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

[dover5949]

4 hours ago, Express691 said:

Effective 7 November: 

311 351 352 354 601 602 603 604 620 redirect SB buses to Bridgeport Road to use a new transit-only southbound on-ramp.

This new on-ramp is located off of Bridgeport just by the Oak St. Bridge. This new onramp will shave off a few minutes verses the current routing

[Express691]

9 minutes ago, dover5949 said:

This new on-ramp is located off of Bridgeport just by the Oak St. Bridge. This new onramp will shave off a few minutes verses the current routing

Agree - the left turn onto Sea Island currently used also gets blocked by buses lining up to turn left.

[9924]

Richmond no doubt has its share of poorly designed and timing of traffic lights (3 Road for example ) but the whole Great Canadian/Bridgeport/Sea Island set of lights is an absolute sh!t show, beyond any measurable of "WTF were they thinking?"

[Express691]

Internal source 

337 effective January 2023 sheet, upgrade all weekend service to conventional service.

That's all for now (yes there are more changes but waiting on confirmation)

[InfiNorth]

On 10/19/2022 at 12:31 AM, Express691 said:

The 531 is on the next round of transit service consultation. The proposals is in Campbell Heights where they plan on sending it up 192 st to 36 ave. The current route continues south on 200 st and west on 32 ave before heading along 192 st.

Personally I would like to have it on 190 street so it hits more warehouses. 

And at this rate they may need a second route providing more coverage. I guess industrial area is hard to come by these days

https://www.translink.ca/tsc?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=tsc#transit-service-consultation

Leaving my extreme hatred for "Campbell Heights" at the door, I think this could be quite beneficial. However, South Langley in general needs a complete overhaul from the ground up - well, all of Langley, but particularly South Langley. The convoluted and borderline useless routing of the community shuttle routes in Brookswood have been rubbish for decades. 531 would be a great option to introduce a proper North-South 200th Street service that doesn't deviate stupidly into Langley Centre where literally no one wants to or needs to go, and 208th needs a proper North-South service into the core. I'm really hoping that the arrival of the SkyTrain brings massive change to Langley's transit, because it has barely improved since I moved away a decade ago. You can't get to from Brookswood without a transfer in the stabby stabby zone. Hell, you can't get to Willowbrook from most of the city itself without a transfer in said place - that's broken as well. In high school, when the 531 first started up, I remember how much I loved being able to get on at Superstore and go straight back down to Brookswood. That was nice. That's gone.

[nname]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:50 PM, Express691 said:

Internal source 

337 effective January 2023 sheet, upgrade all weekend service to conventional service.

That's all for now (yes there are more changes but waiting on confirmation)

 

I only got to 010 and already there's a bunch of reductions (from 003, 005, 006, 009, 010).  Maybe I should just use the generic "service adjustment" this time

[Express691]

1 hour ago, nname said:

I only got to 010 and already there's a bunch of reductions (from 003, 005, 006, 009, 010).  Maybe I should just use the generic "service adjustment" this time

Yeah there's quite a bunch (~1/4 of all routes have scheduling adjustments) - however I'd focus on the 370s/322, 500s and weekend N19 (not to add to the spoilers)

[nname]

28 minutes ago, Express691 said:

Yeah there's quite a bunch (~1/4 of all routes have scheduling adjustments) - however I'd focus on the 370s/322, 500s and weekend N19 (not to add to the spoilers)

Yeah, I'm typing them right now.  The changes for the 320s are long...

The 123 change is also interesting though.

[dover5949]

Instead of reducing hours they should be increasing hours! Do they NOT realize that more & more people are heading back to transit?? Even in the Mayors Council Meetings that've admitted to ridership climbing!

R4 is a bad one with pass ups heading to Joyce in the PM peak between 330-5pm by the time they reach Fraser Street. What they need is a few WB trippers to terminate at Cambie then NIS Oak 49, Granville, 41. 

430 is another one that needs more improvements from early mornings to early evenings as there are either pass ups or close to pass ups

[nname]

Jan 2023 Service Change

To reduce the amount of text, frequency will only be mentioned for any route that's 15min or better before and after the change, if the difference is more than 1 bus per hour.

