Eric Chris on Bi-Articulated Buses For The 99-B

A bi-articulated bus or double-articulated bus is a higher-capacity type of articulated bus. It is an extension of a conventional or single-articulated bus, in that it has three passenger compartment sections instead of two. This also involves the addition of an extra axle and a second articulation joint. Due to the extended length, bi-articulated buses tend to be used on high-frequency core routes or bus rapid transit schemes rather than conventional bus routes.

One of their main advantages is that they reduce the number of drivers needed to run a service for a specific number of people ai??i?? i.e., it is usually much more cost-efficient to run a bi-articulated bus with one driver, than, for example, to run two smaller rigid buses providing the same total number of seats.

Disadvantages include difficulties in traffic, the need to have bus stops catering to the extended length, and the fact that two buses with the same capacity can be used more flexibly, such as having one bus arrive every five minutes, instead of one of the larger articulated buses every ten minutes (as an example providing the same service capacity, but different frequencies).

An electric bi-articulated trolleybus in Zurich, Switzerland. Please note tram tracks, as the city also operates trams.

A very interesting letter from Eric Chris about a proposal to use bi-articulated buses on the 99-B to increase capacity on the route.

Bi-articulated buses are mainly designed for guided-bus lines or for routes with busways and if bi-articulated buses are to be used on Broadway, then some very expensive work must take place before their operation. Bus stops must be lengthened and roads must be rebuilt and strengthened to accommodate the heavier and award bi-articulated buses.

The ride of bi-articulated buses are not as smooth as regular buses and this may lead to ridership drift, where transit riders will change from the Broadway/99 route to other bus routes that do not operate bi-articulated buses.

The real answer to Broadways transit problems is the reinstatement of the streetcar, only upgraded to light rail practice with at least 40% of its route operating on a “reserved rights-of-ways” or R-o-W’s reserved for the exclusive use of the tram. Reinstating a Broadway streetcar/LRT could be as cheap as $10 million a km for pre-fab track (the supports and span-wires are already in place); $30 million to $50 million for shops and a car barn; and $4 million to $5 million per car, depending on the size of the vehicle.

A Vancouver/UBC/BCIT streetcar/LRT network could be had for under $600 million and would offer a viable transit solution for the next 40 to 50 years at an operating cost much less than buses. Less than 20 modern trams could do the work of all the buses being used on Broadway. Of course light rail or streetcar is not in the lexicon of TransLink or the City of Vancouver (COV), who rather use fancy bi-articulated buse upgradesAi??or subways, especially if taxpayers South of the Fraser are paying the tab.

The letter………

Councillors George Affleck and Geoff Meggs,

Are we able to discuss the proposed bi-articulated buses (25 metre long) over the telephone or perhaps in person in Point Grey near Tolmie Street on the 99 B-Line route?Ai?? I read the article in The Vancouver Courier about the proposal by the COV to increase capacity on the 99 B-Line route.Ai?? It is a fantastic idea provided that the 25 metre articulated buses are ai???electricai??? bi-articulated trolley buses (see attached picture) or possibly streetcars to replace the diesel and hybrid-diesel buses operating on the 99 B-Line route:

 

http://www.vancourier.com/City+hall+longs+longer+buses+Vancouver/6481007/story.html

 

http://www.tbus.org.uk/health.htm

 

Many residents in Point Grey (four out of five) favour the removal of the 99 B-Line diesel buses operating on the #9 trolley bus route (2007 WPG Community Visions Choices Survey).Ai?? In Vancouver, the 99 B-Line service impairs the health of individuals due to the high concentration of particulate matter emitted by the 99 B-Line diesel buses and is an an extreme nuisance to residents due to the incredible noise levels and vibrations produced by the 99 B-Line diesel buses.

 

For the COV to establish a transit division and to operate 25 metre articulated trolley buses, the capital cost would be expected to be $112 million for 55 bi-articulated trolley buses with five of the bi-articulated trolley buses as spare to allow for break downs and maintenance ($100 million for the 55 bi-articulated trolley buses, $10 million for 10 kilometres of dedicated trolley lines from downtown Vancouver to UBC and $2 million for the rectifier sub-station).Ai?? Operating and maintenance costs would be expected to be approximately $17.9 million annually ($0.5 million for power, $4.3 million for maintenance and $13.1 million for drivers).Ai?? Storage and maintenance of the 25 metre articulated trolley buses could be done at existing COV facilities with minor upgrades costing little.

 

Daily, it would only require 12,300 riders making two trips and paying a convenient toonie or $2 per trip for the COV transit division to recoup the ai???entireai??? operating and maintenance costs for the fleet of 25 metre articulated trolley buses traveling from downtown Vancouver to Point Grey and Kitsilano.Ai?? The $2 COV transit fare is much less than the pending $2.75 single zone fare by TransLink and would appeal to budget conscious riders who are looking for affordable transit to downtown Vancouver.Ai?? Financing the COV transit would not even require charging students traveling to UBC.Ai?? Students would only pay what TransLink already charges and would ride the 25 metre articulated trolley buses operated by COV transit for free.

