No BRT, RapidBus: Richmond City Council rejects TransLink route to Metrotown

No BRT, no RapidBus: Richmond City Council rejects TransLink's proposed route to Metrotown

TransLink's R4 41st Avenue RapidBus in Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Any form of an upgraded arterial bus service linking Metrotown and Richmond City Centre via the Knight Street Bridge will not be happening after all.

In a meeting Monday evening, Richmond City Council overwhelmingly rejected any endorsement of TransLink’s proposal to establish a new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service on the corridor linking the city centres of Richmond and Burnaby — between the Canada Line’s Richmond-Brighouse Station and the Expo Line’s Metrotown Station.

Not only did City Council reject TransLink’s BRT proposal, but they also refused to support City of Richmond’s staff’s recommendation to request TransLink downgrade the proposed service to the region’s existing RapidBus standard, with this route to be known as the R7 RapidBus.

This decision will likely mean the potential investments in Richmond will be redirected to another area of Metro Vancouver.

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Ahead of the meeting, City staff outlined in a report to City Council that they were against TransLink’s BRT concept as it would require fully physically separated bus-only lanes, with barriers preventing general vehicle traffic from entering the dedicated right-of-way for buses. This would result in major traffic congestion and delays, particularly if there are reductions on existing roadways that are four lanes wide (two lanes in each direction), according to City staff.

City staff’s recommendation to City Council was to approve a request to TransLink to launch the service as a lower-tier RapidBus with HOV lanes, but city councillors were not convinced this would be sufficient to address their traffic impact concerns.

translink r7 rapidbus route richmond-brighouse metrotown

The proposed route for the R7 RapidBus between Richmond-Brighouse Station and Metrotown Station. (City of Richmond)

Within Richmond, the R7 RapidBus was proposed to run along short segments of No. 3 Road, Lansdowne Road, and Garden City Road, before traversing along Cambie Road to reach the Knight Street Bridge.

“I’m sorry, I can’t support any of this. I think it’s very ill thought out. I’m trying to imagine losing a lane of traffic. Even if there’s an HOV on Lansdowne, Garden City, Cambie, and forget about the Vancouver nightmare,” said city councillor Carol Day during the meeting. “I don’t want to be committed to something that isn’t workable.”

When Day emphatically asked whether TransLink is “serious” about removing one general vehicle lane in each direction on the Knight Street Bridge, City staff clarified that the current expectation is the region’s bridges will not be touched for TransLink’s BRT strategy.

Day also cast doubt on whether TransLink would cover the cost of building on- and off-ramps at where Cambie Road meets the Knight Street freeway, given that an interchange does not exist at this location.

“Who is going to pay for that ? TransLink? I’m not buying that!” she exclaimed.

City councillor Bill McNulty added, “I don’t want to see us give up a lane for buses only. We don’t have any metrics.” McNulty was amongst several city councillors who lamented a perceived lack of details from the public transit authority.

During the deliberations, it was also suggested that a BRT or RapidBus service with a frequency of about every 10 minutes does not warrant its own dedicated bus lanes.

Moreover, city councillors also made comments asserting that the new service is not a priority for Richmond, and they would rather see expansion and improvement projects solely within their municipal jurisdiction.

“I see what we’re discussing today is a bit of a waste of time. It’s not a local priority,” said city councillor Michael Wolfe, adding that he would rather see light rail transit, an expansion of Highway 91, and a restoration of the No. 480 express bus route between Bridgeport Station and the University of British Columbia (UBC) campus.

“At this table, we should be discussing projects that benefit the majority of our residents and users, not half with another municipality that isn’t even endorsing this. I think it’s definitely out of order the way things are being handled here,” continued Wolfe.

Within Vancouver and Burnaby, after crossing the Knight Street Bridge, the R7 RapidBus would use a short segment of Marine Drive, then Victoria Drive, 49th Avenue, Imperial Avenue, and Willingdon Avenue, before arriving at Metrotown.

The City of Vancouver has endorsed bus-priority measures for corridors such as 49th Avenue, but its approval came short of directly endorsing the BRT standard for any corridor. The City of Burnaby has only indicated its support for the North Shore BRT route linking Park Royal in West Vancouver, Brentwood, and Metrotown via the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

City councillor Laura Gillanders also echoed the desire for a reinstatement of the No. 480 express bus. She disagreed with TransLink’s rationale that the 2020-launched R4 41st Avenue RapidBus to UBC via a transfer with the Canada Line at Oakridge-41st Avenue Station is an adequate alternative.

