ronthecivil Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 More than a good idea...the 239 is a painfully slow and annoying route. One thing going for you is that it seems every time translink puts in a BLINE type service it seems to be a hit right from the start, which means it's cost benefit ratio is happy, which is a good thing for min maxing transit service. Heck, you could run a bus down the highway that just pulled every couple exists if you HAD too, but an upgraded marine drive route seems like a winning idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Frankly, it's pretty hard to determine what the ridership levels will be when the RAV line opens by just looking at individual routes. You have to model the entire system and tweak it to work as best you can under the new conditions. It's most likely what they did. And since your not complaining about the crowding on the 491 + 496, odds are it's underused, and they are simply allocating resources to where they would have the most impact. Mind you, next time they have an open house you can go in and complain, that sometimes helps. Well, for ridership levels, just take the 98, the 300 and 600 routes that go to Vancouver, the 424, 491, 496, 488, 492, 490, and part of the 480, and clump it together into one number. Of course, there's always people who will start taking transit, and those who are repulsed by the longer commute time. The 491 and 496 are not underused, in my opinion. Most buses that cross the Arthur Laing Bridge and go to 70th are often packed like sardines. I just don't care, as I'm one of the luckier ones who can find a seat on the bus. I believe they are allocating resources to where they can have the most impact, if it positively affects the new system (in this case, the RAV). If all Richmond buses get routed into RC, then you HAVE to take the RAV, irregardless of the time of day. I just don't see why they can't keep just the 491 or just the 496 alive, shorten the route to Templeton, and decrease the frequencies by a bit. I'm not too sure when the next open house is, if it'll actually happen again. But I did attend the last one at Minoru, and was met by a throng of disgruntled commuters who were sharing the same concerns as I regarding the axing of the 400-expresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Well, for ridership levels, just take the 98, the 300 and 600 routes that go to Vancouver, the 424, 491, 496, 488, 492, 490, and part of the 480, and clump it together into one number. Of course, there's always people who will start taking transit, and those who are repulsed by the longer commute time. The 491 and 496 are not underused, in my opinion. Most buses that cross the Arthur Laing Bridge and go to 70th are often packed like sardines. I just don't care, as I'm one of the luckier ones who can find a seat on the bus. I believe they are allocating resources to where they can have the most impact, if it positively affects the new system (in this case, the RAV). If all Richmond buses get routed into RC, then you HAVE to take the RAV, irregardless of the time of day. I just don't see why they can't keep just the 491 or just the 496 alive, shorten the route to Templeton, and decrease the frequencies by a bit. I'm not too sure when the next open house is, if it'll actually happen again. But I did attend the last one at Minoru, and was met by a throng of disgruntled commuters who were sharing the same concerns as I regarding the axing of the 400-expresses. It would be silly to keep it express all the way to downtown when you can transfer to a rapid transit line. That said they should have some flexibility in how that transfer is handled. Mind you, the airport probably doesn't want buses not serving the airport taking shortcuts over their bridges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 It would be silly to keep it express all the way to downtown when you can transfer to a rapid transit line. That said they should have some flexibility in how that transfer is handled. Mind you, the airport probably doesn't want buses not serving the airport taking shortcuts over their bridges. Now, would it be wise to create an "express" bus on the Granville corridor, starting at Marine - 70 - 63 - 49 - 41 - 25 - 16 - Broadway, and so on so forth, or should the RAV handle all express north-south affairs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trek Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Now, would it be wise to create an "express" bus on the Granville corridor, starting at Marine - 70 - 63 - 49 - 41 - 25 - 16 - Broadway, and so on so forth, or should the RAV handle all express north-south affairs? RAV line replaces the 98... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Now, would it be wise to create an "express" bus on the Granville corridor, starting at Marine - 70 - 63 - 49 - 41 - 25 - 16 - Broadway, and so on so forth, or should the RAV handle all express north-south affairs? Well, the RAV will handle most of it. With the elimination of all the express buses on granville and all of that bus traffic and riders the 17 will probably be pretty darn good anyways. I think they are upping it's frequentcy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckyHermit Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) Ronthecivil needs to take the 491 or 496 northbound in the mornings and southbound in the afternoons. They are the LEAST underused (nearly used a double negative there... meh) routes in Richmond. It's not usual to see either route full before 5th Avenue, going southbound. My own 491 northbound trip satrts at Steveston (Moncton Street at No. 1 Road) and is often full before Terra Nova (Westminster Highway at No. 1 Road). My 491 southbound is 15 mins frequency between 4pm and 5pm, and it can still be unboardable on Granville because it's full. 401 will be upped to 12 minutes per bus. Let's see here -- if 15 minutes per bus for 491 can't handle the existing load, how the hell is 12 minutes per bus for 401 supposed to handle the former 491 loads AND the current 401 loads? I raised plenty of these questions at the open house, and I was not alone in this. In fact, it seems that half of the people who were there showed up just to voice this specific conern about 491 and 496 (they are sister routes of each other, with similar ridership levels). Add in the increase commute times due to the downtown Richmond detour required, and you've got a ticking passenger time bomb on your hands. Edited March 31, 2009 by BuckyHermit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 RAV line replaces the 98... I'm talking specifically about the Granville corridor, which is often packed with commuters from: - Marpole area - UBC heading south - the private schools that dot Shaughnessy and so on and so forth. Only having one major north-south route for Vancouver means more passups, more disgruntled commuters, and longer commute times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Well, the RAV will handle most of it. With the elimination of all the express buses on granville and all of that bus traffic and riders the 17 will probably be pretty darn good anyways. I think they are upping it's frequentcy too. I need nitro's numbers for this, but shove all the passengers on a full capacity 40ft bus, a 1/2 capacity 60ft bus, and several half-capacity Orion Vs, and that's a hell of a lot of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trevforever Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Nitro