route Buzz: West End & Downtown – 5/6/C21/C23
Bus Route Buzz: West End & Downtown – 5/6/C21/C23
Back again with the next installment Bus Route Buzz!
Today we’re taking a closer look at the service changes for the West End and Downtown Vancouver, specifically the 5, 6, C21 and C23.
There are new trolley wires that have been installed along Cambie extending the 5 and 6 route.
6 Davie/Downtown
This 6 will now extend along Davie Street to provide better connections to Yaletown, Canada Line and Cambie Street.
Headed to the Expo Line? Transfer from the 5 at Burrard Station or the 5 or 6 at Cambie and Dunsmuir – one block away from Stadium–Chinatown Station.
C21 and C23
These routes are merging into the new 23 Main Street Station/Yaletown/Beach serving Beach Avenue, Yaletown–Roundhouse, Stadium–Chinatown and Main Street–Science World Stations.
The redesign is to make our bus service more useful for people in this area. The conventional buses have over twice the capacity of Community Shuttles reducing the chance of pass-ups and overcrowding.
Stay tuned for the next edition in our bus route where we look at some Central Tri-Cities routes.
Plan ahead! Visit Trip Planner to map your route – use December 19 or later as your travel date.
Have questions? Contact Customer Information at 604.953.3333 or tweet @TransLink.
Author: Adrienne Coling
So the 23 is changing from community shuttles to conventional buses then?
Hey there! The 23 is going to be continuing to be a Community Shuttle vehicle however, the portion of that route that went on Davie will now be served by the 6, which is a conventional bus, and that bus will go to Canada Line and help reduce overcrowding on the Community Shuttles. Thanks!
Hi, Adrienne:
Just so you guys know, most of the maps in the regional timetables for the interim period Dec 19-Jan 1 are not up to date (http://www.translink.ca/en/Schedules-and-Maps/Bus/Schedules-by-Region.aspx).
That includes Vancouver Book 2, whose maps still show the old routings for the routes showcased here (#6 and C21/C23). Only the post-Jan 2 timetable shows the updated maps.
I don’t know how many people would rely on the maps buried in PDF files with a shelf life of two weeks, but per your request on the other thread, I dropped a note for Customer Relations.
So glad to hear you’re excited about the Evergreen Extension!
And thank you so much for the heads up on the schedules, I’m sending the issue to planning to see what’s up there. Thanks again!
Me again! With the Evergreen Extension opening tomorrow (yay!) we have a lot of materials to update ahead of the launch of one of our largest service changes on record! So, we are in the process of updating the timetable PDFs and will make those changes. In the meantime, we are encouraging customers to use Trip Planner to ensure they are mapping the correct route. Thanks again!
By the way, all commentary aside, it’s exciting to see all these changes! As a lifelong trolleybus fan, it’s always great to see the network expand. And I live close to the Evergreen Extension, so am looking forward to riding it starting on Friday.
I’m going to miss the shuttles—I’ve taken particular enjoyment in riding the C23 along Beach, particularly after coming home from the airport (a nice cozy picturesque ride home to the west end).
It’s going to be interesting watching a 40-foot trolley make the hairpin turn onto Morton.
Hi, Adrienne:
Thank you very much for the feedback! For the record, Vancouver Book 1 and North Vancouver were up to date, while the other timetables still had the old maps.
I only found it because I was so keen to see how all the new routes would look, laid out on the maps.
We really appreciate it! There’s so much to replace and update so extra eyes are always helpful :)
So some historical trivia…this is not the first time that trolleybuses have gone northbound on Cambie! From 1952 to 1957, the #7 Dunbar was paired with the #17 Oak, and it came off the old Connaught Bridge (Cambie Bridge), west onto Robson, north on Cambie, then left onto Hastings and Granville, and over the Granville Bridge.
But when the City of Vancouver introduced one-way streets in 1957, Cambie became one-way southbound and the wires were removed. Also, the #17 Oak was hooked up with the #4 Fourth, and ran northbound on Hamilton instead of Cambie. Now Cambie is 2-way again, and the wires have returned!
(There also used to be wires eastbound on Davie from Seymour to Richards prior to 1957, and northbound on Cambie from Smithe to Robson until the late 70s, but this comment is too long already and that’s another story.)
Ben:
That would be interesting to see trolleybuses make the turn from Beach onto Morton, but I think the #5/6 are going to just operate in a big loop, really as two separate services.
One service will likely operate clockwise from Downtown as the 6 Davie, returning as the 5 Downtown; while the other will run counterclockwise from Downtown as the 5 Robson, returning as the 6 Downtown.
Ah, I must have misunderstood, then. In the first comment here, CJ asks “So the 23 is changing from community shuttles to conventional buses then?”, and I am virtually positive that there was a subsequent response from Adrienne essentially saying “yes, that’s right.” Either I’m strangely mistaken, or it was removed.
Glad to hear the [C]23 will retain the small format vehicles!
I thought there was a comment like that, too.
It could also be the original post…reading it, one could be led to think that 40-foot buses were going to operate on the #23 along Beach. That’s what I thought, too (but using diesel buses rather than trolleybuses, I assumed).
I guess the article was referring to the introduction of 40-foot buses (trolleybuses) along Davie east of Granville, down to Yaletown, while Beach will retain the community shuttles?
in the spring service changes, i really think you should change the 23 main St station/Yaletown/beach
to C23 main street science world station/yaletown/beach. It makes more sense to be a community shuttle route. And with the ‘c’ prefix,too.
thanks, Aaron.
Hi,
Just confirming that the #6 no longer goes to Waterfront? Does the C23 still go to Rogers Arena and the bus depot? Where can passengers connect from the 6 onto the C23? And where do west end residents catch the #6 heading home from Downtown? I agree the C23 was always packed lately but not sure these changes are the greatest, seems like a lot more transferring to various buses just to get to and from the West end……
You know what would make the WestEnd even better? If the city created a one way/loop that would allow for better flow of traffic and public transport. As you can see on the map Thurlow/Davie is a one way going South.
If they turned Pacific Street/Beach turning from Thurlow into a way going west you could then make a turn North onto Bidwell, until you get to Nelson, making Nelson into One Way all the way to Thurlow. Thus making a WestEnd Loop.
Thurlow*