You asked, we listened!

As part of the approved Phase 1 investments in the Mayors’ 10-year Vision, upgrades for the 22^nd Street Bus Exchange were identified.

The bus exchange, which serves eight bus routes and connections to Expo Line SkyTrain, is located in the southwest of New Westminster. It is more than 30 years old and serves over 9,000 customers each weekday.

The exchange is being upgraded to improve your safety and comfort, and to help meet the needs of our growing region – all as part of the TransLink Maintenance and Repair Program.

Construction is starting in February 2019 and will continue until summer 2019.

Improvements include:

• Enhanced lighting for increased safety
• A widened waiting area and additional seating that reduces crowding and makes it easier to transfer between bus and SkyTrain
• New bus shelters for enhanced safety and comfort
• Colourful public art with 22 graphic icons of phytoplankton found near the exchange that boosts the spirit and vibrancy of the area.

Public art at the bus exchange

Public art has long been an integral component in the development of successful transit systems. It helps create a welcoming and safe transportation environment; it supports community integration of our stations and encourages gathering places which help to reduce crime and vandalism.

TransLink chooses artwork locations in a variety of ways. Typically, we commission a public artwork as part of a facility renovation project. To select the art, we put together a panel made up of art experts and TransLink representatives, and they choose the art based on submissions received from professional artists.

The artwork at the 22nd Street bus exchange is called WANDER: Toward a Lightness of Being and encourages playful discovery of and advocacy for the lives of phytoplankton, painting a picture of the inhabiting water critters in the area of the Fraser River near the 22nd Street Bus Exchange site.

Thalassiosira

Didymosphenia

Eudorina

This vision aims to encourage the curiosity of general public and commuters about the natural and built environment surrounding the site, and to aesthetically enhance its spirit and vibrancy.

There are twenty-two graphic icons derived from microscope imagery taken by directed studies students Hannah Avenant, Eli Braunstein, Max Chen, Isabel Jankowski, Katarina Kusa, and Dorothy Yan, supervised by Environmental Science Director Dr. Tara Ivanochko, and assisted by Dr. Michael Lipsen, at the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at UBC.

The artwork is produced by Laiwan, an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator with a wide-ranging practice based in poetics and philosophy. Born in Zimbabwe of Chinese parents, her family immigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia. She founded OR Gallery in 1983 and currently teaches at the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA. Laiwan lives in Vancouver.

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A post shared by Laiwan (@laiwanette_)

Bus stop relocation

Alongside this project, we are working with the Ministry of Transportation to upgrade the Stewardson Way pedestrian and cyclist overpass to allow safer and better access to the exchange and the SkyTrain station.

All buses will continue serving the 22nd Street Bus Exchange throughout the project, however, some bus stops will be temporarily relocated and some services may be adjusted. We will have signs at the station to help illustrate where the stops are temporarily relocated as well as extra staff on site to help direct customers.

There are four phases of construction for this project:

• The project will begin with two brief phases (expected to last approximately one week each) starting on February 4 to accommodate necessary electrical work at the exchange. Bays 5-8 will be impacted during the first brief phase, and bays 1-4 will be impacted during the second brief phase.
• The remainder of the project will be conducted in two longer phases (approximately three months each), each resulting in a closure of half of the loop. Bays 1-4 will be impacted during the third phase and bays 5-8 will be impacted during the fourth phase.
• There will be an exception to the above on a number of weekends, during which the entire exchange will be relocated along 7th Avenue. The first impacted weekend will be later February/early March. The remaining four weekends will be spaced out over several months.

We thank our customers and neighbours for their patience while we improve the 22nd Street Bus Exchange. Watch the video above to see a fly-through rendering of how the bus exchange will look like!

We’ve recently upgraded Commercial–Broadway SkyTrain station as well! Want to stay up-to-date on the 22nd Street Exchange, and other plans and projects? Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to be in the know, and sign up for service alerts!

Author: Tanushree Pillai