CITY OF VANCOUVER

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

 

Date:

March 25, 2004

 

Author:

Scott Edwards

 

Phone No.:

873-7336

 

RTS No.:

04092

 

CC File No.:

8026/5551

 

Meeting Date:

April 6, 2004

TO:

Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic

FROM:

General Manager of Engineering Services in consultation with the Director of City Plans

SUBJECT:

Vancouver - UBC Area Transit Plan

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Engineering Services and the General Manager of Community Services support Recommendations A through E.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council has existing policies identifying Transit as one of the top transportation priorities for the City of Vancouver. Reinforcing the importance of Transit within the City are the following reports:

PURPOSE

This report seeks Council approval of funding for staffing to participate in the Vancouver - UBC Area Transit Plan and provides information relating to community and staff involvement throughout the process.

BACKGROUND

To date, TransLink has completed six Area Transit Plans, with the City of Vancouver-UBC being the last area to be undertaken in the region. Completed plans include:
- Richmond
- South of Fraser (Surrey, Delta, White Rock, Langley)
- North Shore (North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Lions Bay and Bowen Island)
- Northeast Sector (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore, Belcarra)
- Burnaby, New Westminster
- Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows

The Vancouver - UBC Area Transit Plan will begin in April 2004 and be completed in early 2005.

DISCUSSION

The Area Transit Plans are intended to identify 1-5 year priorities for improving local transit service within municipalities and the region. The Vancouver - UBC Area Transit Plan will focus on local service improvements and enhanced connections to the region. The planning horizon for the process is to extend through 2010. According to TransLink, the intent is to update these plans every 3-4 years.

In the City of Vancouver there are a number of significant studies recently completed, underway or planned within the horizon of this project. Listed below are several which either provide a policy context, background information or will be considered in the development of the Area Transit Plan.

Related projects & studies:

The Draft Terms of Reference in Appendix A outline the scope of work and public consultation anticipated for the project (see Sections 5 and 6). The Terms of Reference are considered draft at this time as it is expected that specific work items may be modified as the project proceeds. The Terms of Reference will be finalized following input from the Steering Committee and the Public Advisory Committee. When finalized, the Terms of Reference will be reported back to Council.

Resourcing
The study will be undertaken by existing staff, augmented by two temporary full time positions allocated to this project. Temporary positions would include one Civil Engineer (CEII) and one Planning Assistant (PAIII). Existing staff resources will be called upon throughout this project. This includes Planning and Engineering staff who have been, or are currently involved in, the aforementioned studies. These staff will provide input into areas of specialty such as Transit and Transportation for the downtown and other neighbourhoods within the City. Three staff from TransLink are to be dedicated full time to the Area Transit Plan. The University of British Columbia will allocate staff resources as required.

In preliminary discussions involving the City, TransLink and UBC, the following structure is proposed for reporting and facilitating community involvement. Three levels of involvement are planned:

The Steering Committee would track and monitor the project work program, budget and schedule. Committee members would include senior staff representatives from the City, TransLink and the University of British Columbia. In addition to these members Recommendation C requests that the Mayor appoint one Councillor as a Council Liaison to the Steering Committee.

The Working Group includes staff from TransLink, the City, and UBC and would carry out the majority of project related work tasks. Offices for the working group would be set up at 450 West Broadway. This location provides a number of benefits including providing the public with a Vancouver site office. In addition, there are additional and shared resources which can be utilized at this location: including clerical staff, meeting rooms, and a close proximity to staff involved in the Downtown Transportation Implementation Plan and the RAV project.

Public Consultation

The public consultation process will be open to broad representation within the community including area residents; current and future transit customers; Transit operating subsidiaries personnel, and various stakeholder groups including businesses, neighbourhood and community associations, transportation advocacy groups, seniors and students.

