Transit Service Discussion (Articulated/Conventional/Shuttle/Skytrain/Seabus)

[8010]

2 hours ago, Express691 said:

I'll argue that those 5 units could also be 16200s going back to BTC as the remaining 18000/19000 are unwrapped for R2 service.

However what also could be the case is that the 2 artic 240 runs may no longer be in effect, which frees up some artics in the AM rush.

I actually think we squeezed a bit out of the last XN40 order, replacing 36 (out of 40 remaining when 19101 entered service) with 47 (all in terms of net totals)

Also something in me is trying to argue that Orion V retirements haven't been happening as much as of late, which may cause reduction of standard buses on highway trips. Although it needs to be confirmed, I think a certain population on this forum will be glad that "these misplaced locals won't be used on long hauls which would piss off commuters"

If this is true, then this could be how BTC gets back L-drives from Richmond. (Seasonal?) 480 reductions also come into play.

I forgot about R2, it would make more sense to transfer the 5 artics to BTC, but now I wonder if we have enough artics or if we're gonna see more 40-footers on BTC artic routes. I guess time will tell.

I know this is stepping into Fantasy territory, but wouldn't it make more sense to reinvest the 480's resources into some sort of peak-only Granville Street Express between Downtown and Bridgeport? It would reduce duplication with the R4 while providing a faster alternative along Granville Street and maintains the current express routing along Granville Street.

[GORDOOM]

14 minutes ago, 8010 said:

I forgot about R2, it would make more sense to transfer the 5 artics to BTC, but now I wonder if we have enough artics or if we're gonna see more 40-footers on BTC artic routes. I guess time will tell.

Spoiler alert: we won’t have enough artics, at least not once September sheet hits.

[dover5949]

5 hours ago, 9924 said:

Start the trippers EB 49th and Alberta, bypass Cambie.  More than enough capacity for Cambie pax as is, its the poor souls at Alberta and Manitoba that get left behind.

I agree that would be a good idea. I've seen EB's pull away from Cambie & leaving people behind which completely fills up the bus behind. Meanwhile anyone waiting at Alberta or Manitoba aren't getting on. Service needs to be improved between Cambie & Metrotown. 

[Phillip]

55 minutes ago, dover5949 said:

I agree that would be a good idea. I've seen EB's pull away from Cambie & leaving people behind which completely fills up the bus behind. Meanwhile anyone waiting at Alberta or Manitoba aren't getting on. Service needs to be improved between Cambie & Metrotown. 

Also, there's not enough running time between UBC and Dunbar/ 41 ave SB, especially in the evenings. The trips from UBC are often crowded and late while trips leaving Dunbar loop leave on time and thus close behind the UBC bus and not busy.

I filled out paperwork and claimed overtime every night I finished late and now they added running time for the April sheet, all trips in the day time now leave UBC 2 minutes earlier and trips in the evening leave 1 minutes earlier and arrived Metrotown 1 minutes later.

I've passed up at Alberta and Manitoba st EB, even at 9:39 pm .

[dover5949]

Money needs to be spent on Trolley overhead improvements. Example being the intersection of E. Hastings & Commercial Dr. There's the small stretch of overhead between Hastings & Powell on Commercial Dr. that is hanging there like a Christmas tree ornament that serves no purpose. The NB stretch does not have any connection to anything. What is needed is a connection from the north side of Hastings that the 20's can access it. Also a turnout for WB services from Hastings can access it. Also a new turnout for EB Hastings to go NB then a right hand turnout at Powell. This would result in the 4 & 7's to get back onto Powell. Another suggestion would be install a left turn out from SB Nanaimo to EB Hastings in case any Hastings St services had to detour. Same would be WB Hastings to NB Nanaimo. Commercial at Hastings should have a connection to the 20 overhead SB & also a left turn from SB Commercial to EB Hastings. This would help out on detours which was experienced when Hastings & Clark was closed off.

1 hour ago, Phillip said:

Also, there's not enough running time between UBC and Dunbar/ 41 ave SB, especially in the evenings. The trips from UBC are often crowded and late while trips leaving Dunbar loop leave on time and thus close behind the UBC bus and not busy.

I filled out paperwork and claimed overtime every night I finished late and now they added running time for the April sheet, all trips in the day time now leave UBC 2 minutes earlier and trips in the evening leave 1 minutes earlier and arrived Metrotown 1 minutes later.

I've passed up at Alberta and Manitoba st EB, even at 9:39 pm .

