TransLink has a problem, overall decline ridership on its transit system and resent assaults and a murder on the bus and light-metro system is not helping transit customer confidence.
TransLink must adjust accordingly and is by cutting bus service.
There have been cutbacks to 50 bus routes in Vancouver, North Shore, Burnaby, New Westminster, Richmond over the last 3 years. ( There have been very few improvements, some that are highlighted by TransLink Media are just a return of some of the previous cuts.
Faltering ridership also has impacts, especially with the $11 billion dollars being invested on the SkyTrain light-metro system to extend it a mere 21.7 km.
In the case of the 480, it would be safe to assume that ridership on the Canada line is not all what TransLink would like us to think it is and TransLink is sourcing as many riders as it can to inflate Canada line numbers.
The 480 bus makes absolute sense, a direct to UBC bus service, cutting commute times by providing a no-transfer service for those in Richmond or south of the Fraser. This is a very attractive bus service.
But wait, is that not the same story line the City of Vancouver, TransLink and UBC are using to spend $5 billion to extend the Broadway subway to UBC?
A successful public transit system is a user-friendly transit system, except user-friendliness in not in TransLink’s lexicon.
Petition set-up by Richmond student for TransLink to reinstate the 480 bus
“This has taken time away from my academic and personal life, and has added significant stress to my routine,” says a Richmond resident.
TransLink announced the 480 route between Richmond Bridgeport and UBC will no longer be running. Foxfan1992, Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board
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00:02:25
A Richmond resident and student has kicked off a petition to reinstate TransLink’s 480 Richmond-UBC bus.
James Yu, 19, a Ph.D. student of economics at UBC, said the cancellation of the 480 Bridgeport Station/UBC express bus has caused “inconvenience and stress” for him and other transit users between Richmond and the university.
During the pandemic, TransLink suspended the 480 bus for “cost-saving” reasons.
However, the transportation agency announced on April 3 the bus route “will not be returning to service.”
“More than 200 individuals and counting agree with me that TransLink’s current service is not effective compared to when the 480 was in place,” said Yu, referring to his ongoing petition.
He added his travel time with the 480 in place was between 45 and 60 minutes but has since increased to one hour and 20 minutes in each direction without the bus route.
“This has taken time away from my academic and personal life, and has added significant stress to my routine,” said Yu.
“As a Ph.D. student, I have a limited time budget available, and the loss of the 480 adds to the pressures I face daily.”
He added that the cancellation of the 480 bus has contributed to the “worsening, overcrowding and delays on the Canada Line and R4 RapidBus.”
Meanwhile, TransLink said in a recent announcement that a new express bus route will be operating between the River District and Marine Drive Station to complement the existing 100 and 31 buses.
Yu, however, is calling this decision an “inequity in treatment” between the communities.
Passengers who formerly used the 480 bus need to face two or more transfers, but commuters in West Vancouver only need to face one transfer, according to Yu.
“It does not make financial or logistical sense to restore the West Vancouver direct service while also keeping the 480 discontinued, and this has created an inequity in treatment between our communities.”
Yu is planning to deliver the petition and a list of collected names to TransLink administrators to show that TransLink’s “data analysis does not reflect the reality that commuter students … have to face every day.”
You are on a bus that travels in a straight north-south main street for most of its route but for some reason on “some of the trips”, the bus does a circuitous detour of approximately 3 km’s inside a subdivision and industrial area adding 10 to 15 minutes to your trip. The detour ends back on the original north-south main street again at the same point you started the detour. The bus picked up 2 passengers on this detoured route section.
I asked the bus driver why the route did this, he told me that there used to be a big factory in the industrial area we passed through and that a large number of people working there and lived in the nearby subdivision the bus passed through. However, the factory/business no longer exists. That section of the route now rarely picks up more than 40 people a day. This route runs every 15 to 20 minutes all day, from roughly 6:00 am to roughly midnight.
They have changed the route number of this route no fewer than 6 times in the last 2 decades and adjusted the schedule multiple times per year to match demand throughout the year. Yet, they still include that section which serves almost nobody and (it probably does provides basic access to the community). So a large number of other passengers are massively inconvenienced to provide basic access to a community that generates almost no ridership yet has pretty good service considering the demand.
I asked why aren’t there two routes, one that stays on the main north-south street and another that provides basic access to this community and maybe other adjacent communities?
It has been 2 decades and still nothing, no action. I’m just glad I don’t have to take that bus everyday!
The reasons the 480 bus was probably discontinued is because of a couple of reasons.
1. Translink wants people to transfer to train and pay a two zone fare. A bus from Vancouver to Richmond is a one zone trip. Many students do have a discounted pass, but many other non students did use the 480 to pay a cheaper fare. If coming from downtown, you could take #10 to Marpole and transfer to the #480, saving money vs taking the Canada line.
2. SW marine is a congested 2 lane road during peak hours and the 480 was a peak hour only bus route. If you tried to drive west or east on SW marine between Granville and UBC lands, the traffic is often very slow moving though the city of Vancouver. Once you leave the city, SW marine opens up to 4 lanes and a higher speed limit.