The public will be involved in providing input through a number of methods and techniques. The Draft Terms of Reference outlines many methods including open houses, focus groups, workshops and formal public meetings, market research surveys, stakeholder meetings, and feedback and input obtained through means such as a dedicated website for the Vancouver-UBC Area Transit Plan. Much of the Public Process will be guided by a Public Advisory Committee.

Public Advisory Committees have been used in previous Area Transit Plans and were useful in assisting with the development of the public consultation program, providing their own input, and exploring ideas to improve the existing transit system. This committee would consist of individuals who represent the City of Vancouver and UBC communities and have an interest in transit and transportation. It is suggested that nominations for interested parties be sought from the community now. Staff would report back to Council providing recommendations for Council appointment of the Public Advisory Committee members.

Reports & Recommendations

At the conclusion of the project recommendations from the Vancouver- UBC Area Transit Plan will be presented in an "Area Transit Plan" report. The draft report will be presented to the TransLink Board and to City Council and UBC. Ultimately, the Final Vancouver-UBC Area Transit Plan Report will be submitted to the TransLink Board for approval.

This report will include specific short term (1-3 year) and medium term (3-5 year) priorities for transit improvements and modifications. These could include quality of service improvements, additional services, increased frequencies, transit priority measures, improved pedestrian and cycling interfaces with transit, and more. It could also include adjustments to improve the effectiveness or efficiency of poorly performing services.

The Plan will also include an "implementation and staging strategy" that all agencies involved can use to implement the actual transit improvements. Implementation schedules will be dependant on future TransLink and City budgets and the availability of funding.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

As this project is initiated by TransLink but includes participation from the City and UBC funding and resources are provided from the different agencies. TransLink is providing the necessary budget to fund the following components of the project:

This TransLink contribution towards the Vancouver-UBC Area Transit Plan will total $455,000 and will be allocated as follows:

FOR THE BUDGET YEARS-2004/2005

Budget Category

 

Vancouver/UBC Plan

Office Materials

$15,000

TransLink Staff (3)

$185,000

Marketing Research Survey and Focus Groups

$80,000

Public Consultation Program

$80,000

Engineering / Transit Consultants

$95,000

Total

$455,000

In addition to TransLinks project funding noted above, it is recommended that Council approve funding for City staff and related project expenses as outlined in Table 1. Project costs over the 2004- 2005 budget years will total $212,000.

Table 1 - Area Transit Plan Project Costs

 

2004

2005*1

Project cost

Equipment and office set-up *2

27,000

1,000

28,000

Staffing (1- CEII, 1- PAIII)

106,000

78,000

184,000

Total

133,000

79,000

212,000

Notes: *1. 2005 funding is subject to 2005 Operating Budget review.

The Vancouver-UBC Area Transit Plan was identified in the interim estimate as an initiative and has been reviewed and prioritized by the CMT in the budget process. Funding for the 2004 portion of the project costs has been set aside in Contingency Reserve. Staff are seeking Council approval for the entire project, $212 000, with 2004 funding from Contingency Reserve and 2005 funding subject to 2005 Operating Budget Review.

CONCLUSION

Staff recommends that Council approve the Vancouver-UBC Area Transit Plan Project including budget, staffing and related items as outlined in this report, and that a member of Council be appointed as Council Liaison to the Steering Committee.

- - - - -

Article I.

Article II.

DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE

VANCOUVER/UBC
AREA TRANSIT PLAN

March 2004

Article III.

Article IV.

DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE

Article V. TRANSLINK VANCOUVER/UBC AREA TRANSIT PLAN

1.0 PURPOSE

This draft Terms of Reference is for the TransLink Area Transit Plan (ATP) that will completed in early 2005 for the City of Vancouver, the University of British Columbia and University Endowment Lands sub-region of TransLink's transportation service area for the 2005-2010 period. This plan covers all aspects of transit service and infrastructure relating to the Vancouver/UBC area and connections outside to other areas of the GVRD including the following services:

i) Local & regional buses, including Community Shuttle, Express Coach and B-Line;
ii) West Coast Express Train and TrainBus services;
iii) SkyTrain services;
iv) Future rapid transit services such as the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line;
v) SeaBus and potential ferry connections from Vancouver-UBC across Vancouver harbour and Burrard Inlet.
vi) Potential future streetcar network; and
vii) Any other pertinent existing & future regional transit services & infrastructure providing service to the City of Vancouver/UBC.

