BOOSTING THE B-LINE
Glenn Knowles, president of the Kerrisdale Business Association, hopes expanded B-Line service and changes planned for 41st Avenue improve pedestrian safety in the neighbourhood, attract increased ridership to the area, and reduce congestion.
The head of the Kerrisdale business group hopes that changes planned for the new 41st Avenue B-Line reduce traffic congestion and improve pedestrian safety in the neighbourhood.
Glenn Knowles, president of the Kerrisdale Business Association, said while he has concerns about how changing the location of the express bus stops will affect the safety of pedestrians and the flow of vehicle traffic, his association supports the introduction of the expanded B-Line service.
“We’re very supportive of it,” he said Wednesday. “On a few different fronts, it’s beneficial to Kerrisdale Village. One is that it will bring in increased ridership and make it easier for people to come into the village. They hopefully will be patrons of businesses.
“Second, it will also help with congestion around the boulevard.”
Knowles was referring to the intersection of West 41st and East and West boulevards, which are separated by the Arbutus Greenway. It’s considered one of Vancouver’s most complex intersections where movement of vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians is complicated by the unusual geometry of two north-south streets close to each other that cross a busy eastwest street. During an interview Wednesday at about 11 a.m., traffic congestion occurred that’s typical for the intersection.
A double-length westbound No. 43 Express Bus destined for the University of B.C. crossed West Boulevard and stopped just past the northwest corner to unload and pick up passengers. When it stopped, several cars had little choice but to also stop behind it, blocking the intersection. Some immediately put on their leftturn blinkers to change lanes but couldn’t do so while traffic in the other westbound lane passed by.
When the traffic light changed, vehicles stopped behind the bus couldn’t move and continued to block north-south traffic on West Boulevard.
For eastbound traffic, congestion is often triggered by the absence of a left-turn lane on 41st at West Boulevard. On Wednesday morning, an eastbound bus was stopped at the southwest corner to drop off and pick up passengers and a car was turning left, effectively stopping all eastbound traffic along 41st.
As part of changes for the new B-Line that is expected to start late this year or in early 2020, the two stops on either side of 41st at West Boulevard for double-length express buses will be moved a short distance east on 41st by East Boulevard.
“That will be a plus for the community,” said Knowles, owner of Gem Chocolates. “It will help with pedestrian traffic and flow.”
Moving the bus stops, Knowles said, will help improve pedestrian safety by changing how students from nearby Point Grey secondary school get to and from the express bus stops. Since the school is on East Boulevard, students will have to cross only one set of traffic lights to get to eastbound B-Line buses.
Several metered parking spots on 41st will be removed to accommodate the new B-Line bus stops at East Boulevard. The 41st Avenue B-Line connects Joyce-Collingwood Station on the Expo Line to UBC. It’s described as the second-busiest transit street in the region after Broadway.
Both TransLink and the City of Vancouver said that neither can say how many parking stalls will be removed along the entire 19-kilometre route because technical details of changes to parking regulations still haven’t been confirmed.
“We want to get this right,” TransLink and the city said in a joint statement. “What we can tell you is that we plan to retain the vast majority of the parking through the retail core of Kerrisdale and to retain parking on the south side of the retail area in Dunbar.”