Evening service needs a huge improvement. Back in early January I waited for a 049 at Cambie at around 1115pm in the evening & it was a full standing load to the front doors when we departed Cambie. 30 Minute service after 930pmweekends & after 1030pm is poor service on a route that is this busy!

[rickie22]

5 hours ago, 8010 said:

Knowing TL it'll still be considered FTN, if you look at the 2's weekend service South of 16th Ave you'll see it runs every 20 min all day but it's still considered FTN.

OK, I noticed that too on the FTN map. I was sure I wasn't the only one.

  

20 minutes ago, dover5949 said:

Money needs to be spent on Trolley overhead improvements. Example being the intersection of E. Hastings & Commercial Dr. There's the small stretch of overhead between Hastings & Powell on Commercial Dr. that is hanging there like a Christmas tree ornament that serves no purpose. The NB stretch does not have any connection to anything. What is needed is a connection from the north side of Hastings that the 20's can access it. Also a turnout for WB services from Hastings can access it. Also a new turnout for EB Hastings to go NB then a right hand turnout at Powell. This would result in the 4 & 7's to get back onto Powell. Another suggestion would be install a left turn out from SB Nanaimo to EB Hastings in case any Hastings St services had to detour. Same would be WB Hastings to NB Nanaimo. Commercial at Hastings should have a connection to the 20 overhead SB & also a left turn from SB Commercial to EB Hastings. This would help out on detours which was experienced when Hastings & Clark was closed off.

What's happened with the proposal to truncate the 20 so that it only runs between Hastings (or Powell) and Harrison?

[9924]

2 hours ago, dover5949 said:

Evening service needs a huge improvement. Back in early January I waited for a 049 at Cambie at around 1115pm in the evening & it was a full standing load to the front doors when we departed Cambie. 30 Minute service after 930pmweekends & after 1030pm is poor service on a route that is this busy!

While I agree,  20 minute service would be nicer, its not necessary. At that time of the day, 99% of the time, you have about a dozen people on the bus by the time you get to Cambie, even if the line up is around the corner, that is literally just over half a 60fter bus load.  There are always those times when a bus breaks down or some sort of special event (like at UBC about a month and a half ago) which increases the volume, but 99 out of 100 times, one 60 footer is more than enough to handle the passenger load at that time of day.

Langara College also seems to be the busiest on Tuesday's and Thursday's (I'm assuming evening classes or something) and you can still get crush loads departing Alberta/Manitoba between 9-10pm, but the rest of the week, after 7pm, its pretty quiet on that stretch.

Cambie to Fraser is really the stress spot for that run, a large portion of passengers get off at Fraser, even though thats usually the second busiest en-route pick up point.  After Victoria at the latest, its clear sailing.

What's really frustrating on that run now, is leaving the UBC Loop "Sorry Bus Full" in the afternoon, bypassing all the other stops on Wesbrook Mall, leaving all the people needing to get home behind, only to have half the bus load get off at Birney.

[Cathay 888]

On 3/1/2020 at 7:32 PM, nname said:

April 2020 Service Change

 

031 Metrotown Station/River District
New Route, every 35min, 6a-10p weekdays; 7a-10p Sat; 8a-10p Sun
Departs Metrotown Bay 7

106 - Weekday, Sat, eastbound service reduce to every 15min (from 10min) 6-6:30p

119 - Weekday additional round-trip pm peak

130 - Weekday service reduce to every 7-8min (from 6min) 6a-7p

147 - Weekday additional round-trip pm peak

148 - Weekday additional westbound early morning 5:15am

212 - Weekday westbound service increase to every 30min (from 60min) 7-8p

214 - Weekday additional westbound pm peak trip

222 Metrotown Station/Phibbs Exchange
New route, every 10min, 6-9:30a; 2:30-6:30p weekday only
To Phibbs: departs Metrotown Bay 4, Willingdon/Goard, Brentwood Bay 1, Hastings/Willingdon, Kootenay Bay 6, Phibbs
To Metrotown: departs Phibbs Bay 11, Kootenay Bay 8, Hastings/Willingdon, Brentwood Bay 7, Willingdon/Goard, Metrotown Bay 10, Metrotown

236 - Weekday service improve to every 15min (from 30min) 9a-6p; Weekday, Sat, Sun service improve to every 30min (from 60min) 7-10p (seasonal??)

