17 bus stops to be permanently removed from Granville route in Vancouver | Daily Hive

17 bus stops to be permanently removed from busy Granville Street route in Vancouver

No. 10 Granville/Waterfront Station trolley bus route on Granville Street in Vancouver. (TransLink)

Major permanent changes will be coming to TransLink’s No. 10 trolley bus route in Vancouver at the start of Summer 2025.

The public transit authority has been working with the City of Vancouver to perform bus stop balancing along Granville Street outside of the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

Beginning on June 23, 2025, a total of 17 bus stops along Granville Street that serve the No. 10 Granville/Waterfront Station trolley bus route will be permanently axed to help speed up buses and improve reliability. The removed bus stops are located along the segment of Granville Street between West 16th Avenue and Southwest Marine Drive.

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According to TransLink, prior to the changes, 76 per cent of the bus stops were located within 300 metres of another stop, which means buses make more frequent stops despite the short walking distance between stops and the street’s general walkability. The No. 10 is also one of the most delayed bus routes within Vancouver due in part to its close bus stop spacing.

While there will be a net loss of bus stops, TransLink will also be adding four new bus stop locations at the Granville Street intersections with West 45th Avenue (northbound), West 37th Avenue (northbound), West 33rd Avenue (northbound), and Balfour Avenue (southbound).

It is anticipated that over 96 per cent of No. 10 passengers will continue to use their existing bus stop after the changes. Those who are impacted by the changes will still have a bus stop within one or two blocks of their previous stop location.

Additional bus priority measures on this same segment of Granville Street through the Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, Oakridge, and Marpole areas will be implemented beginning in late 2025, including extended bus lane hours, new turn pockets, and the installation of bus bulbs at select bus stops. More information will be made available at a later time.

Bus bulbs are sidewalk extensions into the curbside vehicle lane that enable buses to stop in the travel lane, eliminating the need to pull in and out of the travel lane — merging back into traffic. The previous installation of bus bulbs on a segment of West 4th Avenue decreased bus travel times by up to 20 per cent, according to TransLink.

The 11.5-km-long No. 10 bus route runs between Waterfront Station and SkyTrain’s Marine Drive Station, and it mainly uses high-capacity articulated trolley buses.

This bus route’s ridership has fallen considerably since before the pandemic.

In 2024, the No. 10 recorded 2.88 million boardings, making it TransLink’s 27th busiest bus route out of 195 bus routes across the region, with averages of 8,800 on weekdays, 6,500 on Saturdays, and 5,400 on Sundays/holidays. This is a decrease from the 2019 ridership of 4.82 million boardings, ranking it as the 19th busiest bus route, with averages of 15,600 boardings per weekday, 8,500 per Saturday, and 7,800 per Sunday/holiday.

The 2024 total ridership figure is also below the 2023 figure of 3.04 million boardings.

Another major change coming to the Granville Street corridor in Vancouver this summer is the opening of the Granville Connector — the new protected wide pedestrian and cycling pathways on the west side of the Granville Street Bridge. A precise opening date has yet to be announced, but construction is now in the very final stages of completion.

Granville Street is also a major arterial route across the city, a non-freeway continuation of the Highway 99 route between Richmond and the North Shore.

For a wide range of reasons, the segment of Granville Street north of West 16th Avenue — South Granville retail district, Granville Street Bridge, and the Granville Strip in downtown Vancouver — are also major areas of very consistent significant delays for buses, including the No. 10 bus route.

downtown vancouver traffic congestion gridlock 3

Traffic gridlock on the Granville Street Bridge due to the supportive housing fire on June 11, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

Traffic gridlock due to the supportive housing fire. (Kenneth Chan)

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