Well I spoke too soon! At the end of my last column I said “…life has returned to ‘normal’ in the region…” after the Winter Olympics. Well the ‘normal’ in Vancouver may have shifted ever so slightly. Transit use was up 19.3% in March! Now how does Vancouver hold onto those riders?
By John Calimente, re:place Magazine
This is a story that needs to get as much attention as possible. Vancouverites were asked to forego their auto addiction for two weeks back in February in order to accommodate the Winter Olympics. Stay out of your cars, or better yet, just stay away! In response, huge numbers of people took transit, walked, or rode their bikes. Transit ridership went up 3% over last January, then exploded during the Olympics, with 51% more riders taking transit in February over the previous year.
But an interesting thing has happened. Many of those taking transit for the first time in February kept taking transit in March, even after the Olympics were over. And so transit ridership is up by a staggering 19.3% in March over last year. In numbers, that’s nearly three million more riders than last March. Again, THREE MILLION. To put that in perspective, that’s about the total ridership for the Los Angeles Metro (red and purple lines) in a month.
Of course the difference between this year and last year is the Canada Line, which opened in the summer of 2009. Vancouverites have embraced the Canada Line from day one, and ridership keeps growing. TransLink reports that in March at least 2.49 million people rode the Canada Line, and this doesn’t include those transferring from South Fraser bus routes. Again, that’s a minimum of 80,000+ riders per day on a line that didn’t exist a year ago. By connecting Vancouver with two major destinations, Richmond and the airport, the Canada Line was assured a healthy ridership. While some thought that business travellers would still want to drive or take a cab to the downtown core, I can attest to the sudden proliferation of people pulling suitcases behind them, heading towards a station. And also more travellers with suitcases on buses where I’ve never seen them before – the #240 from North Vancouver or the #5 from the West End. The appeal of transit to the airport has been greatly increased by the initiation of the Canada Line, with many also taking the bus trip to get them to the station.
SeaBus was the other big beneficiary, with ridership up 19%. That’s a total of 44,000 extra riders, or 1,300 per day!
Now of course some of these riders in March were visitors and tourists taking in the sights after the Olympics were over. So we’ll probably see that April’s numbers won’t be quite as dramatic an increase as those for March. But TransLink deserves a big round of applause for such amazing numbers. They’ve already won a Canadian Urban Transit Association Outstanding Achievement Award for Exceptional Corporate Performance as well another award for their Olympic transportation plan. Maybe there’s an Olympic medal in the offing?
The sad thing is that service levels are back to their pre-Olympic norm, since there currently isn’t funding available to keep transit frequency as high as during the Olympics. Vancouverites have shown that they are taking transit in larger numbers than were ever thought possible just a few years ago. With the addition of the Canada Line the SkyTrain system has the beginnings of a rail network in place. What we need now in the region is more dedicated funding for operating the system, particularly south of the Fraser. Bus frequencies need to be increased, especially in off-peak hours. And the addition of rapid bus lanes and at-grade light rail on busy arterials should be implemented as soon as possible.
The region is ready for more transit. Politicians, are you listening?
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John Calimente is the president of Rail Integrated Developments. He supports great great mass transit, cycling, walking, transit integrated developments, and non-automobile urban life. Click here to follow TheTransitFan on Twitter.
