TransLink's busy No. 2 bus route sees upgrades with articulated buses

Articulated bus in use on the No. 2 Dunbar Loop/Macdonald/Downtown bus route. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Weeks after TransLink’s busy No. 2 Dunbar Loop/Macdonald/Downtown bus route saw a major service upgrade, there are now fewer instances of overcrowding and pass-ups.

Traversing across the Burrard Street Bridge, the No. 2 is one of two westernmost frequent regular bus routes that directly reach downtown Vancouver. Passengers originating from the Dunbar-Southlands, West Point Grey, and Kitsilano neighbourhoods and the University of British Columbia (UBC) funnel into the service.

It is a nine-km-long route on segments of West 41st Avenue, Macdonald Street, West 16th Avenue, Cornwall Avenue, and Burrard Street, running between Dunbar bus loop and SkyTrain Burrard Station.

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Based on the latest available full statistics, in 2022, the No. 2 was the 14th busiest bus route out of TransLink’s total of 203 bus routes, with annual boardings of 3.2 million passengers, and averages of 9,500 per weekday, 8,100 per Saturday, and 6,100 per Sunday/holiday.

Historically, the No. 2 has used regular 40-ft, two-door buses. But earlier this year, it was upgraded with more capacity to exclusively using 60-ft, three-door articulated buses, which takes advantage of some of the public transit authority’s brand new bus order arrivals.

TransLink spokesperson Thor Diakow told Daily Hive Urbanized that ever since the No. 2 began using the larger articulated buses, there has been a general reduction in crowding, and pass-ups due to full buses are now down by 3.5%.

“This particular route is usually busier during the spring and summer, so we will continue monitoring the extra capacity in the coming months,” he said.

As part of the introduction of articulated buses, there was a slight decrease in the scheduled southbound frequency on the No. 2 towards Macdonald Street, generally over the peak hours.

For example, southbound frequencies towards Macdonald in the morning and afternoon peak hours decreased from every six to eight minutes using the 40-ft buses to every eight to nine minutes using the articulated buses.

Claire Fenton, a frequent rider on the No. 2 and Daily Hive’s Vancouver City Editor, told Daily Hive Urbanized that, while there has been a noticeable improvement from the introduction of articulated buses, crowding and pass-ups are still problematic.

“I will say that the bus is still too busy! But it was definitely needed. I used to wait for so long after work, sometimes three buses would go by,” she said.

She notes that there is often still a lineup of people outside the Lululemon headquarters office at Cornwall Avenue waiting for the northbound bus to cross the bridge into downtown.

“With the massive amount of UBC students heading downtown and with the ongoing delays on Broadway, I haven’t seen it busier. I would love if the buses were even more frequent because I’ve been left waiting at rush hour even with the increased capacity,” continued Fenton.

Articulated bus in use on the No. 2 Dunbar Loop/Macdonald/Downtown bus route. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The No. 2 has long been an issue for capacity, overcrowding, pass-ups, reliability, and delays.

In 2020, the No. 2 became TransLink’s very first bus route to receive “bus stop balancing” treatment, which has since become an ongoing practice by the public transit authority to analyze bus routes and remove bus stops that are too closely spaced together — a measure to improve speed and reliability, maintain schedules, reduce bus bunching, and lower operating costs. About 25% of the No. 2’s bus stops were removed.

According to TransLink, bus stop balancing on the No. 2 led to a roundtrip travel time reduction of five minutes on average and up to 10 minutes during the busiest times of the day. Buses also cut down their dwelling time at bus stops by 2.5 to four minutes. Furthermore, 86% of passengers on the route reported they were able to use their existing bus stop and had a faster, more reliable trip. Even though 14% of passengers saw their stops removed, the nearest alternative was typically a short walk away — about one city block’s distance.

TransLink rarely upgrades the size of buses on a particular route, but some of the most recent examples include the permanent articulate bus upgrades of the No. 49 UBC/Metrotown in 2016 and the No. 84 UBC/VCC-Clark Station in 2022, and the various regular bus routes that were upgraded to the RapidBus standard or the use of double-decker buses.

Later this year, the No. 23 bus route between between SkyTrain Main Street-Science World Station and English Bay in downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood could be upgraded to its current use of the small community shuttle buses vehicles to a regular 40-ft bus.

The forthcoming No. 23 bus upgrade is due to the route’s major ridership growth and overcrowding. The community shuttle buses only offer capacity for 24 seated passengers and zero standing capacity. Currently, the No. 23 runs every seven minutes during peak periods, which is the highest frequency for a TransLink bus route that uses a community shuttle bus.

There would be slight changes to the existing route for the No. 23 if it is permanently upgraded to the regular 40-ft bus, as well as a major route extension along Denman Street, Robson Street, and Burrard Street to terminate at Burrard Station. Similar to the No. 2’s changes, there would also be a slight frequency decrease to the No. 23 from the use of a larger bus.

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