Colleen Hardwick's TEAM outlines vision to axe UBC SkyTrain for 58 km of LRT

Colleen Hardwick's TEAM outlines vision to axe UBC SkyTrain for 58 km of street-level LRT

TEAM For A Livable Vancouver's proposed street-level LRT and SkyTrain network expansion. (TEAM)

Is 58 km of street-level light rail transit (LRT) lines across Vancouver more attractive than extending SkyTrain to the University of British Columbia (UBC)?

Colleen Hardwick, the mayoral candidate of TEAM For A Livable Vancouver, has outlined her party’s vision of four new LRT lines, claiming that the cost of these LRT lines combined can be built for the same cost as TransLink’s planned SkyTrain Millennium Line extension from Arbutus to UBC.

During her time as a city councillor, she has been outspoken in her opposition to further expanding SkyTrain and the UBC extension. Along with COPE’s Jean Swanson, she was one of only two city councillors who voted in opposition to planning rapid transit to UBC as a seamless SkyTrain extension.

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“For the same price as seven subway kilometres to UBC we can bring 58 km of state-of-the-art light rail transit to every corner of the city,” claimed Hardwick, noting that this would replace the proposal for UBC SkyTrain.

“This single decision, with input from the community, would have a transformational impact by extending rapid transit throughout our city.”

As proposed by TEAM, the Crosstown Line LRT would stretch from UBC to the new St. Paul’s Hospital near Main Street-Science World Station in the False Creek Flats, and then terminate at Hastings Park/PNE — running along University Boulevard, West 10th Avenue, Broadway, the Arbutus Greenway, the South False Creek railway right-of-way, the 1st Avenue median through Olympic Village, Main Street, and East Hastings Street. It would connect with Olympic Village Station. Its total distance is 17 km, running east-west.

The Arbutus-Marine Line LRT would start from the Crosstown Line LRT at Arbutus Station, which is also served by SkyTrain, and run along the Arbutus Greenway and Marine Drive, connecting with Marine Drive Station and serving River District in the East Fraser Lands. There could be a further extension eastward into Burnaby along Marine Way. Its total distance is 15 km, running north-south, and then east-west.

The 41st Avenue Line LRT would run from UBC to Metrotown Station via Wesbrook Mall, 41st Avenue, and Kingsway. Its total distance is 18 km, running east-west.

And the Commercial-Victoria Line would start at the Crosstown Line LRT on East Hastings Street, running along Commercial Drive and Victoria Drive to connect with the Arbutus-Marine Line LRT on Marine Drive. Its total distance is 8 km, running north-south.

doug mccallum Surrey Light Rail skytrain for surrey

Cancelled project: Artistic rendering of Surrey Central Station on the Surrey Newton-Guildford Light Rail Transit system. (TransLink)

team colleen hardwick vancouver lrt network

TEAM For A Livable Vancouver’s proposed street-level LRT and SkyTrain network expansion. Click on the image for an expanded version of the map. (TEAM)

Some of TEAM’s proposed LRT routes align with TransLink’s Transport 2050 plan of bringing some form of rapid transit to these corridors. The public transit authority’s approved 30-year strategy has eyed bus rapid transit (BRT) for Hastings Street from downtown Vancouver to Hastings Park/PNE and along Marine Drive/Marine Way from Marine Drive Station to SkyTrain 22nd Street Station in New Westminster.

Along Commercial Drive and Victoria Drive, TransLink has outlined a plan to eventually introduce a RapidBus service.

The City of Vancouver also has a long-term vision to build a streetcar line along the Arbutus Greenway, and along the South False Creek railway right-of-way between Granville Island and Main Street-Science World Station as part of the overall Downtown Streetcar network concept.

But this is where TEAM’s vision significantly deviates from existing TransLink and municipal plans.

TEAM’s rapid transit plan is not entirely against SkyTrain, as the party also proposes a new north-south extension of the Millennium Line from Arbutus Station to Burrard Station in downtown Vancouver. This would potentially serve as a relief line for the Canada Line, improve access to the West End, Granville Island, and Senakw and enhance network resilience during any transit disruptions.

TransLink is already planning SkyTrain from Arbutus to UBC and has made a case that it is necessary to seamlessly extend the Millennium Line for long-term capacity and efficiency reasons. Transport 2050 also notes at least some grade separation will be necessary for a future rapid transit line along 41st Avenue/49th Avenue from UBC to Metrotown, but it comes short of determining it to be SkyTrain.

translink ubc skytrain route options april 2022

TransLink’s recommended route and station locations for UBC SkyTrain, April 2022. Click on the map for an enlarged version. (TransLink)

translink transport 2050 rapid transit expansion

Transport 2050 plan for additional grade-separated rapid transit (SkyTrain) and bus rapid transit (BRT). Click on the map for an expanded version. (TransLink)

Downtown Vancouver-False Creek streetcar network map, 2018 concept. Click on the map for an expanded version. (Mott Macdonald/City of Vancouver)

However, street-level LRT and the type of BRT proposed by TransLink carry highly similar traits, except with the latter’s lower construction costs. TransLink intends to remove existing road space and physically separate vehicle traffic to create exclusive road space for BRT lines.

With all that said, construction costs for LRT are likely comparatively far lower along the Arbutus Greenway — which was previously a CP railway route — and the South False Creek railway right-of-way.

