384510 COM Customer Service Report – Report of low ridership in bus service across the Golden Ears Bridge

Zwei receives many copies letters about transit concerns in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, but my focus is on the ‘Community‘ Bus Servcies or “C” routes.

It has bee Zwei’s contention that the ‘Community‘ buses or ‘C‘ bus services were a sop for the lower Fraser Valley politicians so they would approve the hugely expensive Canada line in a sort of cake for Vancouver and crumbs for the Fraser Valley routine.

South Delta is another example of Community Bus nonsense as both the local “C” routes and the 609 bus (locally known as the Wally Wagon) carry less than 20 passengers a day,Ai?? yet operate at a hourly or better headways. Why doesAi??TransLink insist in operating the three bus services?

Transit is at a crossroad, does TransLink continue with the dated SkyTrain light metro model with scores of bus routes feeding the metro and a second grade of buses operating ‘community services’, or a ridership based transit servcie operating the appropriate transit mode (LRT or bus) on routes that justify transit such service?

TransLink’s current planning is the status quo, providing a Vancouver centric transit service,Ai??with a new light metro line built every decade and a transit system that is used mainly by students, the elderly and the poor. The rest of TransLink’s little fiefdom get nothing but crumbs.

You are quite correct that bus usage in Langley is abysmally low.Ai?? Whenever I see a bus, I see lots of empty seats, just like you.Ai?? The past three Saturdays, I have taken Route C62 from downtown Langley to Fort Langley, and at every occasion, shared the shuttle bus with 2 other passengers.Ai?? All three of us got on at Logan Crescent and got off at Glover Road and 96 Avenue, so I guess the buses continue empty to Walnut Grove.Ai?? As member of PTAT in 2000-2001, (the Public Transit Advisory Task Force that came up with the idea of shuttle buses for Langley, (all the C-buses), together with Paul Cordeiro of the ToL and Bill Lambert of TransLink), I would like to reiterate my concerns at that time: that ridership would be quite low.Ai?? That may even have been recorded in the Minutes.

 

Average Load 8 (passengers) is shown on the Attachment for Route C62.Ai?? And Average Load 2 (passengers for Route 61 is even lower – see Attachment.

 

Last Saturday, the fare box was covered by a tarp; the bus driver said that it was “out or order” and all three passengers had a free ride.Ai??Ai?? Is that their way of doing business?Ai?? So even the new statistics would record that as 0 passengers and 0 revenue.Ai?? Or that run is judt deleted from the date base.Ai?? But it costs money…..

 

I detect (and detest) the gall that TransLink has to thank you for “taking an interest in the efficiency of the transit network”.Ai?? Just astounding.Ai??Ai?? Why?Ai??Ai?? Because you had clearly commented on their inefficiency, when you wrote:

 

Gentlemen,

Why are large buses being used to link Langley to Maple Ridge?Ai?? I have seen at most eight passengers on board – at any time of the day.Ai?? Most of the number of passengers is less than six.Ai?? I have seen buses travelling along 2000th Street without any passengers.

Question – does TransLink monitor the usage of their bus services? Is anybody checking whether the use of such large buses is warranted on your routes? Would smaller busses not be more appropriate for this route?

Would a taxi service perhaps be more appropriate?Ai?? I remind you of TransLink’s commitment under the Emission Policy heading -Ai?? *Ai?? TransLink is uniquely positioned to help reduce emission impacts that occur with the transportation of people and goods, andAi?? *Ai?? Implement transportation demand management strategies and programs.

Awaiting a reply, I remain,Ai?? yours truly,Ai?? B.C. (Chris) Schneider

 

And they, they did not even really respond to your real question, about passenger loads over the Golden Ears Bridge.Ai??Ai?? They only discussed ridership on 200 Street, where the 501 and 590 buses share the route with the 595.Ai?? If anything, the 595 should be a type of “express”, not stopping at all bus stops along that route.Ai?? They stated:

 

If you look at the route-by-route summaries, youai??i??ll see that the 501, 590, and 595 services along 200th street experience average peak passenger loads in the range of 27 to 32. This is above what can be accommodated on a minibus (~20). While these peaks are generally not reached along 200th street, vehicles on these routes need to be able to accommodate them.

 

Their statistics about Route 595 did not even show how many people crosssed the mighty Fraser River by bus.Ai?? I think they do not want to share these very low numbers.Ai?? With the Albion Ferry, at least there were statistics – as it was mostly full and there were lineups of cars, lots of bicycles and the odd pedestrian.Ai?? Saturday afternoon, after my 4 hour shift as “Station Agent” at the Fort Langley CN Station, Lydia and I drove down to the south ferry landing.Ai?? The bus shelter that was built there, is still in existence, but almost falling apart.Ai?? If that ferry with good transit connections at both ends had still existed, it would have been nice to go to Maple Ridge by bus/ferry.

 

I went to Maple Ridge a week or so ago, for the first time in more than a year, and I found the concrete deck of the Golden Ears Bridge less than smooth.Ai?? I do not know if it is deteriorating, as I have only crossed it a total number of 7 times since fares started.

 

Keep on plodding and eventually, the truth will come out that this Golden Ears Bridge is a “loss leader”.Ai?? The Fort Langley Community Association may also find this interesting – and disturbing.