Coast Mountain Bus Company route 23 'Main Street Station / Beach'
This article is about the renumbered Community Shuttle service. For the cancelled evening service between Stanley Park and New Westminster Station, see 23 Stanley Park/Kootenay Loop/New Westminster Station.
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Service Area | Vancouver | |||
Termini | Main Street–Science World Station Davie Street at Bidwell Street | |||
Operations | Hamilton Transit Centre Vancouver Transit Centre* | |||
Vehicles | ARBOC SOM 28 Girardin G5 Nova Bus LFS HEV * | |||
Branches | 23 Main Street Station 23 English Bay Main Street Station* Special* | |||
* Seasonal weekend express overload trips running from April–September |
23 Main Street Station/English Bay is a Community Shuttle route operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Route Details
This is an east-west route running in Vancouver connecting Main Street–Science World Station, Yaletown, and English Bay Beach. The route is part of the Frequent Transit Network (FTN), with service provided every 8–12 minutes or better throughout the day, seven days a week for 15 hours or more. Service during peak hours increases to every 6–8 minutes.
Eastbound trips depart from Davie Street & Bidwell Street heading west on Davie Street, south on Denman Street, east on Beach Avenue becoming Pacific Street and Pacific Boulevard, north on Patt Quinn Way becoming Abbott Street, east on Keefer Place becoming Keefer Street, south on Quebec Street, east on National Avenue, and south on Station Street to Main Street–Science World Station.
Westbound trips depart from Main Street–Science World Station heading south on Station Street, west on Terminal Avenue, north on Quebec Street, west on Keefer Street becoming Keefer Place, south on Abbott Street, west on Expo Boulevard becoming Pacific Boulevard, west on Pacific Street, south on Howe Street, west on Beach Avenue, north on Jervis Street, west on Beach Avenue, north on Bidwell Street, and west on Davie Street to Davie Street & Bidwell Street.
23 Express Overload | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
To address weekend summer overcrowding, select trips using conventional buses run as an express overload service. This version of the route performs pick-up and drop-off service at all stops. Service primarily runs directly between Main Street–Science World Station, Yaletown–Roundhouse Station, and English Bay with few intermediate stops.
Due to the express nature of this service, some portions of the route are bypassed. Eastbound trips depart from English Bay from Davie Street & Bidwell Street heading west on Davie Street, south on Denman Street, east on Beach Avenue becoming Pacific Street to Pacific Boulevard becoming Quebec Street, east on National Avenue, and south on Station Street to Main Street–Science World Station. Westbound trips depart from Main Street–Science World heading south on Station Street, west on Terminal Avenue, north on Quebec Street becoming Expo Boulevard to Pacific Boulevard becoming Pacific Street, north on Bidwell Street, and west on Davie Street to Davie Street & Bidwell Street. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Points of Interest
- Main Street–Science World Station (Bay 3)
- Thornton Park
- Science World
- Creekside Park
- Andy Livingstone Park
- Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
- International Village
- Stadium–Chinatown Station
- Rogers Arena
- BC Place
- Yaletown–Roundhouse Station (Bay 3 – Beach) (Bay 4 – Main Street Station)
- Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
- David Lam Park
- George Wainborn Park
- Vancouver Aquatic Centre
- Sunset Beach
- English Bay Beach
- Davie Village
History
- December 2016 - Service introduced as a merger of the C21 Yaletown/Beach and C23 Yaletown/Davie[1]
- April 2020 - Westbound routing temporarily revised to go via Beach Avenue, Denman Street, Davie Street to temporary Beach terminus at Davie Street & Bidwell Street due to COVID-19-related road closures on Beach Avenue between Denman Street and Jervis Street
- May 2020 - Eastbound routing temporarily revised to go from temporary Beach terminus via Davie Street, Thurlow Street, Pacific Avenue, then regular route due to COVID-19-related road closures on Beach Avenue to all eastbound traffic
- January 2021 - COVID-19 service adjustment: Saturday service from 10 a.m.–noon and 9 p.m.–10 p.m. reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes. Sunday/holiday service from 9 a.m.–noon and 8 p.m.–10 p.m. reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes
- April 2021 - Introduction of additional summer seasonal service on weekday evenings and weekend/holiday afternoons
- April 26, 2021 - Beach Avenue reopens to eastbound traffic: Westbound routing near English Bay Beach revised to go via Beach Avenue, Bidwell Street, and Davie Street to Davie & Bidwell. Eastbound trips depart from Davie & Bidwell via Davie, Denman Street, and Beach Avenue. Beach terminus was revised to Davie & Bidwell instead of the pre-COVID Morton Avenue & Denman Street terminus. Eastbound service on Davie Street discontinued
- January 2022 - COVID-19 service adjustment: Weekday early morning service reduced from every 8–10 minutes to every 10–12 minutes. Saturday early afternoon service reduced from every 10 minutes to every 12–15 minutes and evening service from every 10 minutes to every 10–12 minutes
- January 2023 - Various daily service increases
- First eastbound weekday trip advanced 15 minutes early
- AM peak hour service increased from every 10–12 minutes to every 8–9 minutes and PM peak hour service increased from every 7–9 minutes to every 6–8 minutes
- Weekday midday service increased from every 12 minutes to every 10 minutes and evening weekday service increased from every 12 minutes to every 8–10 minutes
- Saturdays: morning service increased from every 15 minutes to every 10–12 minutes. Afternoon service increased from every 10 minutes to every 7–9 minutes. Evening service increased from every 15 minutes to every 8–12 minutes
- Sunday/holiday afternoon service increased from every 10 minutes to every 8–9 minutes. Evenings increased from every 15 minutes to every 12 minutes
- April 2023 - Westbound trips renamed from 23 Beach to 23 English Bay to reduce customer confusion
- May 13, 2023 - First appearance of unscheduled conventional buses to address summer weekend overcrowding throughout the day
- May 20, 2023 - Introduction of unscheduled conventional buses running as an express to address overcrowding
- May 27, 2023 - Operating hours of unscheduled conventional express trips revised to run in the late afternoon and evenings
- June 3, 2023 - Unscheduled conventional express trips made consistent every weekend until September 3, 2023
- June 8, 2023 - Unscheduled conventional express trips revised to become scheduled trips
- November 2023 - Proposals made to extend the route from its current western terminus to Burrard Station via Davie Street, Robson Street, and Burrard Station in a bid to eventually use conventional buses on all trips.[2]
- April 2024 - Weekend conventional express overload trips return as a regularly scheduled service, with the start of operations advanced to April
23 conventional overload service
While the 23 is a Community Shuttle route, conventional buses made regular weekend appearances starting Saturday, May 13. The two buses ran throughout the day on both Saturday and Sunday, May 14 as part of a larger group of extra service throughout downtown to address weekend overcrowding on routes 2 Macdonald–16th/Downtown, 5 Robson/Downtown, 6 Davie/Downtown, and 19 Main Street Station/Stanley Park. The weekend of May 13 & 14 saw conventional buses run the full 23 route.
This was repeated the following weekend May 20 and 21 running for most of the day. However, this time the service ran as an express 23 service.
For the weekend of May 27 and 28, the operating hours were reduced to run in the late afternoon and evenings only. Saturday service was changed to run from approximately 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday service from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. These operating hours and would remain the same for every following weekend and consistently used two buses running the unscheduled express service.
Since Saturday, June 3, the service was made consistent for every weekend evening – two buses running express from approximately 4–11 p.m. on Saturdays and 6–11:30 p.m. on Sundays. This would remain in place every weekend until September 3, 2023, to address summer weekend overcrowding on the 23. Details of the unscheduled express service were made public on Thursday, June 8.
The service returned the following year in April, advanced to start earlier and be part of the seasonal April service changes.
References
- ↑ Bus Route Buzz: West End & Downtown – 5/6/C21/C23 translink.ca, retrieved 23,12-2016
- ↑ Managing the Transit Network, translink.ca, retrieved 11-27-2023, archived from the original 11-27-2023