With the World Cup Global Soccer Event in town, TransLink and the City of Vancouver have made a number of changes to the transit network to support the influx of visitors. This includes installing the city’s most fast-appearing transit priority, introducing the first new trolleybus route since Expo ‘86, and adorning some buses with giant soccer balls.
But what does this mean for transit riders?
Granville + Seymour/Howe Changes
With Granville St being fully pedestrianized, the many buses which run into downtown have been rerouted onto Seymour and Howe Streets. To ensure buses remain free from traffic while they’re routed off Granville, the City of Vancouver has designated bus lanes on Seymour and Howe overnight.
We asked riders for their thoughts and they shared that these lanes have been extremely successful, allowing buses to freely pass the heavy traffic on Seymour and Howe. We even suspect the light timings which usually prioritize car traffic flow have resulted in even faster buses through downtown. This is proof the city can make buses faster overnight, something they have been stalling on in corridors throughout Vancouver.
The great vibes on Granville have resulted in many to call for the street to remain pedestrianized. If this does happen, the experience for transit riders on Seymour and Howe must be improved.
We’ve heard that many of the sidewalks are too narrow, there are no signs directing transit riders to and from SkyTrain, and the infrastructure at stops is inadequate. In particular, narrow sidewalks at stops are creating accessibility challenges for those using mobility devices. This must be improved as soon as possible.
New trolley route! The 1
To help visitors get around downtown, TransLink has introduced route 1, the first brand new trolley route since the temporary 13 added for Expo ‘86. Called the “Downtown South Circulator”, it runs in a one way loop on a similar route to routes 5 and 6.
We… are a little confused about the 1. In our experience, it’s as if they made the 5/6 (the slowest buses in the network) even slower and less useful. Doing a loop of the most congested part of the city without any bus priority means it gets stuck in traffic… a lot. For such a short circulator, 15 minute service is not adequate, it would be faster to walk for many of the trips this bus is supposed to serve.
New non-trolley route! The 11
TransLink has also created route 11 to shuttle soccer fans between the F*FA Fan Festival and the Expo and Millennium Lines. This route runs every 5 minutes between 29th Avenue Station and Hastings & Renfrew. While it runs empty between crowds, we’ve also heard reports that extra buses were sent to deal with overcrowding.
Unfortunately, articulated buses for this route were taken off route 145. Riders have told us that the smaller buses are causing bad overcrowding for SFU students taking summer classes.
In other changes…
The R5 has a new short turn, where the bus turns around partway through the route, at Hastings @ Renfrew. To accommodate this change, the Renfrew R5 stop was moved to the near side of the intersection. Riders have told us they’ve spotted people waiting at the old stop, and that the in-vehicle next stop displays are showing “Kaslo St” instead of Renfrew. This continues a pattern of TransLink providing poor detour signage and needlessly renaming moved stops.
While the new soccer ball buses are wonderfully whimsical, the bike racks on these buses had to be removed to accommodate the decorations. Riders expect to be able to bring their bike on the bus, and an inflatable ball making you wait for the next bus is a little embarrassing. One rider told us they saw a cyclist wait 45 minutes for another 254 after being passed up!
Many more bus routes have changed! See TransLink’s service changes page for more information.
In conclusion…
TransLink and the City have done a great job accommodating International Sports Tournament visitors, but unfortunately parts of their plan have come at the expense of residents. We urge the City of Vancouver to fix pedestrian, accessibility, and wayfinding issues on Howe and Seymour; and TransLink to fix legibility problems with detours.