239 - Discontinued, see R2

240 Lynn Valley/Downtown
Service extends to Lynn Valley; Weekday service improve to every 7min (from 8-10min) 6-9a; Sun service reduced to every 20min (from 15min) 8-9p; No longer a FTN route

242 - Discontinued, see N24

245 Phibbs Exchange/Capilano U
New route, every 5min peak, 10 min mid-day, 15min evening, 15min weekend, 30min late night; 6a-1:30a weekday; 6a-1;30a Sat; 7:30a-1:30a Sun
Departs Phibbs Bay 3, Cap U Bay 3

255 - Routing change (see RapidBus proposal), no schedule change

316 - Sunday northbound service extends to 11:30p (from 10p)

319 - Weekday additional short-turn trips (Scott Road - Scottsdale) every 8min, 4:30-9:30a, 2:30-8p, combined frequency every 3-4min; Sat service improve to every 8min (from 10min) 6a-7p, to every 10min (from 12-15min) 7p-12a; Sun service improve to every 12min (from 15min) 6-10a, to every 10min (from 12-15min) 10a-10p

351 - Weekday northbound additional trip 1am

373 - Weekday service reduced to every 45min (from 40min) 8a-3p; Sat/Sun service reduced to every 45min (from 40min) all day

404 - Weekday service reduced to every 35min (from 30min) 6a-10p

408 - Service reduce to every 35min (From 20-30min) 6-11p, all days

413 - Service reduce to every 40min (from 35min), all days

480 - Weekday morning service adjust to every 10min, afternoon to every 20min, both directions

501 - Weekday southbound early morning increase to every 10min (from 15min) 5-5:30a

719 - Weekday mid-day service reduce to every 80min (from 60min)

722 - Weekday mid-day service reduce to every 80min (from 60min)

743 - Weekday mid-day service improve to every 40min (from 60min)

744 - Weekday mid-day service improve to every 40min (from 60min)

745 - Weekday westbound improve to every 30min (from 60min) 7-9a; additional morning peak-direction trip

746 - Extend all peak hours short-turn trips into full length; additional morning peak-direction trip

N9 - Additional trips extends to/from downtown: 3 trips 4-6a weekdays; 4 trips 1a; 4-6a Sat; 6 additional trips 12-2a; 4-6a Sun

N24 - Sat additional northbound trip 5a; Sun additional trips 5-9a, merged from 242

R2 Marine Drive
New route, every 8-9min peak, 10min mid-day and evening, 10min weekend, 15min late night; 5a-2a weekday; 5a-2a Sat; 5:30a-2a Sun

I think 404 should operate with the Community Shuttle Bus and keep the original frequency~~

However, does 31 operate with the Community Shuttle or the Conventional Buses??

Also, which terminal in Cap U will 245 terminate?? Purcell or Monashee??

[Express691]

3 minutes ago, Cathay 888 said:

However, does 31 operate with the Community Shuttle or the Conventional Buses??

Community shuttles on rt 31

-Outcome of 80x still to be determined

(Personally I would have liked 31 to go via Champlain Heights)

[Cathay 888]

1 hour ago, Express691 said:

Community shuttles on rt 31

-Outcome of 80x still to be determined

(Personally I would have liked 31 to go via Champlain Heights)

Most likely this route will be interline with 146/147 in Metrotown~~

[8010]

4 hours ago, Cathay 888 said:

Also, which terminal in Cap U will 245 terminate?? Purcell or Monashee??

The 245 will be serving both loops at Cap-U Exchange and will terminate at the Monashee loop.

[Pops1719]

On 3/2/2020 at 9:57 PM, Cathay 888 said:

Most likely this route will be interline with 146/147 in Metrotown~~

It won't. Only one weekday block for the 31, and it has no layover in River District, and only 7 minutes at Metrotown.

[Geofferoski]

On 3/2/2020 at 8:22 PM, Express691 said:

Community shuttles on rt 31

-Outcome of 80x still to be determined

(Personally I would have liked 31 to go via Champlain Heights)

It will be going through Champlain Heights. Only for a bit on Matheson Crescent though.

[A. Wong]

Quote

Telus and TransLink recently announced that Telus had brought wireless service to the underground Dunsmuir SkyTrain tunnel between Stadium-Chinatown and Waterfront stations, including the Granville and Burrard station platforms. This will allow Telus, Koodo and Public Mobile customers to stay connected on the entire Expo SkyTrain line, even underground.

https://www.biotcanada.ca/telus-connects-underground-vancouver-skytrain-customers/1002881227

[Express691]

Final report of the Transit Network Reviews of 2019

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/Documents/plans_and_projects/managing_the_transit_network/transit_network_review/2019-Transit-Network-Review-Report.pdf?la=en&hash=839CDAD584929BC77DE9EB34EC7193F62B7E788F

350 is not going through, along with the 408 re-route

[8010]

4 hours ago, Express691 said:

Final report of the Transit Network Reviews of 2019

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/Documents/plans_and_projects/managing_the_transit_network/transit_network_review/2019-Transit-Network-Review-Report.pdf?la=en&hash=839CDAD584929BC77DE9EB34EC7193F62B7E788F

350 is not going through, along with the 408 re-route

It says the 350 will be using standard buses...

[Busmanic92]

1 hour ago, 8010 said:

It says the 350 will be using standard buses...

Will the 351 go white Rock centre, and up to crescent Beach following the 351's route? Or make the 351 go from South Surrey park and ride/Bridgeport station only? Most passengers get off at the park and ride anyways. And 351 only follows the 321 after the Park and ride to white Rock anyways.

 

But 350 should be a stc route (in its jurisdiction) rather than rtc. Any thoughts?

[Orion6784]

1 hour ago, Busmanic92 said:

Will the 351 go white Rock centre, and up to crescent Beach following the 351's route? Or make the 351 go from South Surrey park and ride/Bridgeport station only? Most passengers get off at the park and ride anyways. And 351 only follows the 321 after the Park and ride to white Rock anyways.

 

But 350 should be a stc route (in its jurisdiction) rather than rtc. Any thoughts?

In regards to the 350, yes. As with the 351, I'd keep it to White Rock Centre. Less transfers that way.

[GORDOOM]

In looking at the map showing the #35x changes, I’m struck by how little of the South Surrey/White Rock area has any sort of transit service, and especially how little of it has more than peak-period, peak-direction service. I wonder if the #350 should turn east instead of west on Crescent Rd? Though that still leaves an awfully big gap around 24 Av....

[Orcair]

At least they listened to the community's concerns about shuttle capacity/accessibility v. low-floor for the 350. Reducing frequency from 10mins to 20mins at peak is going to hurt, and isn't a 'slight' reduction. I realize capacity discipline is important and understand why they are reducing it, however.

It will be interesting to see how they continue to cover Thrift. The 321 now only covers it right before ending the route, so if you board at say Thrift/Foster you have to wait 10-15 mins at the TD before the bus begins its route to Surrey Central. If the 351 continues this pattern I don't really agree with their point that it will continue to be served since the wait will be quite long. I guess I'll wait and see.

[Dane]

Is the 245 / 255 the only routes that will service Cap U? (130? too?) 

[Millennium2002]

Yet again, TransLink ends up showing that it can't think outside the box. Rather than divert 501 from the freeway where it doesn't really belong, there'll be a new 338 that will most likely end up doing very poorly because it heads nowhere... Ugh...

[Millennium2002]

I'd also grumble at how they couldn't redesign Champlain Heights / Sincerest / River District service in one go and using existing routes because "we didn't want the return trips of the 116 and 146 to take a different path"... Like, aren't the 337 and 338 in a worse position because their termini are giant loops???

At this point, it's a lost cause. All I can do now is sit back and laugh at the dark comedy that occurs when the investigative journalists eventually find and call out TransLink's wasteful spending to the general public.

[Cathay 888]

47 minutes ago, Dane said:

Is the 245 / 255 the only routes that will service Cap U? (130? too?) 

I believe so, 28 & 130 will be no longer to terminate at Cap U (Monashee) due to 245 will be terminated there~~

But I hope 28 stay in Cap U and 222 extend to Cap U during peak hour, 130 can totally stay in Phibbs or Kootenay Loop~~

5 hours ago, Busmanic92 said:

Will the 351 go white Rock centre, and up to crescent Beach following the 351's route? Or make the 351 go from South Surrey park and ride/Bridgeport station only? Most passengers get off at the park and ride anyways. And 351 only follows the 321 after the Park and ride to white Rock anyways.

 

But 350 should be a stc route (in its jurisdiction) rather than rtc. Any thoughts?

I think 350 should be STC, most likely interline with 321 or 345~~

[Translink69]

57 minutes ago, Millennium2002 said:

Yet again, TransLink ends up showing that it can't think outside the box. Rather than divert 501 from the freeway where it doesn't really belong, there'll be a new 338 that will most likely end up doing very poorly because it heads nowhere... Ugh...

Have you taken the 501? It can get really busy between Guildford and Carvolth at times. Re-routing it through East Fraser Heights is a horrible idea. 338 is the right option.