$15-million Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange rebuild reaches completion (PHOTOS)

Jul 7 2020, 1:26 am

The North Shore’s principal public transit hub is boasting a new and brighter look, following an 18-month-long retrofit at a cost of $14.7 million.

Lonsdale Quay Exchange’s bus loop fully reopened on June 22, allowing all TransLink buses to return to the facility.

The upgrades include a rebuilt bus loop island with new concrete pavers and adapted bus pays, as well as new ceiling panels with brighter lighting, improved accessibility for wheelchairs and strollers, tactile walking surface indicators at bus stops and passenger crossings, digital wayfinding, and public art.

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

These improvements not only improve the passenger experience — the comfort and ease of transferring between bus and SeaBus services — but also creates additional capacity for the hub’s growing passenger volumes, including the traffic generated by the new R2 Marine Drive RapidBus

Some remaining minor construction work will continue through late July or early August. Renovations first began in January 2019.

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Although both SeaBus terminals have seen upgrades over the past decade, more recently the Waterfront Station ferry terminal, the public transit authority says this is the bus exchange’s first upgrade since it was built in the 1980s.

Lonsdale Quay Exchange is the second-busiest transit hub on the North Shore, with 12 bus routes, over 5,000 riders using the bus exchange on an average weekday, and 20,000 SeaBus trips per weekday.

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

TransLink is also planning a rebuild of Phibbs Exchange, the eastern terminus of the R2, but the timeline of this project has not been determined.

But new bus exchanges for Nanaimo Station and Richmond-Brighouse Station are set to reach completion this year.

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

lonsdale quay bus exchange

Renovated Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Kenneth ChanKenneth Chan

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