TransLink's new Three Year Plan (2005-2007)/10 Year Outlook defines the overall financial limitations of the Vancouver/UBC ATP and the priorities assigned to other service improvement projects contained outside Vancouver/UBC.

A joint process for the development of the plan has been identified through discussion with City of Vancouver and UBC. TransLink will lead the development of the ATP and the work will be conducted by a dedicated staff team from TransLink, the City of Vancouver, and UBC. The process will be guided by a Steering Committee composed of representatives from TransLink, the City of Vancouver, and UBC. The project team will be assisted by various staff from TransLink, the City of Vancouver and UBC. Consultants may also be hired to provide input as required.

As development of the Vancouver/UBC Area Transit Plan progresses, the project will consult with the public through a variety of consultation processes. In addition, the project consultation process will receive guidance from a Public Advisory Committee appointed by Vancouver Council and UBC.

The Vancouver Standing Committee on Transportation and Traffic will receive progress reports at key milestones in the plan development. The final ATP is presented to the TransLink Board for Approval in Principle and referral to the municipalities for comment. The final Area Transit Plan report will be prepared by TransLink accounting for the comments received and presented to the GVTA Board for final approval.
2.0 BACKGROUND

During public consultation leading to the creation of TransLink and the preparation of Program Plan in 1999, a key point raised by municipalities and stakeholder groups was the need for a stronger community and municipal focus for all of TransLink's transit services-bus, West Coast Express, SkyTrain and ferries-SeaBus and Albion Ferry. As well, the issue of developing a continual process to develop broader community input into developing future transit service changes was raised as an important concern by the municipalities and the general public. TransLink has adopted the development of Area Transit Plans for seven sub-regions of the GVRD and a renewal process for updating these plans every three to four years as a means of addressing community and municipal council priorities.


3.0 VANCOUVER/UBC AREA TRANSIT PLAN CONTEXT

The ATP will be developed to recognise significant regional transit and transportation improvements that are currently underway (i.e. rapid transit or roadway construction) or included in the Three Year Transportation and Financial Plan and Ten Year Outlook. In this regard, the Vancouver/UBC Area Plan will have to be cognisant of work from the following initiatives that may influence the Plan:

· Any work completed on potential rapid transit extensions from the Vancouver Community College Station to Granville/Broadway and UBC;

· Background work completed for the Three Year Financial Strategy/Ten Year Outlook, including Ten Year Bus, WCE and SkyTrain plans;

· TransLink user satisfaction, ridership and market research surveys of all services.

· The impacts of the implementation of U-Pass initiatives at SFU and UBC and potential expansion of this program to Langara, Emily Carr and Vancouver Community colleges in Vancouver and to Kwantlen, Capilano, Douglas and BCIT outside Vancouver in 2006 and 2007;

· TransLink's 2003 Federal Urban Showcase projects within the City of Vancouver;

· TransLink's Future Rapid Bus Vision and Strategy work;

· TransLink's Vancouver Harbour and Passenger Marine Study;

· Work previously completed on reliability problems and possible transit priority measures in specific corridors;

· Work completed by the City of Vancouver on a potential streetcar network;

· Vancouver's Corridor study for Knight St.;

· Vancouver's City Transportation Plan and Downtown Transportation Plan;

· The implications of the new Eburne Transit Centre, if any;

· The results of the UBC Campus Transportation Study which was completed in 2003; and

· Planning that has been undertaken for the Richmond-Vancouver-Airport Rapid Transit Line and for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

4.0 OBJECTIVES

The ATP for Vancouver/UBC will be initiated by TransLink staff in 2004 and completed in early 2005.

