WEST END TRANSIT BLUES
Fewer Stops, Reduced Service

by John Streit
Bundle up, pack an umbrella, and get ready to hurry up and wait this winter!

West Enders going shopping at Pacific Centre Mall, heading home after work from Burrard SkyTrain Station, or hoping for a ride to Costco for a hot dog and pop will be waiting longer at the bus stop starting January 3 due to winter service changes by TransLink.

While some routes in Metro Vancouver will see improvements, routes No. 5 Robson/Downtown, No. 6 Davie/Downtown, and No. 23 Main Street/Beach – all three servicing one of the most densely packed and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in North America - will see reductions in service.

NO. 5 SCHEDULE CHANGES

Weekdays

Every 10 to 12 minutes from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. (from 7 to 10 minutes)
Every 6 minutes from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. (from 5 minutes)
Every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (from 6 to 10 minutes)
Every 6 to 8 minutes from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (from 5 to 8 minutes)

NO. 6 SCHEDULE CHANGES

Weekdays

Every 10 to 12 minutes from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. (from 7 to 10 minutes)
Every 6 minutes from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. (down from every 5 minutes)
Every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (down from every 6 to 10 minutes)
Every 6 to 8 minutes from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (down from every 5 to 8 minutes)

The No. 23 turning at Davie and Denman. *(Ewan Streit Photo)*

NO. 23 SCHEDULE CHANGES

Weekdays

Every 10 to 12 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. (down from every 8 to 10 minutes)

Saturdays/Sundays/Holidays

Every 12 to 15 minutes from noon to 2 p.m. (down from every 10 minutes)
Every 10 to 12 minutes from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. (down from every 10 minutes)

As you can see, the service reductions will mean a three-to-five minute longer wait for a bus in the West End on those two routes. TransLink says it makes service changes four times a year and these adjustments are due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic and to better match customer demand and service.

It says bus service adjustments are based on four guiding principles; avoid reducing service below 15-minutes on frequent routes, minimize overcrowding by reducing on routes and at times where there is available space, maintain service where it is infrequent or other travel options are limited, and preserve span of service (i.e., the hours of operation that a route is in service). Metro Vancouver’s transit body adds “we will be responsive to any customer concerns we receive and will do our best to modify service within our resources.”

SERVICE REDUCTIONS BY THE NUMBERS

Longtime transit advocate Nathan Davidowicz is at all the TransLink and Mayor’s Council on Transit and Transportation meetings, pours over the many documents, and is constantly sharing his findings with the public and media. He is tenacious and a fierce defender of accessible public transit. In the 1980s, he was chair of the Citizen’s Transit Advisory Committee at Vancouver City Hall. Over this holiday season, he has posted about numerous bus trip cancellations in the West End. In November, he told The Georgia Straight that Vancouver needs “an additional 50 kilometers of bus service” so everyone could be within five minutes by foot of a bus stop.

Davidowicz provided The West End Jounal with his breakdown of the bus service reductions:

Bus Route Pre-COVID Trips Jan/2022 % Drop
Route 5 (M-F) 151 125 (-17.2%)
Route 5 (Sat) 127 98 (-22.8%)
Route 5 (Sun) 105 95 (-9.5%)
Route 6 (M-F) 157 127 (-19.1%)
Route 6 (Sat) 127 97 (-23.6%)
Route 6 (Sun) 108 95 (-12%)
Route 23 (M-F) 110 101 (-8.2%)
Route 23 (Sat-Sun) 90 79 (-12.2%)

Davidowicz feels there’s no need for the service reductions as other transit systems in Canada including Toronto are busy boosting service back to pre-COVID levels. “I think routes 5 and 6 are performing well with ridership level getting close to pre-COVID. Route 23 is not as well because of the change in routing and long distances between bus stops,” he says.

His analysis of the latter route points to ridership levels dropping due to COVID and after permanent changes were made to the No. 23 following the installation of the Beach Avenue Bikeway in 2021.

“Ridership on this important route has gone down and service was cut back. Many bus trips are now canceled every day due to a shortage of drivers and bad management at Coast Mountain Bus Company. On some days, up to 40 percent of trips are canceled. Depending on the day and time period compared to pre-COVID, there could be only 50 percent of trips actually running,” he says.

He adds many old users of the No. 23 have been frustrated with all the changes in the past year and have changed their travel plans.

“Many bus stop locations have been changed. Distances between bus stops become wider and a longer walk. Usually, the accepted distance is less than 400 m between bus stops. It is up to 770 m on eastbound Pacific St. between Thurlow and Seymour Street. It is up to 770 m on westbound Expo Blvd. between Abbott and Nelson Streets. It is up to 500 m on westbound from Pacific and Richards to Beach and Howe,” Davidowicz says.