In a statement, Jillian Drews of TransLink media relations said that TransLink has continued the suspension of 480 service to focus on servicing overcrowded routes. According to Drews, the 480 was not very busy even before the pandemic. “The 480 was seeing 4,060 average weekly boardings,” Drews said. “For comparison, the top 20 busiest routes had been about 15,000 and 57,000 average weekday boardings.”
The new express bus from River district to Cambie is going to have a problem with traffic during rush hours. SE marine is a busy street.
Why don’t they use the unused railway near the river for an express train to New Westminster?
Zwei replies: first of all, I do not believe a word what TransLink says as they are the masters of deceit and deception. Remember, spokespersons have to say what they are told to say, which gives bureaucrats a modicum of plausible deniability.
Now the Spokesman claims that, “he top 20 busiest routes had been about 15,000 and 57,000 average weekday boarding’s.” Yet TransLink’s admittedly most heavily used bus route the Broadway 99 B-Line saw average daily boarding’s of 35,800.(Fall 2022).
I have been told that pre covid the 480 was heavily used and provided faster more secure journey times.
Notice the rise of electric cars traveling to UBC? No, well watch for a lot more because those dissatisfied transit customers will be using electric cars and not return to Transit. The phenomenon is quite apparent in South Delta, where former transit customers, fed up with the forced transfer at Bridgeport Stn have turned to the electric car ab\n have not returned to the bus.
Prior to the Canada line, it was standing room only for the south Delta Express buses, not today where sparsely patronized buses tells the tale of customer dissatisfaction. One has only to be trapped at Bridgeport Station for an hour or more to understand this.
Tell me if you heard this one before?
You are on a bus that travels in a straight north-south main street for most of its route but for some reason on “some of the trips”, the bus does a circuitous detour of approximately 3 km’s inside a subdivision and industrial area adding 10 to 15 minutes to your trip. The detour ends back on the original north-south main street again at the same point you started the detour. The bus picked up 2 passengers on this detoured route section.
I asked the bus driver why the route did this, he told me that there used to be a big factory in the industrial area we passed through and that a large number of people working there and lived in the nearby subdivision the bus passed through. However, the factory/business no longer exists. That section of the route now rarely picks up more than 40 people a day. This route runs every 15 to 20 minutes all day, from roughly 6:00 am to roughly midnight.
They have changed the route number of this route no fewer than 6 times in the last 2 decades and adjusted the schedule multiple times per year to match demand throughout the year. Yet, they still include that section which serves almost nobody and (it probably does provides basic access to the community). So a large number of other passengers are massively inconvenienced to provide basic access to a community that generates almost no ridership yet has pretty good service considering the demand.
I asked why aren’t there two routes, one that stays on the main north-south street and another that provides basic access to this community and maybe other adjacent communities?
It has been 2 decades and still nothing, no action. I’m just glad I don’t have to take that bus everyday!
The reasons the 480 bus was probably discontinued is because of a couple of reasons.
1. Translink wants people to transfer to train and pay a two zone fare. A bus from Vancouver to Richmond is a one zone trip. Many students do have a discounted pass, but many other non students did use the 480 to pay a cheaper fare. If coming from downtown, you could take #10 to Marpole and transfer to the #480, saving money vs taking the Canada line.
2. SW marine is a congested 2 lane road during peak hours and the 480 was a peak hour only bus route. If you tried to drive west or east on SW marine between Granville and UBC lands, the traffic is often very slow moving though the city of Vancouver. Once you leave the city, SW marine opens up to 4 lanes and a higher speed limit.
https://translink.fandom.com/wiki/Route_480
In its last year of service (2019), the 480 has 1 million ridership according to this website. It’s rank in annual boardings was 83.
https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/TransLink-480-suspension/
Quoted from this website.
In a statement, Jillian Drews of TransLink media relations said that TransLink has continued the suspension of 480 service to focus on servicing overcrowded routes. According to Drews, the 480 was not very busy even before the pandemic. “The 480 was seeing 4,060 average weekly boardings,” Drews said. “For comparison, the top 20 busiest routes had been about 15,000 and 57,000 average weekday boardings.”
The new express bus from River district to Cambie is going to have a problem with traffic during rush hours. SE marine is a busy street.
Why don’t they use the unused railway near the river for an express train to New Westminster?
Zwei replies: first of all, I do not believe a word what TransLink says as they are the masters of deceit and deception. Remember, spokespersons have to say what they are told to say, which gives bureaucrats a modicum of plausible deniability.
Now the Spokesman claims that, “he top 20 busiest routes had been about 15,000 and 57,000 average weekday boarding’s.” Yet TransLink’s admittedly most heavily used bus route the Broadway 99 B-Line saw average daily boarding’s of 35,800.(Fall 2022).
I have been told that pre covid the 480 was heavily used and provided faster more secure journey times.
Notice the rise of electric cars traveling to UBC? No, well watch for a lot more because those dissatisfied transit customers will be using electric cars and not return to Transit. The phenomenon is quite apparent in South Delta, where former transit customers, fed up with the forced transfer at Bridgeport Stn have turned to the electric car ab\n have not returned to the bus.
Prior to the Canada line, it was standing room only for the south Delta Express buses, not today where sparsely patronized buses tells the tale of customer dissatisfaction. One has only to be trapped at Bridgeport Station for an hour or more to understand this.