Very likely that some changes are missed from the list below.

003 Weekday peak reduction, -6 trips; SAT afternoon reduction, -4 trips
005 Weekday AM peak and mid-day reductions, -7 trips; SAT/SUN afternoon increase +6/+2 trips
006 Weekday AM peak and mid-day reductions, -7 trips; SAT/SUN afternoon increase +6/+2 trips
009 AM/PM peak reduction, -12 trips
010 AM peak northbound short-turn removal, PM peak reduction, -16 trips(NB), -3 trips (SB)
016 Weekday mid-day reduction, -2 trips; SAT service adjustment throughout the day, +1~3 trips
020 Weekday AM/PM peak reduction, -10 trips; SAT mid-day reduction, -10 trips
022 AM peak improvement, +1~2 trips
023 Weekday AM/PM/evening improvement, earlier EB start, +7~10 trips; SAT morning, mid-day, evening improvement, late-evening increase to 10-12min (from 15min) +17~22 trips; SUN afternoon, evening improvement, +6 trips
025 SAT mid-day improvement, +7~8 trips; SUN late afternoon reduction, -1 trips
049 SAT EB late evening improve to 15min (from 20min), +1 trip; SUN late morning reduction, -3 trips
099 Weekday mid-day, PM peak, evening reduction, -16 trips; SAT all day reduction, -13 trips; SUN mid-day reduction, -4 trips
100 Weekday early PM peak reduce to 15min (from 7-10min), late evening to 15min (from 20-30min), -4 trips; SAT midday/evening reduce to 12min (from 8-10min), late evening increase to 15min (from 30min), late night increase to 20min (from 30min), -6 trips; SUN early morning increase, mid-day reduction, -4 trips
104 Weekday 1 early morning trip removed
123 Weekday PM peak new 'to Sixth Ave' short-turn every 15min, full trip reduce to 15min (from 10min), +8~11 trips
153 SAT evening improve to 30min (from 60min), +3 trips; 
182 Weekday 1 additional AM peak trip
187 Weekday 1 PM peak trip removed
240 Weekday early morning reduction to 8-12min (from 6-8min), late PM peak improvement, -3 trips; SAT morning reduction, -5 trips; SUN evening reduction, -3 trips
246 Weekday early PM peak SB improve to every 20min (from 30min), +1 trip
249 Weekday early PM peak SB improve to every 20min (from 30min), +1 trip
319 SAT/SUN late evening/late night improvement, +2~4 trips
320 Weekday AM peak reduction, -1~2 trips; SAT new early morning WB trip from Fleetwood at 5:42am
321 Weekday first SB trip start at Surrey Central 4:45am, first NB trip from WR South 5:45am; AM/PM peak, afternoon, evening improvement, +9~10 trips; SAT evening reduction, -2~3 trips
322 Weekday EB PM peak improve to 15min (from 20min), evening to 20min (from 30min), +5 trips; WB first trip 5:10am, late AM peak increase to 20min (from 30min), PM peak improve to 15min (from 20min), evening to 20min (from 30min), +7 trips; SAT new WB trip 7:45am, evening improve to 20min (from 30min), +4~5 trips; SUN evening improve to 20min (from 30min), +3~5 trips
323 Weekday AM peak, mid-day improvement, late night improve to every 20min (from 30min), last NB trip 1:20am, +7~10 trips; SAT morning, mid-day improvement, late night improve to every 20min (from 30min), +8~10 trips; SUN afternoon improvement, late night improve to every 20min (from 30min), +5~6 trips
324 Weekday PM peak improve to 15min (from 20min), +2~3 trips
325 Weekday PM peak improve to 15min (from 20min), early evening to 20min (from 30min), +3 trips
335 Weekday WB AM peak improvement, +2 trips; EB PM peak improvement, evening increase to 15-20min (from 20-30min), +6 trips; SAT/SUN morning, evening, late night improve to 20min (from 30min), +7~12 trips
371 Weekday EB 1 additional AM peak trip
373 Weekday AM/PM peak improve to 15min (from 20min), evening improve to 30min (from 60min), +7~8 trips
375 SAT EB 1 additional late morning trip
393 Weekday NB 1 trip removed
410 Weekday AM peak reduction, PM peak increase, 0 trip change
430 Weekday WB 1 additional early morning trip
501 Weekday SB AM peak reduction, -2 trips; NB PM peak improvement, late night improve to 30min (from 60min) +3 trips
502 SAT WB early morning improve to 15min (from 20min)
503 Weekday/SAT mid-day reduction, Aldergrove trips reduce to 30min (from 24min), -5~6 trips
509 Weekday additional EB early PM trip to Walnut Grove as "562"
531 Weekday 1 additional early morning NB trip
640 Weekday PM peak new 'Tilbury' short-turn every 15min, full trip reduce to 15min (from 10min), +6 trips; SAT early morning improve to 20min (from 30min), +1 trip
745 Weekday EB AM peak adjust to 15min (from 5-25min), EB early PM peak improve to 15-30min (from 15-60min), +2 trips; SAT increase to 60min (from 120min), +5 trips
746 Weekday WB early PM peak improve to 15-30min (from 15-60min), +2 trips; SAT increase to 60min (from 120min), +5 trips
791 Routing change: WB trip will loop into industrial area and serve local stops at Broadway St south of Industrial Ave; WB early PM peak increase to 20min (from 30min), +1 trip
N19 SAT EB additional Surrey trip at 5:19a, late night trip starts 1:09a, 1:29a, 1:49a, then increase to 15min (from 20min) until 3am, +4 trips; SUN EB early morning increase to 20min (from 30min) until 6am, +1 trip
R1 Weekday mid-day, evening reduction, -7~8 trips; SAT all day reduction, -13~15 trips; SUN late morning, afternoon, evening reduction, -11~12 trips
R4 Weekday WB PM peak improvement, +2 trips
R5 Weekday AM peak, midday reduction, -6~7 trips; SAT morning, midday reduction, -7 trips; SUN morning reduction, -2 trips

