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


cleowin

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Ah. In future you may wish to provide some form of of statement following a blanket "I think..." so that we can make sense of what you're saying. It would benefit the quality of the discussions here greatly, and would pragmatically just be a huge help for those of us that do not have a clue what the specific situation is on a certain route, at a certain time, at a certain location.

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The results of the Transit Network Consultation is out:

http://www.translink.ca/en/Plans-and-Projects/Managing-the-Transit-Network/Transit-Network-Consultation.aspx

It appears most changes have passed, even some of the more surprising ones. E.g. they expressly called out the vocal local opposition to route 49 changes. And in fact the first batch is already being implemented this April. C3, C4, C9, C19, 257 etc.

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We were talking about the 509 earlier in this forum, and it seems that option for it to go to Lougheed station is going to be held back if current 509 service customer demand spikes.

They are considering all door boarding on the 620 at Bridgeport.

160 to Brentwood Station didnt seem like a good idea afterall, Lots of the respondents prefer Hastings street over the EG(x) because it is a cheaper alternative. Additionally, they are concerned about transfer points between 135 and 160 east of Willingdon. They are considering to terminate it at Kootenay loop.

The proposal to cancel the 258 was strongly opposed. Customers have spoken out on the 250's ability to carry additional passengers into Vancouver. In return, changes to the 044 stops are to be implemented and they are looking to investigate the 258 in depth and change the stopping procedure.

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You mean customer demand, not service levels. ;)

Re: 135 and 160, I think people are being a little over reactionary over the SkyTrain / bus differential that now exists as a result of Compass Card and faregates. TransLink has already indicated they may change the bus fares at a later date once everything is running. Heck, perhaps that's incentive to make the B-Line bus stops (and other busy bus stops) gated fare paid zones.

258 change would make more sense if it was part of a move to combine the majority of North Shore cross-bridge routes into B-Lines involving high-frequency, minimal-stopping, and high-capacity buses.

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We were talking about the 509 earlier in this forum, and it seems that option for it to go to Lougheed station is going to be held back if current 509 service customer demand spikes.

They are considering all door boarding on the 620 at Bridgeport.

160 to Brentwood Station didnt seem like a good idea afterall, Lots of the respondents prefer Hastings street over the EG(x) because it is a cheaper alternative. Additionally, they are concerned about transfer points between 135 and 160 east of Willingdon. They are considering to terminate it at Kootenay loop.

The proposal to cancel the 258 was strongly opposed. Customers have spoken out on the 250's ability to carry additional passengers into Vancouver. In return, changes to the 044 stops are to be implemented and they are looking to investigate the 258 in depth and change the stopping procedure.

The 509 ridership has suffered in a way as of late due to the one-zone fare for buses. Taking SkyTrain from Surrey to New Westminster costs 2 zones, while taking the 555 to Lougheed to New Westminster costs 1 zone, even if both trips started at Carvolth.

Starting to see even a number of trips between Guildford and Lougheed to transfer from the 555 to the 337 / 509 at 156 Street, all to save a zone fare.

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I'm surprised that a route between Guildford and Coquitlam Centre wasn't a part of this. Has that plan been scrapped until funding is available to expand?

The 509 always seems to only have a few people in the PM rush leaving Surrey Central, don't know about AM. I think they should just make the change to run the 509 to lougheed as that would be more beneficial as far as I'm concerned. The complaint that people had was a lack of express service between carvolth and Surrey Central, but the 501 could be boosted and go via 156 St HOV access and go non stop between Guildford and Surrey Central which is one of the plans and the elimination of the 590. The 531 is planned to go through Langley centre to fill the gap for the 509.

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I'm surprised that a route between Guildford and Coquitlam Centre wasn't a part of this. Has that plan been scrapped until funding is available to expand?

The 509 always seems to only have a few people in the PM rush leaving Surrey Central, don't know about AM. I think they should just make the change to run the 509 to lougheed as that would be more beneficial as far as I'm concerned. The complaint that people had was a lack of express service between carvolth and Surrey Central, but the 501 could be boosted and go via 156 St HOV access and go non stop between Guildford and Surrey Central which is one of the plans and the elimination of the 590. The 531 is planned to go through Langley centre to fill the gap for the 509.

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That's one of the things that TransLink will consider, to convert the 501 to run like the 337 on 104 Avenue, and run non-stop express between Surrey Central and Guildford. I would like that very much, since the 320 already runs at FTN levels, plus you have the B-Line on top of that.

I know for me, I'll sooner take the 337 and 509 from Surrey Central to Carvolth and transfer at 156 Street rather than take the 501 and 509 and transfer at Carvolth. You really know what you're missing if you take the 501 instead of the 509 or 555 and get stuck routing through Port Kells.

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In the consultation I suggested bumping up the 337's frequency from 15 to 10 minutes during peak periods if the 509 is rerouted, but moving the 501 to a non-stop service would work as well. I can't imagine there's a lot of local demand on the 501 given its lower frequencies than the 320.

The 337/former C74 has always run express, but moving it to its current routing several years ago probably gave it a big boost because it gave it two-way express service to the whole area between 104/152 and 108/160. As far as I'm aware that change was supposed to be temporary just for the PMB construction, and has now become permanent. There is a real demand for this express service that I witnessed (I used to use it after all, I lived there). The 337 had the fastest growing ridership of any SoF route up until the until the introduction of the 555 stop, which has caused ridership growth to flatline (but not decline) for understandable reasons (afaik the 555 stop is a hit, I've received pictures with as much as 30 people lined up at one time for a bus during AM peak hours. This is pretty sweet because I'm the reason that stop is there in the first place B)).

