The B-Line bus service will carry commuters from downtown Maple Ridge to Coquitlam Central SkyTrain station on new articulated buses.
The new service is scheduled to start late this year.
“We have ordered new articulated buses that will be designated specifically for serving these routes,” said Chris Bryan of TransLink.
They’ll likely be made by New Flyer and will be used on all new B-Line bus routes throughout Metro Vancouver.
TransLink confirmed earlier this year new B-Line bus routes for Surrey, Langley, Coquitlam, Vancouver and the North Shore, as well as Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, as part of phase one of TransLink’s 10-year-vision on transportation.
The B-Line will have limited numbers of stops in order to speed travel time. Proposed stops are in Haney Place Mall, at Laity Street, 203rd Street and Harris Road on Lougheed Highway, in Pitt Meadows. Future stops could be added at Meadowtown mall and 222nd Street.
Bryan said the new service through Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows will be identical to the rest of the region.
“This is an important new service for the people of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows and it will be high-quality service that will be very attractive to building ridership in that area.”
He added that start date is sometime late this year, depending on road work required for the new route.
The B-Line from Haney bus loop in Maple Ridge will allow travel times of 40 minutes into Coquitlam Central SkyTrain with service every 10 minutes during rush hours and every 15 minutes in non-peak times.
“Nothing’s changed with Lougheed B-Line. Everything’s on track, everything’s proceeding,” Bryan said.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Bill Dingwall also expects the new service this year.
“Right now, my understanding is we’re still a go. I keep telling everybody sometime in the fall or early winter of 2019. I haven’t heard anything different,” said Dingwall.
The B-Line bus will stop at Harris Road and Lougheed Highway in Pitt Meadows.
But the exact locations could change if the North Lougheed road connector is built and the area on the north side of Lougheed Highway develops.
Maple Ridge Mayor Mike Morden said the arrival of the B-Line service has been delayed because of lack of money.
“We anxiously await the B-Line to connect our citizens to the Evergreen Line (Coquitlam),” Morden added. “It’s been a long time coming, its origins founded in the 2010 plan, as laid out in the future regional network, its progress determined by lack of funding mechanisms.”
Both Maple Ridge and Metro Vancouver are studying the Lougheed Highway and its future uses as a transportation corridor.
Metro Vancouver is doing a Lougheed Corridor Land Use and Monitoring Study, which will provide background for the city’s efforts.
Dingwall said Pitt Meadow staff is working with TransLink on the Lougheed’s future uses from the Pitt River Bridge to the Maple Ridge border.
Bryan said three new B-Lines, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, 41st Avenue to UBC in Vancouver and Marine Drive in North Vancouver, will be running by the end of this year.
“We’ve been given an aggressive timeline by the region’s mayors and are moving quickly to deliver this project,” he said.
Some improvements to the road network will be required for the lines, he added. “We are moving as quickly as possible to have these in place for opening day.”
The B-Line stops will be spaced a kilometre apart and allow people to board at front and back doors. The buses and bus stops will have a unique look and there will be electric signs at each stop showing the arrival of the next bus.