you since seem to be the transit wizard around here, is there any way you could pull up the ridership numbers for the 239? I'm writing a letter to translink about possibly putting a B-Line style rapid bus on the north shore. or even a longer bus during rush hour times - taking the 239 up to Capilano or from Capilano to phibbs is filled to the brimm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Feeling a bit lazy today, I'll reply just to this post. I need nitro's numbers for this, but shove all the passengers on a full capacity 40ft bus, a 1/2 capacity 60ft bus, and several half-capacity Orion Vs, and that's a hell of a lot of people. Going northbound to downtown, a northbound train arrives at Bridgeport Station every 3-4 minutes during peak hour and mid-day. And keep in mind that every second train going northbound will be from Sea Island/YVR so there should be plenty of space to hop on. Canada Line train capacity: 334 passengers Full capacity 40-footer: ~80 passengers Half-full 60-footer: ~60 passengers Three half-full Orions: ~100 passengers I'm sure they'll do their best to stagger the arrival of the buses....Bridgeport should be equivalent to Lougheed Station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckyHermit Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 I just got news of an interesting transit development. Following the footsteps of West Vancouver, the City of Richmond is going to announce later this morning that it is going to introduce a new municipal transit service to supplement and even replace some existing TransLink services. The new Richmond transit fleet will consist of buses manufactured by NABI, Gillig and Nova, as well as community shuttles made by Toyota (similar to the "Public Light Bus" vehicles in Hong Kong). The flagship route will be right down No. 3 Road, while some all-day east-west services will be introduced as well, along Blundell Road (from Seafair to Garden City) and Steveston Highway (from Steveston to Riverport -- replaces the C93). Some routes will be transferred to the Richmond transit system, including 401, 402, 430 and 424. (More routes will be announced later.) Stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitronuts Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 lol.....Aprils Fools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 I just got news of an interesting transit development. Following the footsteps of West Vancouver, the City of Richmond is going to announce later this morning that it is going to introduce a new municipal transit service to supplement and even replace some existing TransLink services. The new Richmond transit fleet will consist of buses manufactured by NABI, Gillig and Nova, as well as community shuttles made by Toyota (similar to the "Public Light Bus" vehicles in Hong Kong). The flagship route will be right down No. 3 Road, while some all-day east-west services will be introduced as well, along Blundell Road (from Seafair to Garden City) and Steveston Highway (from Steveston to Riverport -- replaces the C93). Some routes will be transferred to the Richmond transit system, including 401, 402, 430 and 424. (More routes will be announced later.) Stay tuned. Damn...if this was true, i'd be jizzling all over myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronthecivil Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Ronthecivil needs to take the 491 or 496 northbound in the mornings and southbound in the afternoons. They are the LEAST underused (nearly used a double negative there... meh) routes in Richmond. It's not usual to see either route full before 5th Avenue, going southbound. My own 491 northbound trip satrts at Steveston (Moncton Street at No. 1 Road) and is often full before Terra Nova (Westminster Highway at No. 1 Road). My 491 southbound is 15 mins frequency between 4pm and 5pm, and it can still be unboardable on Granville because it's full. 401 will be upped to 12 minutes per bus. Let's see here -- if 15 minutes per bus for 491 can't handle the existing load, how the hell is 12 minutes per bus for 401 supposed to handle the former 491 loads AND the current 401 loads? I raised plenty of these questions at the open house, and I was not alone in this. In fact, it seems that half of the people who were there showed up just to voice this specific conern about 491 and 496 (they are sister routes of each other, with similar ridership levels). Add in the increase commute times due to the downtown Richmond detour required, and you've got a ticking passenger time bomb on your hands. Even if it's the same number of buses going on a shorter route it means service should be able to increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 I just got news of an interesting transit development. Following the footsteps of West Vancouver, the City of Richmond is going to announce later this morning that it is going to introduce a new municipal transit service to supplement and even replace some existing TransLink services. The new Richmond transit fleet will consist of buses manufactured by NABI, Gillig and Nova, as well as community shuttles made by Toyota (similar to the "Public Light Bus" vehicles in Hong Kong). The flagship route will be right down No. 3 Road, while some all-day east-west services will be introduced as well, along Blundell Road (from Seafair to Garden City) and Steveston Highway (from Steveston to Riverport -- replaces the C93). Some routes will be transferred to the Richmond transit system, including 401, 402, 430 and 424. (More routes will be announced later.) Stay tuned. What? That's it? Did they back out of their plan to run amphibious buses to sail across the Fraser over water, to bypass congestion on the bridges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckyHermit Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 What? That's it? Did they back out of their plan to run amphibious buses to sail across the Fraser over water, to bypass congestion on the bridges? No, I heard that plan has been scrapped. The new plan will consist of carrier pigeons. Billions of them will be brought over and trained to carry baskets full of commuters rather than people, and will cut commute time by as much as three-quarters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradMayFan Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 More than a good idea...the 239 is a painfully slow and annoying route. QFMFT! I have lost count of how many times i've missed the sea bus or another connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggernut Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 No, I heard that plan has been scrapped. The new plan will consist of carrier pigeons. Billions of them will be brought over and trained to carry baskets full of commuters rather than people, and will cut commute time by as much as three-quarters. I hope the baskets have roofs over them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Common sense Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 I hope the baskets have roofs over them. Maybe Translink should start up some sort of hot-air balloon system. Bypass all the traffic. For an extra dollar on your zones, you can take the balloons. So let's say you're going from Slurry to Downtown. Pay up $6.00 (3 zones + $1 balloon fee) and you bypass all traffic on the 99. YEAH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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