[Express691]

5 hours ago, nname said:

Jan 2023 Service Change

Nice to see these shuttle improvements come out of the 337 weekend upgrade to conventional.

For the 393/323 in practice they just transferred the 393 trip to operate as 323 so no loss there

Then we see stuff like the 22 where trips are gradually coming back. 

Surrey also gets cuts restored on 321, it used to be 5 trips/hr in 2019.

371 change is a conventional school trip.

TLDR

-General shift in service hours from RapidBus, 503, 240, and Trolleys to Surrey (323/335).

-For some routes (22, 321) there is a restoration of previous cuts

-Community Shuttle hours from upgraded 337 conventional hours reinvested to other shuttle routes.

[UprisingCanadian]

4 hours ago, Express691 said:

371 change is a conventional school trip.

 

Any changes to the 373 Kindersley conventional trips, or is for a different school trip added?

[96 Blader Line]

R1 is not really recovering from covid. Isn't it the most hard it Rapidbus besides the R3?

[nname]

On 11/9/2022 at 2:19 PM, 96 Blader Line said:

R1 is not really recovering from covid. Isn't it the most hard it Rapidbus besides the R3?

Besides the temporary suspension, R3 had not seen any cuts from the initially planned service level.  R1, R2, R4, and R5 all see cuts at some point in time (while R4 and R5 also see some frequency increase to offset that).

Interestingly enough, 701 and 791 are two other routes that didn't see any cut since I restarted schedule update from mid-2021.  Either the route is doing good enough, or TransLink think the frequency is already too low to make cuts.

Most of the cuts are high-frequency routes with frequency reduced by one step at a time: 4->5->6->7.5->8.5->10->12->15.  Both R3 and 701 are already at 15min most of the day so they cannot reduce it further?

[Express691]

https://translink.simplesurvey.com/f/s.aspx?s=ddd38e9d-c8a0-4289-bc58-7d164502bd41

Survey for TransLink route 32, which was suspended during the pandemic.

This bus ran to Burrard Station in the mornings and down Dunbar to Dunbar Loop in the Afternoon. The express portion was on Cornwall. Personally I would rather see extra service on route 7 as there is no point in heading to Burrard Station in the afternoon to gamble catching the 32.

Someone tell me if this could be a precedent for bringing back the 258/480 - with a survey like this.

======

Since most service has returned, I tried to do some number crunching comparing January 2020 data to September 2022. There's still a net loss in weekday runs. However most weekday runs on VTC Trolleys were on the artic runs, and Surrey somehow ended up with a net increase. This is only a fraction of the numbers so...

[Express691]

Another adjustment

430 new trip WB from Metrotown Station leaves 1:21pm Saturdays effective November 19.

173/174 new trip leaving COQ STN weekdays at 2:43pm. Starts as 174, return as 173.

[Express691]

On 10/16/2022 at 6:16 PM, Express691 said:

Internal source:

187 additional weekday trip leaving Coquitlam Station 15:02 effective October 17

This is discontinued effective November 21.

025 new trip (90/025) leaving King Edward at Granville EB in the morning M-F meeting BCIT start times. Internal source. Effective tomorrow.

[Michael Marriott]

The 31 needs to be upgraded to big bus at least for peak hour service.  I was at Metrotown Station this evening, and the 6:30pm departure of the 31 left a half dozen people behind.

[Express691]

1 hour ago, Michael Marriott said:

The 31 needs to be upgraded to big bus at least for peak hour service.  I was at Metrotown Station this evening, and the 6:30pm departure of the 31 left a half dozen people behind.

TL;DR - Curious if that was with or without people standing.

(I've stood on a few PM peak 322s with 8+ standees trying to access KPU from Scottsdale (to bypass 319/301 reliability which walks right out the door). It seems a bit arbitrary at this point - some shuttle drivers allow people to stand, some don't. Technically there is a rule about no standees but even the way it's enforced is arbitrary.)

[Michael Marriott]

8 hours ago, Express691 said:

TL;DR - Curious if that was with or without people standing.

(I've stood on a few PM peak 322s with 8+ standees trying to access KPU from Scottsdale (to bypass 319/301 reliability which walks right out the door). It seems a bit arbitrary at this point - some shuttle drivers allow people to stand, some don't. Technically there is a rule about no standees but even the way it's enforced is arbitrary.)

Community shuttles should have a hard limit of 24 passengers, which is the maximum amount someone with a class 4 license can drive.

[Phillip]

Yes, they are only allowed to carry 24 passengers. They are not permitted to carry anymore than that.

[Busmanic92]

Yes community shuttles are not allowed to carry standees. There's quite a lot of policies to follow. 

 

Let's say someone wants to ride the bus. It's a shuttle. They have a stroller. That person will be allowed to stand to hold it if there's no seat available. NOBODY else permitted.

[UprisingCanadian]

1 hour ago, Busmanic92 said:

Yes community shuttles are not allowed to carry standees. There's quite a lot of policies to follow. 

 

Let's say someone wants to ride the bus. It's a shuttle. They have a stroller. That person will be allowed to stand to hold it if there's no seat available. NOBODY else permitted.

Technically, ARBOCs (19501-19549, 21501-21562) are allowed 3 standees. They only have 21 seats, and maximum is 24 people on board. However, I've seem G5 shuttles with 8+ people standing, so its very iffy. I don't think the police could care, as its a city bus, and they are abiding by all other traffic laws.

[Phillip]

Yes I know how it is, police and CVSE almost never stop city buses. Although it has happened.

[Express691]

37 minutes ago, Phillip said:

Yes I know how it is, police and CVSE almost never stop city buses. Although it has happened.

This is what I've been referring to. I have yet to hear of such a situation within the community despite strict rules in place. One thing to have them, another to actually enforce them.

And speaking of capacity, I bet that's why they dispatched a CNG bus on route 187 yesterday afternoon. An internal source states that there's a new run 99/183 on weekday PM rush.