On Feb. 15, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation approved the next step in planning rapid transit to the University of B.C.’s Point Grey campus. Rapid transit to UBC has long been in regional plans, and preparations for it are included in the council’s 10-year transit expansion plan. The first step of this is extending the Millennium SkyTrain Line underneath Broadway to Arbutus Street.
This discussion should, however, be based on facts and not misinformation and myths. Here are a few examples:The current 99 B-Line carries upwards of 56,000 people on an average weekday, making it the busiest single bus route in Canada or the U.S. For context, the new Evergreen extension of the Millennium Line carries 37,000 people on an average weekday.
When we invest in rapid transit lines our starting point is that the technology should be able to meet the capacity needs for many decades to come, given agreed upon projections for population and employment growth. This is to ensure long-term cost-effectiveness. By this test alone, our analysis shows that ridership demand on the corridor between Arbutus and UBC would exceed the capacity Light Rail could provide by 2045.
The automated technology behind SkyTrain that may have been unusual when the first Expo Line was opened in 1986 is now used in some 42 cities worldwide and is the technology that many other systems are adopting.
A very helpful, dispassionate, perspective regarding the future transit connection to UBC