TransLink is leading the development of Transport 2050, a new long-term transportation strategy for our region. And thousands of you who live, work and play across Metro Vancouver have stepped up to have a say!

Transport 2050 will set out what our region needs to build, do, and provide to meet our transportation needs between now and 2050. And a regional strategy needs regional input, so we’ve launched the largest engagement in our history to ask: What’s important to you? What are your transportation priorities? And, what are your ideas for the future?

After just one month of engagement, Metro Vancouverites have completed almost 9,000 surveys and shared almost 900 bold and creative ideas for the future. Below are some highlights from Phase 1 of engagement but if you haven’t taken part yet – don’t despair! You can participate until September 22.

Ideas | 896 bold and creative ones

You’ve shared hundreds of diverse and thought-provoking suggestions, with ideas ranging from upgrading transit to improving amenities; embracing technology to changing how we pay for transportation; introducing new services and much, much more.

Some of the ideas submitted that have generated the most votes and online conversations, are:

• Gondolas, everywhere!: including to SFU Burnaby and around the region.
• Repurpose road space: speed up travel, turn street parking into dedicated bus routes or use the space for something else. Add protected bike lanes on commercial streets.
• Turn up the trains: expand SkyTrain hours on weekends and offer West Coast Express all day, everyday.
• More trains: commuter trains to Squamish and Whistler, and connecting major centres in the region. Canada Line from Horseshoe Bay to Tsawwassen.
• SkyTrain livin’: put more housing and amenities around major stations, including shops and more affordable homes.
• Customer comfort matters: offer washrooms at stations and real-time bus updates on displays at major stations.
• How we pay for mobility: introduce congestion pricing to reduce traffic. Put a daily cap on Compass Card charges.
• FerryBus, SeaBus’ little cousin: give locals and tourists alike the chance to use Compass Card to pay to travel on the region’s various waterways.

Once Phase 1 engagement wraps up in September, we’ll publish an engagement report, summarizing what we’ve heard. We’ll then review all the ideas and evaluate which ones will work best for our region. We’ll group the most promising ideas into options and come back to you to help us weigh the trade-offs.

What do you think? Love an idea? Have a different idea to share? Transit over to transport2050.ca and vote, comment, or share your ideas.

Surveys | 8,888 engaged residents

We’ve heard from every one of the 23 municipalities within Metro Vancouver, as well as from people who live outside our service area but commute into our region. Here’s who’s sharing their views in Metro Vancouver:

Have you participated yet? Take our survey at transport2050.ca

Next month, we’ll publish another update to let you know how things are going.

Author: Keane Gruending