SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 3
P&E COMMITTEE AGENDA
FEBRUARY 22, 1996
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: February 8, 1996
Dept. File No. 4101
TO: Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: 1996/1997 Transit Service Plan
RECOMMENDATIONS
A. THAT Council again request BC Transit to develop new service
design guidelines, and implement improved data collection,
transit planning and management methods as outlined in
Appendix A, in order to allocate service in a more objective
and rational method, and address some of the chronic transit
customer problems such as insufficient levels of service,
crowding, and unreliability.
B. THAT Council express its concern to BC Transit that the new
transit services required for the emerging high density
residential areas on the north shore of False Creek and in
Riverside/Fraser Lands have not been implemented yet, and
request that these services be initiated quickly in order to
establish and encourage transit use.
C. THAT BC Transit develop options for a new route linking
Central Broadway, the Downtown and Waterfront Station.
D. THAT BC Transit consider providing more innovative fare
policies in order to encourage ridership, such as group based
discounts for educational, other government and major
employment institutions.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council's priorities for transportation modes are walking, cycling,
transit, goods movement, and the automobile.
Council supports measures to increase transit use as a means of reducing
the impacts of general vehicular traffic growth and improving regional
air quality, as per the "Clouds of Change" initiatives.
Council on April 21, 1994, approved a package of new transit service
design guidelines and proposed transit services.SUMMARY
The Vancouver Regional Transit Commission (VRTC) recently approved the
1996/97 Annual Service Plan, and forwarded it to the municipalities for
comment. The plan outlines the service changes for the upcoming year.
It contains mostly items that were approved in previous Annual Service
Plans including several changes that will benefit Vancouver, for
example: Broadway Express, Granville Express, and direct transit routes
between downtown Vancouver and North Burnaby (i.e. bypassing transfers
at Kootenay Loop). While these improvements are desirable, it is
discouraging that BC Transit has not implemented other City
recommendations for improved service. These are being pursued with BC
Transit through the 5 year planning process now underway.
PURPOSE
This report discusses BC Transit's service plan for next year.
BACKGROUND
Each year BC Transit prepares a report to the VRTC that outlines the
proposed changes to transit service in the Region for the coming fiscal
year. Once approved, the report is used to prepare the budget.
On November 15, 1995, the VRTC approved this year's report, and BC
Transit was directed to circulate the report to the municipalities for
information and comment. A copy of the report was received by the City
Clerk in January 1996, with a request from BC Transit for Council to
provide comments by the end of February 1996.
The report in general contains improvements that were previously
approved in 1994/95 and 1995/96 but not implemented due to a shortage of
new buses. Council provided comments (summarized in Appendix A) to the
VRTC regarding the previous plans.
1996/97 ANNUAL SERVICE PLAN
The plan contains:
1. North Burnaby/SFU - New Routes
The key improvement is the provision of direct express bus service
between North Burnaby and downtown Vancouver. Currently, all
transit trips between North Burnaby and Vancouver require a
transfer at Kootenay Loop. The proposed changes would eliminate
these transfers thereby reducing travel times and inconvenience to
the public. Council has already supported this proposal in concept.
However, Council has expressed opposition to BC Transit's previous
plan to include, as part of the North Burnaby changes, frequency
reductions to local Vancouver services impacted by this
restructuring, namely the evening services on Hastings Street and
the midday services on Broadway west of Granville Street.
2. Granville Express Bus Service - Marpole
This service improvement was promised by BC Transit when Council
approved the HOV lane on Granville Street. The stopping procedures
for the Richmond express services will be revised to allow Marpole
residents to use these services for trips to and from the Downtown.
3. Broadway Express Bus Service
BC Transit intends to implement this service in September 1996, in
advance of installing Rapid Transit for the corridor. The Express
Bus service would operate between UBC and Lougheed Mall every 8 to
10 minutes in the peak period and every 10 to 15 minutes in the
off-peak periods, using articulated buses.
Significant travel time savings would be available to passengers -
for example, a saving of 10 to 12 minutes for a ride from Broadway
Station to UBC compared to the #9 local trolley service. It would
also eliminate transfers at Brentwood Mall and Boundary Loop for
customers travelling in the corridor between Lougheed Mall and
destinations in the City.
In the peak periods there would be a reduction in the frequency of
the existing #9 local Broadway trolley route from about 3.5 to 5.5
minutes; however, the combined service frequency of local and
express buses on Broadway would be about the same. In the off peak
periods there would be an improvement in service frequency as the
new express bus service would be added to the existing local
service. Implementing this service would allow cancellation of the
#109 service and the UBC Express service from Broadway Station.
Design details regarding the Express Bus service, including traffic
operations on Broadway, stopping procedures, fare collection
methods and transit priority measures, will be reported to Council
prior to service startup.