 

How would the COV afford $112 million for the fleet of 25 metre articulated trolley buses?Ai?? Easily, taxpayers provide TransLink $690 million annually to move about 300,000 transit users, and COV transit would rightfully be entitled to $28 million annually from taxpayers for absorbing 4% or 12,300 of TransLinkai??i??s riders who would travel independently on COV transit from Point Grey and Kitsilano to downtown Vancouver (4% * $690 million = $28 million).Ai?? Riders transferring from the TransLink network and wanting to go to UBC would either have the choice of staying on the TransLink network to take any one of the 10 or more bus routes traveling to UBC or paying to use the 25 metre articulated trolley bus operated by COV transit (excluding UBC students traveling for free on COV transit).

 

Zero emission and non-polluting 25 metre articulated trolley buses operated by COV transit would be replacing the polluting 99 B-Line diesel buses costing TransLink about $15 million in operating and maintenance expenses annually and would be saving many transit users money to ride transit.Ai?? So, it would be very difficult for TransLink to object to the COV taking over transit to UBC in order to replace the over crowded and much despised 99 B-Line diesel buses operated by TransLink.Ai?? The City of Edmonton runs transit very well.Ai?? The City of Vancouver can run transit, too, and the COV has many talented engineers who can do a much better job of running transit than TransLink ai??i?? obviously.

 

Iai??i??ve been a professional chemical engineer for 22 years.Ai?? Iai??i??ve not only designed and modeled gas, slurry, and water pipeline networks, which are very analogous to transit networks operated by TransLink, but also refinery, power and mining facilities.Ai?? My masters thesis is in air dispersion modeling.Ai?? Iai??i??ve lived in Point Grey near UBC and on the 99 B-Line route for 13 years.Ai?? Iai??i??ve had the opportunity to observe transit to UBC and know just about as much as anyone when it comes to fixing the ai???over crowdingai??? on the 99 B-Line route.Ai?? So, as Iai??i??m at this moment being unnerved by the wailing 99 B-Line diesel bus as it rumbles down West 10th Avenue at night without a single passenger on board, here are my thoughts on transit to UBC – by TransLink.

 

 

B-Line Crowding

TransLink has botched transit service to UBC.Ai?? TransLink canai??i??t fix the over crowding on the 99 B-Line because TransLink is causing it either wittingly or unwittingly.

 

To illustrate: at 7 am, there is a 10 minute wait to catch the #9 trolley bus taking 38 minutes to reach UBC, for a 48 minute possible trip duration, while there is only a two minute wait to catch the 99 B-Line taking 32 minutes to reach UBC, for a possible 34 minute trip duration. Of course, few students want to take an extra 14 minutes to get to UBC, and many #9 trolley buses have few riders, as a result. The same can be said for most other bus routes to UBC.

 

If there were only a two minute wait time for the #9 trolley bus, the possible trip duration on the #9 trolley bus would only be 40 minutes and if there were a 10 minute wait for the 99 B-Line, the possible trip duration on the 99 B-Line would be 42 minutes. This would eliminate the artificial advantage in trip duration created by TransLink for the 99 B-Line route (at the expense of ridership on other routes to UBC).Ai?? If TransLink ensured about the same trip duration for all bus routes to UBC, over crowding on the 99 B-Line route would disappear and transit demand to UBC would be uniform amongst all bus routes to UBC.

 

 

B-Line Route

TransLink intentionally created the 99 B-Line route to build up ridership for an east to west expansion of the SkyTrain from Commercial Drive to UBC.Ai?? Unfortunately, the whole east to west 99 B-Line route-concept which by-passes downtown Vancouver is flawed by design.Ai?? It goes against good engineering practice and defies traditional transit wisdom.

 

Transit demand in Point Grey and Kitsilano is predominately to and from downtown Vancouver.Ai?? In the morning in particular, few residents in Point Grey and Kitsilano wish to travel east 10 kilometres or more on the 99 B-Line to board jam packed SkyTrain cars at Cambie Street or Commercial Drive and then to continue their journey north into downtown Vancouver.Ai?? Consequently, what you see in the morning are some stuffed 99 B-Line diesel buses and some not so stuffed 99 B-Line diesel buses traveling from east to west (destined to UBC) with almost 100% of the 99 B-Line diesel buses empty or out of service traveling from west to east (destined to Commercial Drive).

 

This is not efficient and it isnai??i??t smart.Ai?? It is typical and foolish transit by TransLink.

