NEWS: Broadway – SkyTrain or RAV II?

By Think City Staff

With Cambie Street back to normal and the Canada Line running smoothly, city planners and politicians are now turning their heads to what's next for rapid transit in Vancouver. Cue the debate about the future of transit on the Broadway corridor.

While it has been policy for years to upgrade public transport along the Broadway corridor there is no agreement on what sort of system to use, and there is no money in sight. But there is information. Lots of information.

City council reviewed a report this week, providing the public with a wealth of data on the proposed line. However, there is a wider set of issues that deserve consideration - issues that some transportation experts believe will play an important role in what the final decision will likely be.

The area of discussion is the corridor along Broadway from the end of the Millennium Line at Clark Drive out to University of British Columbia (UBC). The busses along Broadway are almost always full, often leaving passengers at stops, carrying some 80,000 passengers a day - more than the Millennium Line presently carries. Broadway also has high pedestrian usage and is the main truck route for the area.

The corridor serves the two largest travel destinations in Metro Vancouver after downtown Vancouver – UBC and central Broadway (between Burrard and Main Streets). But unlike downtown Vancouver, people travelling to these areas are much more likely to use a car. People traveling from outside Vancouver use transit for 49 per cent of their journeys to the downtown, but only 27 per cent ride transit to UBC and only 21 per cent to central Broadway.

The report also provides an interesting glimpse of the different communities along Broadway. Overall the city has a density of 50 people per hectare.

All areas along the Broadway corridor have a higher density than Vancouver's average, though density varies - 61 people/hectare in West Point Grey (Blanca to Alma Streets), 117 people/hectare in Kitsilano (Alma to Burrard Streets), 126 people/hectare in Fairview and parts of Mount Pleasant (Burrard to Main Streets), and 108 in the eastern part of Mount Pleasant (Main St. to Clark Dr.). The biggest growth in population and jobs is expected in the Burrard to Main Streets area.

In terms of housing form, West Point Grey residents live mainly in detached houses while for the rest of the corridor, 75 per cent of people live in apartments. In fact, over 95 per cent of residents in Fairview live in apartments.

How people travel to work is also related to where they live along Broadway. Over 60 per cent of West Point Grey residents travel to work by car, compared to the rest of corridor where it is under 50 per cent.

The question facing planners and politicians is how best to move large numbers of people through this linear concentration of residential and commercial density.
While most people would agree transit along Broadway needs upgrading there are many contentious issues including construction, technology, balancing regional priorities and financing.

At present, the lead contender is to extend the Millennium Line from the VCC-Clark station westwards. There are two options.

One option is to extend the line all the way to UBC. The other option is to stop at Arbutus St. where commuters would transfer to rapid bus or tram to UBC. After the experience of the construction of the Canada Line, people and businesses along the corridor are already showing significant opposition to a Cambie Street cut-and-cover approach.

There are also concerns about the cost of constructing an extension to the SkyTrain. Some advocates have proposed the cheaper alternative of street-level light rail – a tram line – which would be easier to build. However, there are significant questions about fitting it into the existing road space and its ability to deliver increased capacity and reduced travel times.

Then there is the question of regional priorities. The long promised but yet to be delivered Evergreen Line would connect the Millennium Line to Coquitlam and Port Moody. After several delays, it is TransLink's next priority for expansion. Politicians and residents in the Tri-Cities are demanding action on their transit needs, and there would be real anger in the suburbs if a line to UBC is built before the Evergreen Line.

In addition, there is an urgent need to expand bus services across the region. Rapid transit is also needed to connect residents in the Fraser Valley with other parts of Metro Vancouver.

But the biggest concern of all according to transportation watchers is financing. Does the political will exist at the provincial and federal levels to invest in public transit in Metro Vancouver? TransLink is already under funded for its present operations.

As for next steps, the city, along with TransLink and other stakeholders, is carrying out a study of options for rapid transit along the Broadway corridor to UBC. The city expects an initial report in the spring of 2010 after which there will be more public consultations.