Bike lanes ‘squeezing out’ buses on Pandora

Bus drivers struggling with narrow lanes, other vehicles trying to pass in dangerous manner, drivers’ union says

The bus drivers’ union president says the new Pandora Avenue bicycle corridor is squeezing transit buses out of their lane, creating congestion and unsafe driving conditions that he hopes aren’t replicated on Fort Street.

Unifor Local 333 president Ben Williams said the City of Victoria ignored B.C. Transit’s recommendation of 3.3-metre-wide driving lanes and shrank the space to three metres.

As a result, buses are straddling the middle lane, preventing some commercial vehicles from passing and prompting other drivers to make dangerous passes.

“Our operators have seen some significant slowdowns of traffic, as well as serious safety concerns just trying to fit the vehicle into the laneway the city has created,” Williams said.

“We’d like the city to take a look at Pandora Avenue and consider those concerns before they go ahead and start creating the Fort Street bike lanes.”

City council approved the $3.19-million Fort Street bike plan, which will see a two-lane corridor for cyclists similar to the one on Pandora.

B.C. Transit submitted its best-practices guidelines to the city during consultation for the Pandora bike lanes, spokesman Jonathan Dyck said, but the city has the final say, and it’s up to B.C. Transit to work safely within the infrastructure provided.

The guidelines say the widest bus in B.C. Transit’s fleet is 3.192 metres: “As such, lane widths must be at least this wide without the bus encroaching on adjacent travel lanes.”

The desired minimum lane width for a multilane road is 3.3 metres, the guidelines say.

There are other streets with narrow lanes. Roadways with more than one lane where transit vehicles use a three-metre lane include Bay Street, Blanshard Street, Cook Street, Douglas Street, Finlayson Street, Fort Street, Gorge Road, Government Street, Johnson Street, Quadra Street, Richmond Road and Yates Street.

“In these cases, we work with the City of Victoria to look at other opportunities to accommodate our buses,” Dyck said in an email. That can mean using part of a bike lane along the right side of the road, removing obstructions to accommodate bus mirrors or safely manoeuvring into another lane.

Parts of the Fort Street design will also put buses in three-metre lanes, although those lanes widen to 3.5 metres in the 500 and 600 blocks.

Fraser Work, director of engineering and public works, dismissed claims the lanes are unsafe. “The current design on Pandora is safe.” B.C. Transit guidelines “reflect what they would always prefer to see, and in many cases, we’re not able to achieve that.

“But we achieve safe street design through a number of operational and design treatments.”

That includes trimming tree branches, moving signs and utility poles and involving drivers in trial runs of new road designs, he said.

Beyond design, he said it’s up to drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to use the road safely, including travelling at safe speeds and making safe passes.

While the city would like to meet the 3.3-metre guideline, it has to balance B.C. Transit’s interests with the need for space for bike lanes and sidewalks, he said.

“[Bus drivers] would always prefer a little more space and we would always attempt to give them that, but we have a lot of different competing requirements for small pieces of real estate,” he said.

“When we look at the constraints we’re faced with, our design reflects what we can affordably and safely achieve.”