Quicker travel times and more frequent service are the top two transit desires of Maple Ridge residents.
TransLink has completed phase one of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Area Transport Plan after receiving two months of input from the public from April 2 to June 3.
Consultation for the Lougheed Highway B-line also has been completed.
TransLink took the results from the two consultations to Maple Ridge council on Tuesday, to provide an update to the politicians.
After gathering the input, TransLink said the Area Transport Plan will focus on improving transit, improving regional cycling connections, making walking to transit safer and considering goods movement and regional roadways.
Brian Soland, TransLink senior planner, said the results were what he expected; for transit, most people want more frequent and faster service.
Survey results identified that participants largely want improved local transit access at Meadowtown mall, Haney Place Mall and Golden Ears Provincial Park, and regional transit access at Coquitlam Central station and Vancouver.
Other popular destinations for people in Maple Ridge are Surrey, Mission, Burnaby, Albion, Port Haney Station and Ridge Meadows Hospital.
Phase 2 of the Area Transport Plan will identify the proposed alterations and bring them back to the community for a second round of consultation beginning in early 2019.
“The next phase is identifying strategies and actions that address the issues we heard and analyzed,” said Soland.
From the results of 1,160 surveys, the most common transit service suggestions include:
• More frequent service: (701, West Coast Express, community shuttle routes).
• Faster service: (701).
• Additional weekend service: (West Coast Express, community shuttle routes, 791).
• Earlier and/or later service (West Coast Express, community shuttle routes).
• More reliable service (701, to/from West Coast Express).
Other frequent suggestions include improvements for walking to transit and for cycling.
When walking to transit, users want improved intersection crossings, better lighting, and mid-block crosswalks.
For cycling, users want bike lanes with separation from traffic, more bike lanes in general, intersection improvements, way-finding signage and bike parking.
Other common suggestions are to extend SkyTrain to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge, and to provide additional parking facilities at Port Haney.
As for the long-awaited Lougheed Highway B-line from Coquitlam Central Station to Haney Place, the opening date remains September 2019, but the route that the express follows remains undecided.
“We’re working on Lougheed corridor and we’ve said if there is a problem, we could go along Dewdney because there are already bus stops,” said Daniel Freeman, TransLink Rapid Bus Project manager.
“Lougheed corridor through Maple Ridge doesn’t have any bus service on it today. We have some concepts and we’re working with Maple Ridge and the Ministry of Transportation. We don’t control those streets, so we need their support to make that work.”
He said the B-line consultation also showed that people prioritize speed and frequency.
“We had a really positive response. People were really excited. Eighty-one to 84 per cent of people saying they loved it,” said Freeman.
The B-line from Haney exchange to Coquitlam Central station will save 20-30 minutes in travel time.
“That’s a big deal. Each day you get essentially 40 minutes back into your life, family or work, and that’s really meaningful,” Freeman added.
The B-line will run every 10 minutes in peak times, offer all-door boarding and high-capacity buses, have a distinct brand, and be available all day, every day, from 5 a.m. to midnight.
The bus will be able to move faster because of “transit priority,” which includes measures such as a queue jump and right turn lanes, transit priority lanes, and turn restrictions.
Eighty-four per cent of surveyors supported changes to the streets to make the B-line faster and more reliable.
If the B-line service goes as planned, construction will begin this winter, with service beginning in 2019.
