North Shore RapidBus travel times to fall by six minutes from new bus lane

North Shore RapidBus travel times to drop by six minutes from new bus lane

TransLink R2 RapidBus (left) and where the eastbound bus lane on East 3rd Street currently ends near Queensbury Avenue (right). (TransLink | Google Maps)

Changes to the design of a one-km segment of arterial roadway within the City of North Vancouver are estimated to reduce eastbound travel times for TransLink’s R2 RapidBus service by six minutes during peak periods.

Construction is now underway on a redesign of East 3rd Street between Queensbury Avenue and Gladstone Avenue.

The eastbound bus lane on East 3rd Street currently ends east of Queensbury Avenue, but the project will further extend the bus lane eastward to reach Gladstone Avenue.

This segment currently sees major delays for buses, as the existing eastbound bus lane ends just east of Queensbury Avenue. Buses are required to merge into the single general eastbound vehicle lane west of the intersection with Lower Level Road to Gladstone Avenue.

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The area also experiences significant traffic congestion during peak periods from the unique parallel intersection design of East 3rd Street and Lower Level Road.

According to the municipal government, the road design changes involve removing and rebuilding new concrete medians, relocating traffic signal poles and light poles, removing and adding new paint lines, removing three trees, transplanting five trees, and asphalt paving.

translink rapidbus r2 marine drive north shore

TransLink R2 Marine Drive RapidBus route on the North Shore, with the eastbound bus lane extension project site highlighted. (TransLink)

The work is expected to take about six months to complete. TransLink is covering the full cost.

Currently, the 1.7-km-long segment of the East 3rd Street and Cotton Road corridor between Ridgeway Avenue and Brookshank Avenue — overlapping with the shorter construction segment — takes about three minutes in the eastbound direction.

At the moment, half of the trips can experience a delay of six minutes or more, and 20% of the trips during the weekday afternoon peak period can take nine minutes or more to travel through the short segment.

The eastbound bus lane on East 3rd Street ends west of Queensbury Avenue. (Google Maps)

Parallel intersection of East 3rd Street and Lower Level Road looking east. (Google Maps)

The public transit authority believes the changes could improve the reliability of the R2 RapidBus, and increase the route’s competitiveness compared to private vehicle driving times.

The R2’s 10-km-long route runs west-east across the North Shore between Park Royal in West Vancouver and Phibbs Exchange in North Vancouver District, including a major stop at Lonsdale Quay enabling a transfer to SeaBus and local buses. Currently, in optimal daytime traffic conditions, the end-to-end travel time of the R2 is about 40 minutes — compared to about 30 minutes by using a private car.

Based on TransLink statistics, in terms of total passenger volumes, the R2 was the fourth busiest RapidBus route (out of five RapidBus routes) and the 38th busiest bus route in the entire TransLink network of over 200 bus routes. In 2022, this service saw 1.68 million annual boardings, including averages of 4,900 boardings per weekday, 4,320 on Saturdays, and 3,510 on Sundays/holidays.

Within the coming decade, as part of the Mayors’ Council’s 10-year priorities under Transport 2050, TransLink is planning to upgrade the R2 into a bus rapid transit (BRT) service with fully traffic-separated bus lanes for the entire route, traffic signal priority, higher frequencies, and improved passenger amenities. The R2’s upgrade into a BRT would also see its route extended south across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to reach Brentwood and Metrotown in Burnaby. This conversion of the R2 into BRT is seen as an interim solution, while planning is underway for permanent rapid transit, such as the consideration of SkyTrain.

The future BRT would benefit from the bus lane investments currently under construction, which were originally planned for the first phase of road upgrades prior to the launch of the R2 in 2020.

In April 2023, construction began on bus-only lanes and other bus priority measures on Scott Road and 72nd Avenue for the new R6 RapidBus serving Surrey and Delta. Starting in early 2024, the R6 will run between SkyTrain Scott Road Station and Newton Exchange.

TransLink R2 Marine Drive RapidBus on the North Shore. (City of North Vancouver)

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