Public washrooms were almost part of a now-paused Burrard Station upgrade

Mar 29 2022, 9:15 pm

Up until last week, TransLink had planned on proceeding with its overhaul of Burrard SkyTrain Station to improve its capacity and accessibility.

But the public transit authority announced on Friday a decision had been made to put the project on hold as the bids for a general contractor came over the provided budget, with high inflation costs and global supply chains to blame. A two-year temporary closure of the station was previously set to begin in early 2022 as a strategy to reduce costs, as opposed to the significantly higher costs of keeping the station open during construction.

The station upgrade design has now returned to the drawing board in an attempt to reduce the costs of the project.

On Monday evening, Vancouver Park Board commissioners were also set to discuss a report outlining the improved Art Phillips Park design as part of the station upgrade. The green space, pathways, blossoming trees, and landscaped areas of the station entrance city block are a public park area under the jurisdiction of the park board.

The agenda item to discuss the upgrade was removed Monday afternoon, and the entire meeting was subsequently rescheduled to Tuesday evening due to technical difficulties.

However, the report provided details on a much-sought amenity on public transit: public washrooms. This was not previously publicly known as a feature of the station upgrade.

The previous plans for the station upgrade would have seen TransLink install two standalone universally accessible, prefabricated, single-user public washrooms in the park area along Melville Street, next to a new public plaza and the intersection with Burrard Street.

skytrain burrard station public washrooms

Artistic rendering of the two standalone public washrooms as part of the previous SkyTrain Burrard Station upgrade concept. (TransLink)

portland loo public washroom

The “Portland Loo” public washroom. (Portland Loo)

While TransLink reached an agreement to cover the costs of building the washrooms, the park board would have been responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the facilities.

The park board’s baseline for operating and maintaining a washroom facility at $25,000 annually, but it was anticipated such washrooms serving the central, high-traffic location of Burrard Station would see ongoing costs above the baseline.

A TransLink spokesperson on Monday told Daily Hive Urbanized the continued inclusion of the public washrooms is currently up in the air.

“That report was based on the previous scope for Burrard Station upgrades. Since that report was created, we have updated the Park Board to let them know that the upgrades are no longer proceeding as planned. We have not determined the new scope of upgrades and I am unsure if a public washroom will be included in the new scope at this time,” reads the statement.

Over the years, TransLink has established that the cost of building public washroom facilities is not the main obstacle, but rather the ongoing operating and maintenance costs of opening such facilities.

In 2021, the public transit authority and the City of Burnaby publicly budded heads over the fully furnished public washrooms that were completed in 2017 as part of SkyTrain Metrotown Station’s rebuild. The municipal government previously reached an agreement requiring TransLink to include a public washroom facility at the station.

In response to the City of Burnaby’s request last year for TransLink to fund the operation and maintenance of Metrotown Station’s public washroom, instead of relying on a third-party operator such as the tenant of the station’s retail unit, which has yet to be leased. However, TransLink responded to the city’s request by stating that it would be too expensive to operate and maintain, and that the Mayors’ Council would have to free up funding to implement the TransLink board’s 2018-approved public washroom strategy.

Last week, TransLink announced an updated strategy on improving passenger amenities that included exploring options for more public washrooms, which was the top request from respondents in 2021’s public consultation on amenities.

In 2020, park board commissioners also approved a long-term strategy to improve and expand the availability of public washrooms.

skytrain burrard station upgrade

Artistic rendering of the expansion and renovation of SkyTrain Burrard Station. (TransLink)

skytrain burrard station upgrade

Artistic rendering of the expansion and renovation of SkyTrain Burrard Station. (TransLink)

The previous plans for upgrading Burrard Station were originally budgeted at $72 million. If the station were to remain open during construction, the costs would have gone up by $35 million to $107 million.

TransLink did not disclose the values of the submitted bids to build the project.

The previous design included an additional three escalators between the ticketing concourse and the underground mezzanine level, addressing the key capacity, accessibility, and circulation issue of the station — increasing the number of escalators between both levels from three to six.

The street entrance would also be relocated from the Melville Street side of the block to the Dunsmuir Street side, with a staircase, two escalators, and two elevators from street level. In the process of repositioning the street entrance, a new and expanded plaza would be created on the southeast corner of the station block.

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