The Area Transit Plans are intended to have a strong community and municipal focus throughout the process with consultation with all major stakeholders. To accomplish this objective for the Vancouver/UBC Plan, active participation and input by the City of Vancouver and UBC/UEL residents is seen as an integral component in the development of the Plan.

TransLink wishes to see a strong alignment of the ATP with the Transportation and Land Use Plans developed by the City of Vancouver and UBC.

The main objectives of the Vancouver/UBC ATP will be to:

· Services in corridors or segments where unmet demand exceeds capacity (consistent over-crowding and pass-ups), and where demand is changing and ridership is growing rapidly or where under-served markets could be served with new service designs.

· Under-performing services where cost effectiveness or productivity could be improved through changes to the route or schedule design (i.e. streamlining services) or where alternative service types may be appropriate (e.g. Community Shuttle), in order to increase cost-effectiveness; and,
· Areas which are appropriate for new services in order to reach strong and growing markets.

iii) Identify Opportunities for Transit Priority Measures and Operational Measures to Improve Reliability, Ridership and Operational Efficiency: Using previously completed work and recent data, review the specific transit corridors where there is high ridership and significant reliability and repeated delay issues. The causes of these issues will be examined and may include: on-street parking; insufficient on-street service monitoring; traffic congestion; close proximity of bus stops; traffic signal timing; service and scheduling problems; or other factors. Recommend measures which could be further investigated by the municipalities and/or TransLink in those corridors which present the greatest opportunity for improving time savings, reliability and ridership.

iv) Develop Implementation Strategy for Services and Related Transit Priority Measures, and Customer Infrastructure: Develop a staged implementation strategy for the preferred transit service improvements for the 2005-2007 timeframe and for the 2008 to 2010 period. This strategy will identify the recommended service improvements and their timing, routing, hours of operation, service levels, complementary transit priority and operational measures for improved reliability, infrastructure requirements, resources required, as well as estimated ridership and key markets served. The strategy will also identify the actions to successfully implement and support the recommended transit service improvements including:

· Suggest transit priority measures to support the recommended service improvements
· infrastructure requirements such as new or expanded transit exchange facilities, required new trolley overhead changes, roadway geometric changes and bus stop changes (e.g. location and number of additional shelters and InfoTubes)

4.0 STUDY ORGANIZATION
The organization proposed for this ATP study is depicted in Figure 1. The overall work of the ATP will be guided by a Project Steering Committee composed of senior representatives from TransLink, the City of Vancouver and UBC. A Project Manager from TransLink's Planning Department dedicated to work only on this ATP will be assisted by a dedicated team of TransLink, City of Vancouver and UBC staff who will work, or dedicate a number of hours on this project. The Project Manager will be assisted on specific ATP areas by the various departments of TransLink and the City of Vancouver as required to complete detailed tasks.
The ATP core team will consist of staff from the City of Vancouver (2), UBC (.5 FTE) TransLink's Planning Department (3), and Coast Mountain Bus Company (.75 FTE) assigned to this project.
The ATP Project Manager will co-ordinate the following:

Public Advisory Committee
Draft Terms of reference for the UBC/Vancouver ATP Public Advisory Committee (PAC) have been established in a separate document. Vancouver Council, UBC and the UEL are invited to appoint members of the public to form a Public Advisory Committee to the ATP project. It is recommended that membership be limited to 15-20 people, and that membership be drawn from a broad representation of the community.
The ATP will develop a public consultation plan with input from the PAC to ensure that the various interest groups and resident concerns are heard by the ATP team. The public consultation process may include meetings with existing Vancouver task force groups such as Cool Vancouver, Standing Committees, and other stakeholder groups such as Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST).

Consultants
The ATP project team will first identify a detailed work plan and schedule of deliverables. Based on the time, staff resources, and consulting budget available, the team will recommend specific tasks for assignment to consultants. Potential consulting work includes:

Figure One
Project Organization

ATP Dedicated Office Space
The Vancouver/UBC ATP will establish an office for the duration of the plan development in the City of Vancouver, with space available for meeting with small numbers of community representatives and stakeholders groups. TransLink and the City of Vancouver will agree on office space allocation, equipment resources to be assigned, staff support, etc.