He offers seven “common sense” ideas to improve the No. 23 bus route and increase ridership:

Extend the bus route from its terminus at Davie and Bidwell to the Park Board Office on Beach Avenue. This will allow many Stanley Park users to get into the park easily, as well as serve many thousands of residents who live west of Denman;
Improve the spacing of bus stops to allow more users easy access;
Install bus shelters and benches at all bus stops;
Improve the lighting around all bus stops;
Improve the hours of service so they match the Canada Line. 20 hours per day, seven days a week;
Investigate having a joint bus/bike lane so there is a two-way bus service on Beach east of Jervis. (this is already done on 41st Ave. where both bus/bike lanes coexist).
Stop the bus cuts on Jan 3, 2022.

So what has Davidowicz heard from TransLink?

“Nothing. They don't care about West End bus routes. Most of these buses have an average speed of around 10 km/hr and we need help to speed them up by taking away more street parking on bus routes. The City of Vancouver did that on Georgia Street but it should be expanded to all streets. The West End is not getting enough bus service for such density. Bus service should be way better,” he says.

THE VIEW FROM THE WEST END

We reached out to West Enders via social media and asked what you thought about bus service in our neighborhood. Packed buses during a pandemic, fewer stops, unsheltered bus stops, few posted timetables, and lack of air conditioning in the summer were just some of the comments heard by the The West End Journal.

Here are just a few of your many excellent replies:

Taylor Dennett: The No. 5 bus has been at least five minutes late at night every night for the past ten years, like clockwork. It baffles me how a bus could be so consistently late. If it's scheduled to come at 10:21 it will arrive at 10:27+ 100 percent of the time. It's more weird than a complaint.

Eleanor Brockenshire: I was so incensed about the change of the No. 6 bus to down Cambie that I called TransLink and got a call back from the head of planning. He said that TransLink had consulted seniors and others in West End groups about the changed route. His reason was that the condo owners in Yaletown and on Cambie wanted bus service? Not. I asked if they were going to study bus users along the Cambie route and he said probably not and that these stats were not available to the public. Waste of time on the phone.

Jexe Roma: The No. 6 route is always busy and off schedule. They keep saying they are improving service. I keep waiting.

Bob Main: It’s faster to walk from Denman to Granville. And no night bus to the most densely populated neighborhood in the city is absurd. Other than those things …

Charlene Hyde: The No. 23 does not start early enough or run late enough. Lots of hospital workers and others (just my field). It's not fun walking blocks and blocks to catch a bus in the early morning or after midnight.

Linda Storey: More frequency on Davie and Robson. Way too crowded during the daytime now, many senior riders, folks with walkers and mobility issues, hospital workers, some seniors are afraid to take the crowded bus for fear of getting injured, so do not get out.

Bob Rogers: Oh boy, where do we start? First of all the City of Vancouver eliminated the “No Parking” on Davie, Denman, and Robson. Then they allow patios to be built on the streets. So what is TransLink’s answer? We’ll of course, eliminate stops to ‘speed up’ service! Those aprons on Robson are absolute lunacy, an accident waiting to happen. Another thing to consider, with the upcoming ‘service adjustments’ (read reductions) more people will be crammed on fewer buses, how does that help stop the spread of COVID? Strange way to encourage the use of transit!

Chris Cross: The No. 5 and No. 6 often run late and there are few places to wait out of the rain. We need more bus shelters.

Elizabeth Hardy: Reduction in service is completely unacceptable. Buses are far too crowded during COVID.

Jane Murphy Thomas: It’s hard to deny people a ride when there is standing room. It’s a personal choice whether you want to ride at that point, it’s been iffy for me but after a long day on my feet I just have to trust my mask is sufficient.

Kalvin Neufeld: I’d love more frequency on the No. 5 and No. 6. They’re always full and it’s usually ten minutes between buses, which seems like a long time for how busy the route is.

Jeanne Ouellet: TransLink does not seem to understand that a majority of people in the West End have no car and walking an extra block with the grocery bags is a major issue.

Brandi Tycholaz: They should have never changed the No. 6 route to stop downtown. It does not help people with disabilities to get off on Davie and Granville and re-board another bus! As a long-term resident, very angry about this! People with disabilities want to continue by the London Drugs stop on Granville Street.

Myrna Solie: I wrote TransLink a letter about this when they first changed the route. Of course, I received no feedback. The change in both the No. 5 and No. 6 routes is one of the reasons I moved out of the West End several years ago.

Ken Lo: I just surveyed my mother. She is a senior who has been using the No. 5 bus for the last 15 years, including since the pandemic. She relies mostly on getting groceries and running errands. She finds the drivers are usually very good to seniors. Because the drivers are usually very nice and don’t want to stop people from getting on, the bus can get really crowded, even during the pandemic. And for reasons unknown to her, she has found the bus to be less punctual since COVID.

Gail Harmer: Jean Swanson explained to me when I complained about the reduction in bus stops in the West End that she voted for the change because she thought encouraging street patios would save jobs for restaurant workers. Patios were moved two months ago but bus stops haven't been returned. Seniors and others with mobility challenges have been significantly impacted by the increasingly long distances between stops along bus routes for No. 5 and No. 6.
It would be interesting to interview her now to see what she is prepared to do on behalf of voters who are so deleteriously affected by 'social isolation as well as poverty and so negatively affected long-term by her vote of the time!