According to City staff, the proposed BRT corridor between Richmond-Brighouse Station and Metrotown Station has the third highest per km ridership amongst the nine BRT routes being considered across the region.

BRT or RapidBus on this corridor would be a replacement of the existing No. 430 bus route between Richmond-Brighouse Station and Metrotown Station via the Knight Street Bridge, which is the 33rd busiest bus route out of over 200 TransLink bus routes.

In 2022, the No. 430 saw 1.87 million annual boardings, 5,610 average weekday boardings, 4,540 average Saturday boardings, and 3,670 average Sunday/holiday boardings. This is down from its pre-pandemic 2019 ridership of 2.186 million annual boardings, 6,810 average weekday boardings, 4,540 average Saturday boardings, and 3,670 average Sunday/holiday boardings.

TransLink first envisioned a RapidBus (previously called the B-Line) service on this corridor a decade ago, and the 2020 completion of Richmond-Brighouse Station’s off-street bus exchange was part of the preparations for such a service. The idea to upgrade the plans for the long-proposed R7 RapidBus into BRT first arose about two years ago.

The completed Richmond-Brighouse Station bus exchange on November 8, 2020. (TransLink)

City councillors also made comments suggesting the process is being rushed, but City staff explained that TransLink wants to receive some measure of support from the region’s various municipal governments before performing any further design and planning work.

In late October 2023, the Mayors’ Council and TransLink will finalize the list of the first projects under the 10-year priorities for public transit expansion and improvements between 2025 and 2035. Municipal governments are being asked to demonstrate their level of support ahead of the decision.

This follows West Vancouver’s B-Line debacle in early 2019, when local residents and businesses fought against HOV lanes and curbside parking changes needed to accommodate the North Shore B-Line route’s westernmost terminus of Dundarave. After months of public backlash, and only after TransLink created detailed designs, the District of West Vancouver Council endorsed a truncated B-Line route terminating at Park Royal, with the service now known as the R2 Marine Drive RapidBus.

Some of TransLink’s cost savings from the decision to not have the R2 RapidBus reach Ambleside and Dundarave were redirected towards expediting the R6 Scott Road RapidBus in Surrey and Delta, which is now expected to launch in early 2024.

So far, the municipal governments of Burnaby, Delta, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, and Surrey have expressed clear formal public support for the BRT proposals that serve their jurisdiction.

This is the full list of TransLink’s proposed 11 new RapidBus routes under the 10-year priorities:

New RapidBus routes in the first five years:
1. Langley to Haney Place via 200th Street
2. Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Lions Gate Bridge
3. Marine Drive Station to 22nd Street Station via Marine Drive/Marine Way
4. R1 King George Boulevard route extension from Newton to White Rock
5. Richmond Centre to Metrotown via Knight Street Bridge, Victoria Drive, and 49th Avenue
New RapidBus routes for the second five years:
1. Downtown Vancouver to Ambleside via Lions Gate Bridge
2. Carvolth exchange to Scott Road Station via 96 Avenue
3. Commercial Drive/Victoria Drive
4. Langley to White Rock via 24th Avenue
5. New Westminster Station to Brentwood Town Centre Station via Canada Way
6. Newton to Guildford via 152nd Street

This is the full list of TransLink’s proposed nine BRT routes under the 10-year priorities:

RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R3 Lougheed Highway (Coquitlam Central Station to Haney Place in Maple Ridge)
RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R5 Hastings Street (Burrard Station to SFU Burnaby)
RapidBus to BRT upgrade: R6 Scott Road (Scott Road Station to Newton exchange). R6 will be launched in early 2024 before its potential eventual upgrade to BRT.
New BRT: Surrey to White Rock via King George Boulevard
New BRT: Langley to Haney Place in Maple Ridge via 200th Street, Golden Ears Bridge, and Lougheed Highway
New BRT: Marine Drive Station to 22nd Street Station via Marine Drive/Marine Way
New BRT: Richmond Centre to Metrotown via Knight Street Bridge, Victoria Drive, and 49th Avenue
New BRT: Downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale via Lions Gate Bridge
New BRT: Metrotown to Park Royal via Ironworkers Memorial Bridge

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