TransLink is visiting Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows for a series of public information sessions, and the most important message is for the public to go online and take their survey.
The feedback that residents of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows residents give to TransLink will have a direct bearing on the service offered here, said the planners and communications people from the transportation authority who were in Pitt Meadows on Saturday morning. They were at the Family Recreation Centre, presenting the area transit plan for the two cities.
TransLink took public input about transportation it the two cities in April, May and June of 2018, getting 1,160 online surveys completed and 872 in-person interactions, and the area transit plan is the result. It is still fluid, and can be changed.
The TransLink representatives said the public comments were mostly positive on Saturday, and also on Friday when they hosted an information session at the Haney Transit Exchange. They are generally introducing expanded services.
One of the key topics is the new B-Line rapid bus service that will connect downtown Maple Ridge with the Skytrain station in Coquitlam, beginning as soon as late 2019. It will run along the Lougheed Highway, every 15 minutes with limited stops, and will cut the travel time down to 40 minutes on the route, running from 5 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week.
There are proposed changes in bus routes to connect with the new B-Line.
TransLink will also have some expanded hours on bus routes, and added Sunday service on routes including the 743 and 744 routes including stops at Ridge Meadows Hospital, and Sunday service on 719 and 722.
At the presentations they are also giving away cutout cardboard buses, stickers and popular lanyards for people to keep their compass cards in.
The next event will be an open house on Wednesday, April 10 from 4-8 p.m. at the Glenwood Elementary Gymnasium (21410 Glenwood Ave.)
They will be at the Pitt Meadows West Coast Express station on Friday, April 12, talking to morning commuters from 5:45-8 a.m., and wrap up their information sessions at Maple Ridge Earth Day in Memorial Peace Park on April 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