4. Richmond Centre to Metrotown Route
The fastest growing travel market in the Region is between suburbs.
However, while the total number of trips between the suburbs may be
large, the trips can be very scattered and expensive to serve by
transit. Transit can be much more productive in serving trips in
the more densely populated inner areas of the Region where jobs are
also more centrally concentrated. Nevertheless, BC Transit
proposes to provide peak period service between Richmond Centre and
Metrotown. This service would attract annually 320,000 trips from
other transit services and 55,000 new trips from automobiles.5.
Other service improvements
These include: allocation of more buses and service hours to
alleviate overloaded buses and maintain service frequencies on
routes with growing traffic congestion; implementation of bus
priority measures; implementation of minibus service; and the
reallocation of service hours from under-utilized routes. BC
Transit has not specified where the additional service hours will
be allocated; however, it is hoped they would be allocated in the
City where crowding and pass-ups are a problem. For example, it
should be possible to provide relief to the #3 Main/Robson, #8
Fraser/Davie and #17 Oak services. Staff will discuss this item
with BC Transit and report to Council as necessary.
DISCUSSION
The major transit improvements in this program are the North Burnaby
changes, the Broadway Express Bus route and the Granville Express
service. These have been supported by Council previously and will
provide better service for Vancouver residents.
BC Transit does not have sufficient funding to provide the amount of
service all the municipalities want. It is discouraging to note that
while BC Transit is still not planning additional service changes per
Council's other recommendations (see Appendix A), it is able to provide
additional suburb-to-suburb service (part 4 above).
In order to allocate service in an objective manner, Council has
recommended the development of new service design guidelines, and
implementing improved data collection, transit planning and management
methods. Resolution of acceptable service design guidelines would allow
BC Transit to begin to address some of the chronic problems associated
with the bus system including insufficient levels of service, crowding,
and unreliability. Staff will continue to pursue these measures and
other Council requests through BC Transit's 5-year transit planning
process. However, it is suggested that the importance of these items be
reiterated through a Council recommendation.
North Shore False Creek And Riverside/Fraser Lands Services
Council has requested BC Transit to provide improved transit service to
the emerging high density residential areas in Riverside/Fraser Lands
and the north shore of False Creek. These routes were approved by the
VRTC in previous Annual Service Plans but have not been implemented to
date, and are not included in the current plan.
A north shore False Creek service would connect Pacific Place and
Yaletown to the Downtown and Waterfront Station. This would encourage
more transit-oriented residents to locate in False Creek, supporting the
City's goal to reduce auto use. Appendix B illustrates the route
identified previously for this service; however, other options exist.
We will report back when BC Transit implements this route.
A bus route for Riverside/Fraser Lands was reaffirmed by Council on June
24, 1993. As illustrated in Appendix C, the route favoured by the City
would extend west on South East Marine Drive to Victoria Drive and the
Harrison Loop. It would provide a direct transit connection to SkyTrain
for the new residents in this sector and, again, help establish and
encourage transit use. BC Transit prefer the route illustrated in
Appendix D, as it provides operational and customer service advantages;
however, it requires the use of a section of Fraserview Drive and is
opposed by residents on that street.
It is very important to establish transit service early in newly
developing high density neighbourhoods. Recommendation B is included so
that Council can remind BC Transit how necessary these new transit
services are to the City.
Central Broadway/Downtown Connector
Downtown Vancouver and Central Broadway are the largest
commercial/employment centres in the Province, and there is significant
demand for travel between them. At present, the only bus route that
connects directly these areas is the #17 Oak; however, it serves only a
small section of Broadway, between Oak and Cambie Streets, and does not
connect to Waterfront Station. It is recommended that BC Transit
consider options for a better transit service between these areas. Some
of the options are illustrated in Appendix E. The Cambie Corridor
Consortium, which is an association of Employee Trip Administrators in
the Central Broadway area, strongly supports a Central Broadway to
SeaBus/Westcoast Express connection especially in the peak periods as a
way of encouraging transit use.
There may be also an opportunity to provide better service to the
Vancouver Public Library as part of this proposal or other route changes
planned for the downtown. We will continue to work with BC Transit on
this and report back.
Fare Plan
Typically, the Annual Service Plan report has not dealt with transit
fares. An upcoming comprehensive report on transit in the City will
review this matter in more detail. This will include previous Council
resolutions, and a review of a potential Downtown/West End fare zone,
and an expanded Regional fare zone. In the meantime, it is suggested
Council recommend that BC Transit consider developing a more innovative
fare policy in order to encourage ridership. For example, group based
discounts through employers are already being reviewed by BC Transit in
cooperation with the Cambie Consortium. This could be expanded to
include educational, other government and major employment institutions.
* * * * *