Tell TransLink not to miss Burnaby Heights!

BRT describes bus routes that are designed to offer the benefits of subways and SkyTrains but at a fraction of the cost and time. This means that TransLink can deliver more transit at the same cost. As part of TransLink’s Transport 2050 plan process, members of the public were asked about the tradeoff between higher-cost SkyTrain versus lower-cost BRT, and the BRT-heavy option was the slight favourite.

BRT is used across the world, including on Madison Street in Seattle. It features bus lanes in the middle of the street with dedicated stations, signals that detect buses and give green lights, and other upgraded features. Six months after opening, the Madison St BRT more than doubled transit ridership and similar results have been observed around the world. When transit gets faster and more reliable, people want to use it.

The crucial downside of BRT is that the definition is not hard and fast. The quality of BRT lines have a tendency to get whittled down as the design progresses. York Region’s Viva BRT in Ontario has nicely designed stations but buses operate at remarkably low frequency, forcing passengers to wait 30 minutes or more for a bus. Boston’s Silver Line BRT is missing bus lanes for long stretches, keeping buses stuck in traffic and leading riders to wonder if BRT is any better than a normal bus. 

This is why transit advocacy groups like Movement are crucial: we will be closely following the project to ensure the BRT doesn’t get watered down. Option 2 is a classic example of this phenomenon, known as “BRT creep”. To learn about how BRT creep played out in Cleveland, watch this excellent youtube video on the topic.

People in Burnaby Heights will become extremely well connected by quality transit in all directions. Transit is a much more sustainable mode of transportation than driving. When we make transit a better transportation option by making it more frequent and reliable, more people will use it. Good access to transit can even lift people out of poverty and provide greater access to jobs. It can enable families to not have to rely on expensive, $10,000 a year personal vehicles. Sadly, Burnaby Heights has had a number of tragic deaths due to car crashes, and another benefit of transit is that it’s 50 times safer than driving, and BRT can provide better safety outcomes by curbing excessive traffic speeds.

Will 60,000 daily potential customers with easy, convenient access help business? We think yes! We can’t easily add more cars or parking to this area, but transit only requires a fraction of the space to move many, many more people. Study after study show that business owners tend to overestimate the number of people driving to their businesses. We heard from lots of transit riders who frequent restaurants and shops in the Heights, or said they would frequent them more often if the transit was improved, and you can read some of their quotes in our press release.

The Heights Merchants Association’s opposition to the Hastings route prompted the evaluation of two options. You can read their opinion on the BRT here.

There is plenty of parking in Burnaby Heights! Back in the 90s when the HOV lanes went in, the province actually bought properties and tore them down to put in the parking lots that you’ll find on street corners in the Heights today. There are 15 city-owned, free parking lots in the Heights. There is also parking on the side streets to the north and south of Hastings. The curbside parking spaces on Hastings that would be removed for BRT are a small fraction of what’s available, and they are already unavailable for certain hours of the day when the bus lanes are active. Also, when we improve transit, we don’t need as much parking.

The BRT can replace either the two parking lanes or two lanes of traffic. There are plenty of examples in the world of different ways to do it. The Columbus Avenue BRT in Boston alternates between the two options, preserving parking in some areas and traffic in others.

If you have a preference, make sure to put it as a comment when you fill out the survey. Right now TransLink is only looking at the option of removing the parking lane instead of a travel lane, but they are still early in the design process. If enough people have a strong preference they may reconsider.

For BRT, the bus lane positioning can go in the curbside lane, or in the centre lanes. This has not yet been decided and will come up later in TransLink’s planning process, and there will be another round of engagement.

We would love to get a SkyTrain to the North Shore! It’s in our long list of better transit to advocate for! BRT can be implemented faster and for a fraction of the cost of SkyTrain with a similar level of service. Think of it as SkyTrain of the road.

The BRT is a precursor to SkyTrain, and whatever route is selected is likely to also affect whatever SkyTrain route might be coming in the far future. We need to be strategic and realistic about our advocacy, and BRT is already in the plans outlined. Right now we are focused on making sure it goes through Burnaby Heights. Speaking of, have you taken the survey yet?

The Second Narrows Bridge is controlled by the BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit, and they’re afraid of a huge backlash from motorists if they replace a lane of the bridge with a bus lane. It would take an enormous public effort to change their minds, which is doable, but difficult. The good news is that the most congested part of any bridge is the lead-up to it, and effective queue jumps can go a long way to speeding up the bus. We’re going to be pushing for truly excellent queue jumps, and we encourage you to mention the bridge in your comments on the survey.

The TransLink survey closes on September 21st, 2025. TransLink staff will then prepare a report on the findings, that they will present to Burnaby City Council. Council has the final say on the alignment options. If you want to do more than just take the survey, email Burnaby City Council with your opinion. They rarely hear from transit riders, and for local issues like this, a few voices can make a big difference.