99 B-Line, Metro Vancouver's busiest bus route, could be renamed in 2027 | Daily Hive

99 B-Line, the busiest bus route in Metro Vancouver, could be renamed in 2027

99 B-Line running along Wesbrook Mall at UBC. (TranLink)

It has long been known that the route of the 99 B-Line, the busiest bus route in Metro Vancouver, will be considerably shorter once SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway extension opens.

With the SkyTrain extension taking the Millennium Line west from the existing VCC-Clark Station to the new Arbutus Station, the 99 B-Line would be truncated to run between the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Arbutus Station. Its existing segment between Arbutus Street and Commercial-Broadway Station would be discontinued.

This would be the route’s second major shortening in its 30-year history. When BC Transit first launched the 99 B-Line in 1996, it ran between UBC and Lougheed Mall, extending well beyond Commercial-Broadway Station along Lougheed Highway in Burnaby.

You might also like:

Following the Millennium Line’s opening in 2002, TransLink shortened the route to run between UBC and what is now Commercial-Broadway Station, while retaining the 99 B-Line name. At the time, TransLink was still a relatively new organization, having taken over BC Transit’s Metro Vancouver operations just a few years earlier to bring regional transportation under local control.

But the name might not survive the next major route change in late 2027, when the Broadway extension opens.

In response to an inquiry from Daily Hive Urbanized, a TransLink spokesperson confirmed that “discussions are under way about a potential name change for the bus route that will replace the 99 B-Line.” At this time, no final decision on the future name has been made. Further details will be announced in the coming months.

translink broadway subway future bus network changes.jpg

Map of the proposed 2027 east-west bus route changes in the Vancouver Westside due to the opening of SkyTrain’s Millennium Line Broadway extension to Arbutus. (TransLink)

For decades, the “B-Line” brand identified Metro Vancouver’s faster, frequent bus services with limited stops and the use of the high-capacity, 60-ft-long, three-door buses. The region’s second such route, the 98 B-Line, began service in 2000. It connected Downtown Vancouver and Richmond via Granville Street and was discontinued in 2009 following the Canada Line’s opening.

The 97 B-Line followed in 2002, connecting Lougheed Town Centre Station and Coquitlam Centre before being replaced by the Millennium Line;s Evergreen extension in 2016.

Later additions included the 96 B-Line, launched in 2013 along 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard between Guildford Town Centre and Newton in Surrey, and the 95 B-Line along Hastings Street between Downtown Vancouver and Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus.

In 2020, TransLink retired the B-Line brand name for all remaining routes except the 99 B-Line, introducing “RapidBus” branding for both existing services and new routes.

The 96 B-Line became the R1 King George Boulevard RapidBus, while the 95 B-Line became the R5 Hastings Street RapidBus. They were joined in 2020 by launch of the R2 Marine Drive, R3 Lougheed Highway, and R4 41st Avenue RapidBus routes. The R6 Scott Road RapidBus followed in 2024.

The 2020 rebranding exercise of existing B-Line routes and introduction of several new routes marked the launch of TransLink’s RapidBus service as an upgrade over the B-Line mode standard. The rollout included new bus-priority lanes along some sections of the routes, distinctive bus stop signs with route information, digital displays showing real-time next-bus arrival times, and the service’s bright green branding.

TransLink 99 B-Line articulated bus. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Dozens of articulated buses currently serve the 99 B-Line, particularly during peak periods. TransLink previously projected that the shortened bus route could reach capacity as soon as the Millennium Line extension opens to Arbutus Station. The much faster, more reliable, and frequent subway journey is expected to attract many new public transit users and draw existing riders from other bus routes, even with the transfer at Arbutus Station for the remaining bus trip to UBC. Arbutus Station could become one of the entire SkyTrain network’s busiest stations overnight upon the opening of the extension.

According to TransLink, the 99 B-Line currently has a peak period capacity of about 1,800 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd). Upon the opening of the Broadway extension, the Millennium Line’s capacity is expected to be significantly increased to 7,100 pphpd to serve the extension’s needs, with trains running every three minutes during peak periods.

In 2025, the 99 B-Line saw nearly 10.7 million annual boardings, with averages of 34,700 per weekday, 20,700 per Saturday, and 15,100 per Sunday/holiday.

When the Millennium Line is further extended from Arbutus Station to reach UBC, potentially in the 2030s, the express bus service will be fully discontinued.

TransLink is also proposing a higher tier of bus service: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which would offer substantially more extensive bus-priority measures and enhanced passenger amenities than RapidBus and the B-Line.

99 B-Line vintage themed craft soda. (Callister Craft Soda/TransLink)

You might also like: