Calls for all-day bus lanes along East Broadway in Vancouver | Daily Hive

99 B-Line buses at the intersection of East Broadway and Commercial Drive. (Google Maps)

The City of Vancouver has plans to expand the hours during which the bus lanes are in effect along Broadway.

Specifically for the segment of East Broadway between Prince Edward Avenue (near Main Street) and Commercial Drive, the existing bus lane hours for the westbound direction on the curbside lane are from 7 am to 10 am during the morning peak period on weekdays.

Soon this year, the municipal government is planning to introduce a new additional westbound bus lane period on this same segment for the afternoon/evening peak period from 3 pm to 7 pm on weekdays. No changes are planned for the eastbound direction.

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But advocacy group Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders is urging the City to consider going even further by designating all-day bus lanes on this same segment of East Broadway in both directions. They want to see bus lanes for both the westbound and eastbound directions from 7 am to 7 pm, seven days a week.

Additionally, the non-profit organization has suggested changes to the traffic signals at the intersection of East Broadway and Commercial Drive, specifically for the eastbound 99 B-Line buses that left turn from East Broadway onto Commercial Drive to reach the bus route’s easternmost terminus of SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station.

Changes to the traffic signal should be made to reduce the delays for these buses, such as extending the left turn signal, making it a bus-only left turn in peak hours, or implementing bus-detection technology.

vancouver east broadway bus lane changes

Planned bus lane changes along East Broadway between Prince Edward Avenue and Commercial Drive. (City of Vancouver)

When SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway extension to Arbutus opens in Fall 2027, the 99 B-Line route will be truncated to run between UBC bus exchange and the new bus exchange at Arbutus Station. The 99 B-Line will no longer run east of Arbutus Street to reach Commercial-Broadway Station.

But Denis Agar, the executive director of Movement and a former TransLink planner for RapidBus, bus speed, and reliability, believes the expanded all-day bus lanes would still be worth the effort. Such changes would require very minimal investment, mainly relating to a change of signage. As well, he says TransLink’s analysis shows bus lanes would be very beneficial during the mid-day and weekend periods.

When construction first began on the subway in 2021, it was expected to open by late 2025. Due to construction delays, the opening was pushed to early 2026, and then to Fall 2027. Given the minimal investment needed to expand bus lane hours, he suggests the changes would be worthwhile for the 99 B-Line, which continues to be the busiest bus route in Canada and the United States.

TransLink’s 2023 statistics show the 99 B-Line saw 11.3 million annual boardings, with averages of 35,900 boardings per weekday, 23,700 boardings per Saturday, and 17,000 boardings per Sunday/holiday.

commercial broadway station 99 b-line translink f

99 B-Line’s westbound stop at SkyTrain Commercial-Broadway Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Agar also believes the extended bus lane hours would see benefits beyond 2027, given that TransLink has deemed Broadway to be the most delayed bus corridor in Metro Vancouver. TransLink has plans to boost the No. 9 UBC/Commercial-Broadway/Alma/Boundary local bus service after the subway opens and the 99 B-Line east of Arbutus Street is discontinued.

Currently, West Broadway between Ontario Street and Arbutus Street already has all-day bus lanes in both directions to mitigate the bus speed and reliability impacts of the five subway station construction sites within this segment. Prior to subway construction, this segment of West Broadway had bus lanes in both directions, generally for the periods from 7 am to 10 am and 3 pm to 7 pm on weekdays only.

Curbside vehicle parking restrictions along Broadway between Commercial Drive and Arbutus Street to establish bus lanes during certain periods of the day were first put in place in 2006.

As part of the subway construction project, the city blocks of West Broadway impacted by station construction will see their roadway reconfigured from the previous configuration of six vehicle lanes (three lanes in each direction) to four vehicle lanes (two lanes in each direction) to accommodate wider pedestrian sidewalks and restaurant patio opportunities.

Over the longer term, through the City’s Broadway Plan, other blocks of Broadway will adopt this four-lane configuration to create the Great Street concept for pedestrians. The four-lane configuration also maintains TransLink’s designation of the arterial route as a part of the Major Road Network.

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