Starting to see even a number of trips between Guildford and Lougheed to transfer from the 555 to the 337 / 509 at 156 Street, all to save a zone fare.

This would be faster/more convenient regardless, to be honest. It's less than 5 minutes to go east to the stop and less than 10 minutes once on the 555, which is now at 7.5 min freqs during peak hours and no longer gets stuck at the Braid off-ramp. The transfer is less hassle. Taking the 96 + SkyTrain would be ~25 minutes + an extra transfer down/up stairs. Travel time benefit is one of the key reasons I pushed hard to have the 156 St 555 stops built.

I'm surprised that a route between Guildford and Coquitlam Centre wasn't a part of this. Has that plan been scrapped until funding is available to expand?

As I'm aware that was proposed in the Evergreen Line-specific consultations done before the referendum and perhaps anticipating a "yes"/increase in transit funding. I don't think it's been necessarily shelved altogether - it would be pretty great to do a Coquitlam through-run as every second 96 B-Line, it would really showcase BRT potential in Surrey to have through commutes between Newton and Coquitlam (and it would certainly result in a lot less buses having to do the controversial Guildford turnaround). But, I certainly haven't heard about it.

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Speaking of the 337, I gotta wonder what are the usage numbers/patterns on the every-2nd-trip segment that runs up to Guildford library during off-peak hours/weekends. It seems like it might be more efficient, at least all-day weekdays, to move those trips to have continuous 15-min express service to/from Surrey Central. As opposed to sending full-sized buses there only to not be filled.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/800-robson-street-closure-1.3535470

I can NOT imagine that TransLink is happy about this, and IMHO for good reason. Robson is too important a commercial corridor to have no bus service east of Burrard.

Does the CoV plan to do any public consultation on the matter?

I wonder... would it be feasible to turn Robson between Seymour and Burrard (or maybe even further west into the West End) into a transit mall similar to Granville?

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25 minutes ago, GORDOOM said:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/800-robson-street-closure-1.3535470

I can NOT imagine that TransLink is happy about this, and IMHO for good reason. Robson is too important a commercial corridor to have no bus service east of Burrard.

Does the CoV plan to do any public consultation on the matter?

I wonder... would it be feasible to turn Robson between Seymour and Burrard (or maybe even further west into the West End) into a transit mall similar to Granville?

I thought that TransLink was consdering to move the 6 'Robson' away from block permanently due the closure of block during the summer.  

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7 minutes ago, Blue Bus Fan said:

I thought that TransLink was consdering to move the 6 'Robson' away from block permanently due the closure of block during the summer.  

Yes, they will most likely have a one way loop of the 5/6.  Extending the 6 to roundhouse station and the 5 to burrard station for better connections.  Basically if you leave Davie @ Denman as a 5 downtown, it'll come back as a 6 Davie.  Opposite for the other side.

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2 hours ago, GORDOOM said:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/800-robson-street-closure-1.3535470

I can NOT imagine that TransLink is happy about this, and IMHO for good reason. Robson is too important a commercial corridor to have no bus service east of Burrard.

Does the CoV plan to do any public consultation on the matter?

I wonder... would it be feasible to turn Robson between Seymour and Burrard (or maybe even further west into the West End) into a transit mall similar to Granville?

This has never seemed to be an issue in the past. Why now?

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12 hours ago, Blue Bus Fan said:

I thought that TransLink was consdering to move the 6 'Robson' away from block permanently due the closure of block during the summer.  

IIRC, According to the final report from the downtown bus service evaluation, TransLink was going to use a routing via Burrard for the #5 if there were going to be any closures of 800 Robson on an annual basis, so as not to need to have "winter" and "summer" routings messing up passengers. But they'd prefer running via Seymour/Richards because it serves more of the actual Robson corridor that way.

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21 hours ago, Blue Bus Fan said:

I thought that TransLink was consdering to move the 6 'Robson' away from block permanently due the closure of block during the summer.  

you must mean the #5 Robson

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some service changes too look for the future service changes this year.

The 242 stops south of 29th Street will be discount in flavour of the route heading to Lynn Valley town Centre.

The 254 and 256 will become two way community shuttle routes.

http://www.nsnews.com/news/translink-planning-changes-to-four-north-shore-bus-routes-1.2234743

 

Will West Vancouver Blue Bus have enough Community Shuttles for C12, 251, 252, 254 and 256, combined all the bus on those routes? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I figure this would be the best thread for this.  According to this article, some of the new SkyTrain cars will enter service this summer after they've been tested to increase service on the Expo and Millennium until the evergreen line opens.  It also says that they will combine single MKII units with 4 car MKI's.  That should be interesting.

 

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/evergreen-line-cars-slated-to-run-on-expo-millennium-lines-this-summer

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15 minutes ago, Brando737 said:

I figure this would be the best thread for this.  According to this article, some of the new SkyTrain cars will enter service this summer after they've been tested to increase service on the Expo and Millennium until the evergreen line opens.  It also says that they will combine single MKII units with 4 car MKI's.  That should be interesting.

 

http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/evergreen-line-cars-slated-to-run-on-expo-millennium-lines-this-summer

Thought they couldn't link the mk 1's with the mk 2's

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Why would TransLink pair Mark II to Mark I? Will trains those trains that are Mark I and Mark II even fit in the stations? Most likely they will make six car Mark I trains because that seems like the most logical, Translink seems to have some logic behind changes. 

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