5.0 WORK PROGRAM
The work program for the ATP will be structured around the development of the major study deliverables noted below and public consultation during the study. The public consultation effort will occur through the development of the plan and will be managed and resourced by the ATP team with possible assistance from consultants and municipal/UBC representatives. While opportunity for public input will be open throughout the plan development process, specific public consultation events and stakeholder consultation will likely be focussed around three distinct phases/periods of the plan development:

It is intended that the ATP team will use the major steps in the work program outlined below to prepare detailed work schedule. The ATP Team will prepare detailed workplan for approval by the Steering Committee which will have a schedule of key deliverables.

1. Research and Summarize ATP Background Information: The ATP team will review and summarize relevant current transit service characteristics and ridership data, land use/development plans, key transit issues, transit priority/reliability and transportation reports and existing information on travel patterns, five-year land use and growth projections and previous marketing research findings.

2. Develop Public Consultation and Communications Plan: The ATP Team will meet with PAC to discuss the ATP workplan, schedule and develop a detailed public consultation and communications plan for the ATP process, including the overall objectives, the key stakeholder and community groups to be consulted, and the methods and timing of consultation efforts.

3. Conduct Transit Performance Review: The performance and daily ridership profile of the existing transit service, and the identification of key areas where there are poor performing services and deficiencies with existing services will be summarized in a memorandum with route profile charts.

4. Conduct Meetings or Focus Groups with Operating Subsidiary staff: Meetings or focus groups will be held with representatives from the operating companies in the ATP process as one of the key means to collect their input on the following:

5. First Round of Public Consultation: Usually, there is public consultation at this early stage of the plan development to present background information on the area planning process: the objectives and context; to introduce the PAC and to introduce the consultation process. It will also present the performance of the current transit system, and solicit opinions on issues/deficiencies with current transit service. This task will include designing the public events with the PAC to obtain feedback on the event formats and content, preparing presentation materials, and conducting the events. The consultation will be managed to maximize attendance in different geographical areas of the City of Vancouver/UBC, within the resources available.

6. Meet with Stakeholder Groups: In addition to the main public consultation event it may be decided to hold meetings with key stakeholder groups in the community throughout the Area Plan process to receive their comments and input. These Stakeholders may include community and business associations, colleges and universities, transportation advocacy groups; educational boards and major high schools, associations for persons with disabilities, major employment centres and others as identified through discussions with ATP staff and the PAC. The number of these meetings will be subject to the availability of staff resources.

7. Phase One Summary Report: The ATP team will prepare a report summarising major transit and transportation issues identified in the public consultation and through the analysis of land use patterns, travel characteristics and information, existing municipal plans, TransLink and municipal /UBC staff input, transit ridership information and previously completed marketing research (e.g. rider satisfaction surveys).

8. Develop and Conduct Market Research Survey - Phase One (Market Research firm with input from ATP team): In Phase One a market research survey will be undertaken to obtain statistically valid feedback from residents on key transit issues, transit markets and travel patterns and their interest in reviewing and providing comments on specific service improvement concepts. A report summarising the work will be generated by the Market Research firm.

9. Transit Target Markets and Ridership Objectives: Specific target markets and ridership objectives for the Area Transit Plan will be developed. The City of Vancouver and UBC will provide information on their proposed or anticipated major land use and transportation developments in the next five to ten years.

10. Transit Operational and Priority Measures Memorandum:

11. Develop Preliminary Transit Changes and Evaluation: Based on the analysis of service performance, market data, public input, and the overall market and ridership objectives a range of preliminary transit improvement concepts will be defined and a preliminary evaluation of these concepts will be completed.

