TransLink has released a report that details how potential changes to Metro Vancouver roads could help transit users save up 10 minutes a day in travel time.
The assessment identified 25 of these potential opportunities that could be “implemented quickly and with little impact of surrounding areas,” according to a press release.
TransLink wrote that these changes would have an estimated cost of around $2 million, but if implemented, they would recoup those costs within one year through operating savings. The funding required has already been set aside for bus priority initiatives, and these measures could be put into place “in some form” in 2020.
“Many of these changes would improve the travel experience for other road users, pedestrians and cyclists,” wrote Kevin Desmond, TransLink CEO, “Several proposed changes will create more space for patios and parking, supporting economic recovery and respond to public health requirements.”
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TransLink wrote that removing or consolidating bus stops that are too closely spaced together, extending curbs or building boarding islands so that buses don’t have to merge in and out of traffic, and the creation of bus priority lanes near retail areas with at least three travel lanes, would all improve transit time.
Other proposed ideas included the implementation of “tactical changes” in areas not suitable for bus lanes or bulbs that include turn restrictions, turn pockets and transit approach lanes.
Half of these proposed changes are within the City of Vancouver, while the other half are in surrounding bus corridors in North Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, West Vancouver, New Westminster and Richmond.
Desmond added that the company has no intentions of removing parking in local retail districts.
