The magic of express buses
Posted on December 30th, 2007 in surrey, transportation, vancouver |
The other day, I ran across my first ever express bus. I was travelling from Surrey City Hall to King George Station, around rush hour, and luckily the 394 was headed down my route. I just have to say, “Where, oh, where, express bus, have you been all my life?”
Despite it being about 10 minutes late, the bus ride was absolutely lovely. It wasn’t filled to the brim like the typical buses on King George, it only had a couple stops, and made my 9 km trip in about 15 minutes. It typically takes me 15 minutes to get from my school at 76 Ave to King George (about 4.5 km) on the 321 during the afternoon (and that’s in a squished bus)!
I can’t say enough good stuff about my experience on that bus ride. It made me realize why BRT is so successful around the world. Sure, it’s not a billion dollar rail line with fancy stations and sleek cars, but it took me where I wanted to go, speedy, with few stops, and it wasn’t crowded. And I’m a happy customer.
So I did some more research on these magical buses. Seems like most express routes just use regular buses, and usually only run at rush hour. TransLink also apparently has specific Express Coaches, but they are only used on highway travel. These buses have A/C, comfy bucket seats, overhead compartments, and individual controlled lights (they are basically mini Greyhounds).
From my perspective, TransLink could dramatically improve the transit user’s experience, and also attract a lot more people if they either create a whole new express brand, or expand the Express Coaches. It could be a companion to the B-Lines, which actually have a lot of stops. Just like the SkyTrain - even though it’s rapid transit, it still makes a lot of stops. Just imagine having an express SkyTrain, stopping only at Surrey Central, Columbia, Metrotown, Broadway, and the Downtown stops!
Let’s take that express model and apply it with buses. To take it to the next level, we’d just have to build a few HOV lanes. All huge improvements for minimal capital investments.
I can imagine having a whole series of Express Coaches running between the regional town centres (kind of like the Express Bus the Province and TransLink are funding for the twinned Port Mann). You could also have a handful of local Express Coach routes connecting major points in municipalities. These would work great in places that don’t already have a form of rapid transit - like the South of Fraser area!
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6 Responses
Yes, the 394 is a good line, taken it a few times. It avoids Newton Exchange altogether and seems geared for the South Surrey/White Rock commuters which is needed. It’s timetable reliability is a bit lacking– both times I took it=running late too.
The 301 Richmond Express/Newton Express also provides a good service. More of those types, please!
Good post, Paul.
We take the express to Tsawwassen from Burrard Stn when we head to the Island - and at the hour we travel, it IS totally empty and pretty freakin’ nice.
I travelled between Vancouver and Ladner a number of times (and one White Rock return trip) on those coaches and they are niiiice. They’re a bit cramped when it comes to getting in and out, but I would pay the high prices to live in White Rock just to take that gorgeous 351 every day, mm hmm.
I keep thinking they should make the 395 or a new bus an express bus to help us people messed over by the 502 move.
One evening I took the 502 most of the way home when the 395 was late and it was unpleasant… it made me rethink my live-in-Langley decision. I find a full bus stressful, and the 395 rarely is. A B-Line or equiv from Langley to the SkyTrain would rock.
I also think they should add a shuttle to and from Fraser Hwy on 168 (and maybe 176 too). Whenever the 395 is late in the morning I always see two dead-empty HandiDarts go by and they won’t pick us up. At the end of it all it sounds like community planning was badly screwed up here…
Very interesting how everyone loves express buses! Thanks for your comments.
@ Erika. Don’t think of moving too fast. Once the Canada Line is in, that 351 will only go to Bridgeport and you’ll have to transfer onto the train. They say it’ll be faster and more reliable than the bus, but there continues to be a small outcry from citizens in WR. Stupid part is, that was written into the contract for the Canada Line, so there’s no budging room for changes now. Having to transfer, I believe, is a far worse situation, than staying on and maybe being 10 minutes later than taking a squished train downtown.
Funny I thought the 395 was an express… The 502 isn’t that bad, it’s a much more direct route than the 320 I always take. Course, the only way to get back into Cloverdale from it is by transferring onto the C70. Which kinda sucks because it only passes by every 30 minutes.
If you are going to move anywhere with transit in mind, it would be on the other side of 152nd St. Anywhere in Newton or Guildford has way better transit than Cloverdale for sure, and is a far shorter travel distance than Langley. Even Fleetwood is nice. It’s once you pass 160 St or so that transit gets almost unbearable.
The B-Line is coming. Except it won’t exactly be a B-Line, but just a Frequent Transit route, along Fraser Highway. And that’ll happen in 2011.
The problem with Cloverdale is that it’s so far removed from the rest of Surrey due to the agricultural lands. Also, not very many people here take transit, thus explaining the lack of options.
Look at the C70. It was designed to get people from Cloverdale to Willowbrook (our main destination!), while also scooping up some of the 10,000 people that live in Clayton that didn’t have transit up until now. And it’s *always* empty!
Did you see the changes they are making? Some are good, like rerouting the 320 along 60th. But one in particular annoys me, where the 320 will no longer go along 64th and up 168th. Once construction on Fraser is done, I guess the bus will just continue up 176th and onto Fraser. This completely devoids all those new citizens along 64th from any transit option - which ironically enough is one of the busiest sections of boardings (at 176 and 64th, and 64th and 168th). Talk about poor planning…
[...] in the pipeline for TransLink: a premium, regional express coach system. Yes, similar to the idea I floated about a week ago, where everyone admitted that the concept of express services are highly attractive, especially [...]
@ Paul’s last comment:
FU……. you get the idea!
It was “done” when the 502 was moved back so I thought we were safe? If they move that 320 back (why???) they’d better give us 395 service to make up for it. I don’t know what I would do and I’m aware service did not exist in my neighbourhood before Fraser Hwy construction, save the 340 (aka 341).
BF works in Abbotsford and won’t live further west than 196 when we move (god knows when) so I’m hooped.
The C70 is like a half hour walk from my house lol so I haven’t taken it yet.