12. Design and Conduct Second Round of Public Consultation. The second round of public consultation events will present the preliminary service concepts and their evaluation, and obtain input from the public on their degree of support and priorities for the various concepts.

13. Prepare Memorandum on Second Round of Public Consultation. The ATP team will prepare a report summarising the input received from the second round of public events and the market research. This will be presented to the PAC and the project Steering Committee.

14. Develop Draft Recommended Transit Plan: Based on the analysis of information received to date, draft transit improvement concepts will be defined and a more comprehensive evaluation of these concepts will be completed. Each service concept shall be defined in terms of its benefits, routing, service frequency, travel time, hours of service, specific transit priority measures, stopping procedures and costs.

15. Develop Implementation Strategy for Operational, Infrastructure and Priority Measures: This strategy will identify the actions required by TransLink, and the municipalities to successfully implement and support the recommended transit service improvements.

18. Prepare Draft Area Transit Plan & Implementation Strategy Report Based on the previous evaluation of service concepts and input from the second round of public consultation, prepare a draft ATP implementation strategy that recommends improvements for the study area. This report will be presented to the PAC and the Steering Committee with a view to the next round of public consultation.

19. Design and Conduct Third Round of Public Consultation The third round of public consultation will present the draft ATP and implementation strategy, and obtain input from the public on their degree of support and priorities for the various concepts.

20. Draft Area Transit Plan: The ATP team will prepare a report summarising the input received from the third round of public events, and market research to date. An Executive Summary of the draft plan will be prepared by the ATP team for presentation to the PAC and Steering Committee with a view to obtaining comments and bringing the report to the GVTA board for Approval in Principle.

21. Obtain Municipal/UBC and TAC Comments on Draft Area Transit Plan. The draft Area Transit Plan report will be referred by GVTA to municipal/UBC staff and councils for review and comment.

22. Finalise Area Transit Plan and Submit to TransLink Board for Final Approval The draft Area Transit Plan will be revised to consider reflect municipal/UBC comments and submitted for final Board approval.

6.0 PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Participation in the public consultation process will be open to area residents; transit operating subsidiaries personnel; transit customers and potential customers, and representatives from various stakeholders groups including businesses, neighbourhood and community associations, transportation advocacy groups, and seniors and students. The strategy for obtaining public input will employ a number of diverse techniques such as:

· Open houses held at community centres;
· Focus groups with operators;
· Public workshop meetings and formal public meetings;
· Market research survey in 2 stages-first to gather issues; and second to test specific service improvements development to respond to identified issues;
· Vancouver Council and UBC Board of Governors workshops;
· A "speakers bureau" which will involve members of the team going out to speak to groups which want to hear about the ATP and want to provide input (e.g. Chambers of Commerce, Rotary groups, neighbourhood associations);
· Distribution of ATP materials through newsletters and various media;
· Stakeholder meetings;
· TransLink Board workshops and presentations;
· Input through TransLink's Vancouver/UBC ATP website with links to UBC and City of Vancouver websites;
· Any other techniques identified and recommended by UBC and municipal representatives which can be financed from the ATP budget or by UBC or the City of Vancouver.

The public consultation process will be led by the ATP team with assistance from the PAC and the Public Consultation department of TransLink.

7.0 TRANSLINK ATP BUDGET
The budget components for the ATP include Consultants' fees, costs for the backfilling TransLink staff dedicated to the ATP, costs for marketing research surveys and focus groups, and costs for the public consultation program which includes expenditures for advertising, printing, display materials for public events, and rental of premises for public forums.

The total budget for the Vancouver/UBC to be started in 2004 and completed in 2005 is $455,000. This will be allocated approximately as follows.

FOR THE BUDGET YEARS-2004/2005

Budget Category

 

Vancouver/UBC Plan

Office Materials

$15,000

TransLink Staff (3)

$185,000

Marketing Research Survey and Focus Groups

$80,000

Public Consultation Program

$80,000

Engineering / Transit Consultants

$95,000

Total

$455,000

* * * * *

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