 

Instead of 99 B-Line transit by TransLink, bi-articulated trolley buses or streetcars from UBC through Point Grey and Kitsilano to downtown Vancouver would be well used -Ai?? workers and others from Point Grey and Kitsilano would ride the bi-articulated trolley buses or streetcars downtown and students would return to UBC in Point Grey on the bi-articulated trolley buses or streetcars.

 

While the 99 B-Line diesel buses have occasional periods of over crowding, there are over 10 bus routes traveling to UBC and three-quarters of the seats on all buses including the 99 B-Line buses are empty.Ai?? Over crowding on the 99 B-Line is due to poor transit scheduling by TransLink and not due to a lack of buses.Ai?? This might be shocking to some; it isnai??i??t if you live in Point Grey where absolutely empty or nearly empty #9 trolley buses are the norm.

 

 

B-Line Time

For anyone who is on a limited income and who relies on transit, affordable transit is more of a consideration than saving a few seconds or minutes on the express 99 B-Line service to UBC.Ai?? In any case, time saved with the express service on the 99 B-Line route is a red herring. Time saved on any bus route is primarily determined by the frequency of service which is wholly within the control of TransLink doing the scheduling of the buses.

 

Along Broadway, there are traffic lights every few blocks and the 99 B-Line is forced to stop almost as often as the #9 trolley bus.Ai?? The express component of the 99 B-Line saves very little time over regular trolley bus service and is simply an excuse for TransLink to operate diesel buses which TransLink prefers to operate at the detriment of residents whose health and peace of mind suffers in Vancouver (lung cancer and noise stress).

 

The 99 B-Line is operating entirely along the #9 trolley bus route. Therefore, the #9 trolley bus route could be converted into an articulated trolley bus route and the existing 99 B-Line route could easily be eliminated.Ai?? Currently, TransLink is forcing transit users off the #9 trolley buses by cancelling the #9 trolley bus service on weekends and at night and by making the wait time for the #9 trolley bus much longer than the wait time for the 99 B-Line.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Unless the COV steps in to take over transit to UBC, nothing will improve and the 99 B-Lines will be in operation for another decade, at least.Ai?? Without spending billions of dollars on a very expensive and inefficient SkyTrain extension to UBC, the masterminds with borderline down syndrome at TransLink do not have the wherewithal to solve the overcrowding on the 99 B-Line route.

 

Inept executives at TransLink are not ethical and competent ai???engineersai??? and do not have the requisite understanding to properly ai???designai??? an efficient and affordable transit service to UBC.Ai?? TransLink is purely a politically motivated organization with little merit.Ai?? Bureaucrats at TransLink are bumbling along to provide mediocre transit to UBC.Ai?? With the COV operating transit to UBC, engineers at the COV can make transit to UBC, exceptional.

 

Ultimately, the 99 B-Line service is not only destroying the environment and increasing carbon emissions but also increasing health care costs as diesel exhaust leads to higher rates of cancer and asthma for residents in Vancouver.Ai?? TransLink does not have to operate 99 B-Line diesel buses on the #9 trolley bus route at all if it means impairing the health of residents with high particulate matter concentrations and if means harassing residents with horrendous noise levels.

 

Engineers have duty of care to protect the public, and surely Peter Judd (Chief City of Vancouver Engineer) copied agrees ai??i?? the 99 B-Line diesel buses harming residents and harassing residents have outlived their welcome and have to go, now, even if the COV has to eject TransLink from Point Grey and Kitsilano to run streetcars or 25 metre articulated trolley buses to protect the public.Ai?? Moreover, councillors at the COV have a moral obligation to end the harmful and unethical use of 99 B-Line diesel buses operated by TransLink on the #9 trolley bus route.

 

TransLink is truly an abomination.Ai?? The City of Vancouver can operate 25 metre articulated trolley buses (quiet and zero emission electric) in a much more economical and sustainable manner than TransLink can operate cheap, noisy, polluting and noxious 99 B-Line diesel buses.

 

The efficiency review by the TransLink Commission last month recommends less frequent transit service to increase the utilization of buses and to reduce transit costs.Ai?? Completely disregarding this recommendation, TransLink starting on Monday April 23rd, 2012 is inexplicably increasing the frequency of the 99 B-Line service from midnight to 2 am (every 15 minutes from every 30 minutes) just when UBC is out for the summer.Ai?? Hopefully the COV does not allow the spectacle of unnecessary 99 B-Line diesel buses on the #9 trolley bus route to continue any longer.

 

What would transit users prefer in Vancouver, paying $2 to ride in an air-conditioned and spacious 25 metre articulated trolley bus operated by COV transit or paying $2.75 to ride in a crappy and crowded 99 B-Line diesel bus operated by TransLink?Ai?? Iai??i??m looking forward to your early reply.

 

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