When the North Shore B-Line begins service next year, Park Royal will be the end of the line.
District of West 麻豆传媒映画council voted unanimously Monday to reaffirm earlier plans to nix express bus service to Ambleside and Dundarave after months of controversy.
A 99 B-Line bus in 麻豆传媒映画(Joe A. Kunzler Photo, AvgeekJoe Productions via Flickr)
But West Van will leave the door open to a potential 鈥淏-Line Light,鈥� as Mayor Mary-Ann Booth termed it, sometime later than 2020, as long as it steers clear of any of the main points of contention raised by residents and business owners.
Any future bus service would be subject to a number of constraints council put in place at its March 11 meeting: that it not pass by any schools and not be given any bus priority lanes through the Ambleside business district, that it minimize the loss of street parking and that it minimize the impacts on residential neighbourhoods.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a pretty tight sieve when you consider all those criteria with respect to considering options that would go beyond Park Royal,鈥� said Ray Fung, director of engineering and transportation for the municipality. 鈥淚 have to say TransLink has indicated with the present level of data, that there are still speed and reliability concerns.鈥�
Fung added, TransLink has also indicated the B-Line鈥檚 launch will likely be delayed from the fall of 2019 to early 2020, which would give staff time to do more of the research necessary for any possible expansion.
While council has made its decision not to accept the B-Line past Park Royal in the short term, the district may pursue some of the traffic flow improvements TransLink included in the original plan - restricting left turns at several intersections of Marine Drive and adding left-turn lanes at others. The district hired its own traffic consultant to independently research what upgrades should be made. Other suggestions include signal upgrades and painting vehicle stalls on the road now to make parallel parking more orderly and less likely to stop traffic on Marine.
Staff are expected to report back on those options in 2020, with some potential funding sources for the approximately $1.2-mililon cost.
Council鈥檚 vote followed a briefing by staff tabulating the thousands of pieces of input received via email, a phone survey, direct mail-outs and stakeholder meetings, since public consultations began. While consultations found a clear majority were opposed to the B-Line, largely because of concerns the new bus lanes would worsen congestion on Marine Drive, there was less opposition than council was led to believe, Coun. Nora Gambioli said. Gambioli called council鈥檚 March 11 motion premature and warned council they could delay for only so long making tough decisions about transportation trade-offs.
鈥淎t the end of the day, this council will have to decide between supporting buses or supporting single-occupancy vehicles. You cannot do both. It鈥檚 not possible. That is the decision we all need to come to when the report comes back, and I know what side of the fence I fall on,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e kicking the B-Line down the road. Let鈥檚 face it. But I think this motion puts us in a much better place than a month ago.鈥�
Coun. Bill Soprovich said it was good to 鈥渉ave a little bit of a break on it for a few months,鈥� and that he hoped the delay would give the district enough time to come to a 鈥渟ensible solution.鈥�
鈥淲e talk about the B-Line like it鈥檚 some kind of magical creature. It鈥檚 a bus. And it goes from A to B. And in West 麻豆传媒映画it only stops twice. Our buses go every day,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e well served.鈥�
Coun. Craig Cameron noted the irony of West 麻豆传媒映画demanding better transit for years and then shelving the first significant improvement on offer.
鈥淚鈥檓 concerned about the message that sends to our neighbours 鈥� both people who come here and work in our businesses and those who rely on visitors,鈥� he said. 鈥淲est 麻豆传媒映画is a welcoming and caring community and we鈥檝e come across as somewhat parochial and not the way I think we truly are. We are inextricably part of the region. We can鈥檛 divorce ourselves from the region. We can鈥檛 see ourselves as an island.鈥�
Booth said both the district and TransLink could have done a better job rolling out the B-Line consultation, but, she added, the municipality landed at the best possible outcome.
鈥淭his is the compromise. This is the common ground and this is what I was elected to pursue,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 always say better late than never and we ended up in a good place. That鈥檚 the most important thing.鈥�
