FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
At about noon today, Broadway between Cambie and Alberta was closed. This 6-month closure has the potential to cause delays on one of the busiest bus corridors in North America, a corridor that is on the verge of being upgraded to rail rapid transit.
Dedicated “white bar” traffic signals, turn bans, and bus-only turn lanes have completely reshaped Broadway, Cambie, and 8th. It is clear that the project team has taken extraordinary measures to make sure buses move smoothly.
This video illustrates how special constables are dealing with vehicles in the bus lane, and how it can impact the bus’ movement. But it also shows that when a bus gets a “white bar” signal (Visible at 2:36 in that video), it’s coordinated so that the vehicle can pass through both the Broadway/Cambie and Cambie/8th intersections without stopping.
We expect that the City of Vancouver will need to keep an eye on the intersections to keep things going smoothly and adapt to changing conditions. We will share feedback from riders as we get it.
“If we can install all these measures for a temporary closure, we can do it permanently all over the region,” said Denis Agar, Executive Director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders. “The cost of signals and paint is almost nothing, and it will save a ton of money in the form of more efficient bus routes and giving people an alternative to owning a car. Intersections like Boundary and Kincaid or Dunbar and SW Marine should have had this treatment years ago.”
Stats:
- About 600 buses use this segment every weekday
- The 99 remains the busiest bus route in Metro Vancouver, with 34,700 boardings per weekday.
- Broadway is also served by the 9 which itself is the 11th busiest route in the region at 12,500 boardings per weekday
- When the Broadway Subway opens to Arbutus, we expect that TransLink will truncate the 99 to only run between UBC and Arbutus Station. Modelling shows that as soon as 2030, we could see 2000 people per hour (page 86) trying to make a transfer from train to bus at Arbutus, which essentially maxes out the capacity of Broadway. We need this train to continue to UBC.