TEAM’s plan also calls for retaining the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts and improving the structures by activating the areas below the overpasses as public spaces. This would save $360 million in viaduct demolition costs that could instead be redirected to building the municipal government’s long-envisioned Downtown Streetcar network.

A recent study commissioned by the City of Vancouver found that the entire 12 km Downtown Streetcar network, including the South False Creek segment reaching Granville Island, carries an estimated cost of $1.1 billion in 2018 dollars.

If elected into office, the rapid transit plan outlined by TEAM would start with putting the UBC SkyTrain planning project on hold, and performing a city-wide consultation on alternatives.

“I want to see our city and its neighbourhoods fully engaged in this discussion before any final decisions, but when tax dollars are involved, I want the most for our money, and that means a complete light rail network rather than a costly subway to just one neighbourhood,” continued Hardwick.

“More transit makes more neighbourhoods affordable, and dollar-for-dollar, 58 km of transit beats seven kilometres of transit any day of the week.”

But can 58 km of street-level LRT really be accomplished under the same budget as the 7 km SkyTrain extension to UBC?

In early 2019, TransLink released the findings of a study that compared various SkyTrain and LRT options for bringing rapid transit to UBC.

At the time, the UBC SkyTrain extension carried a highly preliminary cost estimate of $3.8 billion in 2018 dollars.

TransLink also examined a theoretical concept of a pair of street-level LRT lines — just like what has been outlined by TEAM. This specifically entailed a portion of the Crosstown Line LRT segment between Main Street-Science World Station and UBC — instead of the Millennium Line extension west of Arbutus — and the 41st Avenue Line LRT between UBC and Metrotown.

A standalone street-level LRT line from Arbutus Street subway station to UBC. (TransLink)

Route for a street-level LRT from Main Street-Science World Station to UBC, with a transfer connection to Arbutus Street subway station. (TransLink)

SkyTrain extension compared with street-level LRT and optimized 99 B-Line alternatives. (TransLink)

Based on its analysis, in 2018 dollars, TransLink estimates both LRT routes would cost up to $7.1 billion. While street-level LRT is generally cheaper to build than the elevated and tunnelled routes of SkyTrain, the costs are not insignificant either due to the need to rebuild roadways and remove utilities and other fixtures.

The cancelled 11 km Surrey-Newton Guildford LRT running along the major arterial roads of 104 Avenue and King George Boulevard carried a cost of $1.65 billion, based on a 2021 completion, and the cost of building LRT along Fraser Highway from Surrey City Centre to Langley Centre — instead of the current plans for SkyTrain — was previously estimated at $2 billion.

An LRT network requires separate vast operations and maintenance facilities for train storage, whereas there are economies of scale efficiencies to be gained by expanding the storage facilities for SkyTrain.

TransLink’s 2019 study also found that two LRT lines reaching UBC — along Broadway/10th Avenue/University Boulevard, and along 41st Avenue — would have an insufficient capacity to meet long-term demand. By 2045, just 15 years after a theoretical completion and opening in 2030, both LRT lines would have a projected peak ridership of 10,400 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd). This is 85% of the cumulative ultimate capacity of 12,240 for both LRT lines.

Each LRT line would have an ultimate capacity of 6,120 pphpd, with the capacity largely constrained by limited train lengths due to Vancouver’s short city blocks. Increasing LRT capacity through frequency would create more congestion at major intersections.

In contrast, the existing 99 B-Line has a peak capacity of about 2,000 pphpd, the Canada Line’s future ultimate capacity is 15,000 pphpd, and the Expo Line and Millennium Line each have a future ultimate capacity of about 25,000 pphpd when more trains are added and lengthened.

A variation of LRT stretching 7 km from Arbutus to UBC — the same length as UBC SkyTrain — would cost $2 billion in 2018 dollars. It would attract 66,000 daily boardings (only about 10,000 more daily boardings than the existing 99 B-Line), and reach capacity within 15 years of opening.

A longer variation of this LRT from Main Street-Science World Station to UBC (half of the Crosstown Line LRT) would cost $3.2 billion in 2018 dollars. It would see 135,500 daily boardings, and also reach capacity in 15 years.

Four street-LRT options as alternatives to SkyTrain to UBC, 2019 study. (TransLink)

Speed, frequency, and the relative reliability offered by SkyTrain’s full-grade separation from traffic and full automation are key factors that make it much more of a ridership attractant than LRT and BRT.

Portland’s MAX system is deemed one of the most successful LRT systems in North America, with 97 km of track across five lines and 97 stations generating 123,000 boardings per day pre-pandemic. In contrast, Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain three lines totalling 80 km of track and 53 stations has a daily ridership of about 480,000. Both the Portland and Vancouver metropolitan regions carry similar populations.

As for the other major mayoral candidates and their rapid transit ideas, Forward Together mayor Kennedy Stewart has proposed a “Vancouver Loop” SkyTrain network that introduces a SkyTrain line to the 41st Avenue/49th Avenue corridor between UBC and Metrotown. A loop is created when the future Millennium Line extension between Arbutus and UBC and the existing Expo Line are accounted for.

ABC Vancouver mayoral candidate Ken Sim has a platform pitch of advocating for SkyTrain from downtown Vancouver to the North Shore via Hastings Street, which would reach Hastings Park/PNE and cross Burrard Inlet at the Second Narrows. Sim also wants to see various BRT routes realized across the city.

The civic election is scheduled for Saturday, October 15.

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