Group pans TransLink’s route for West Vancouver B-Line bus
Opponents of a TransLink proposal to run a B -line bus route through West Vancouver fear it will turn Marine Drive into a “horse-and-buggy track.”
The vocal citizens’ group has organized several rallies to protest the proposed express bus route, which is part of the 10-year transportation plan for Metro Vancouver.
“I’m not saying no to transit,” said Nigel Malkin, who runs the Stop the Road Closures website.
“I’m saying no to them taking away two lanes of traffic and parking spaces to make way for a B -line to a bathroom.”
The business owner said he thinks the Marine-Main B-line, announced by TransLink last year, should run from the Phibbs Exchange near the Ironworkers’ Bridge in North Vancouver to Park Royal, instead of continuing to Dundarave in West Vancouver as planned.
Malkin believes the last part of the 14-km route through his city, which could see two lanes of traffic designated for buses only, will be little more than a place for buses to turn around and drivers to take a bathroom break.
“They want empty roads for the buses to barrel down and a western terminus for the line, but there’s no ridership in Dundarave,” he said.
Malkin also questioned TransLink’s ridership projections, saying the transit authority could “feed any numbers they wanted into the computer” to show a need for more transit.
But TransLink spokesman Chris Bryan rejected that idea in a detailed response, saying ridership projections were developed using TransLink’s Regional Transportation Model.
“This is a multimodal transportation model that develops demand forecasts based on land use and available transportation options. EMME software is worldwide industry standard.”
TransLink predicts ridership on the Marine-Main B -line to rise from 2.1-2.3 million annual trips in 2019 to 2.9-4 million annual trips in 2035, or 9,000 to 12,800 daily trips. The West Vancouver portion of the line is already a busy transit corridor, said Bryan.
More than 8,000 people get on and off buses in Dundarave and Ambleside on an average weekday, not including people who have boarded at Horseshoe Bay and are simply passing through.
West Vancouver has the fastest growth in bus ridership on the North Shore, with daily boardings increasing 10 per cent between 2017 and 2018.
District of West Vancouver Mayor Mary-Ann Booth said traffic and congestion were among the top concerns identified by residents during the municipal election.
“I think the community definitely embraces buses and supports improved transit. It’s just a question of the right transit for West Vancouver,” she said.
Council has the final say on TransLink’s plans and has been conducting a community consultation process over the last two months, including several public meetings.
The online consultation wraps up at the end of this month, after which staff will present council with a report.