It's a looong way to Tipperary: the slow lane to rapid transit on the North Shore
R2 RapidBus along Marine Drive. Photo: Heather Drugge
I keep hoping for more and better transit for the North Shore, but it's taking a super long time to get here. There have been incremental improvements. But we’re at the point where we really need to push for more. We just don’t have any real options for improving our traffic problems without transit.
There’s been a petition going around the Shore asking all levels of government to renew their look at transportation infrastructure on the North Shore, requesting a third crossing over Burrard Inlet. Again.
The petition organizer presented 8,000+ signatures to the panellists at a recent Seymour Area Town Hall. Member of Parliament Terry Beech, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Suzie Chant and District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little took some hard questions from audience members. A good portion of that discussion centred around North Shore traffic. It’s a meeting well worth watching.
We’ve been here so many times. Asking for a third crossing seems like the right way to solve our traffic problems. But it’s not that simple. It's not like we haven’t studied a third crossing to death.
Here’s a recap of where we are on a third crossing, and our slooow path toward rapid transit on the Shore.
Let’s rewind to 2018. Although this discussion was taking place well before 2018, let's start there because that’s when real change began. MLA Bowinn Ma convened the Integrated North Shore Transportation Planning Project (INSTPP). It was the first time everyone sat at the same table. Three municipalities, First Nations, TransLink, the Port, provincial and federal officials all looking at the same problem. What seems obvious now was completely brilliant back then.
The collaboration explicitly rejected a ‘third crossing’ for vehicles because modelling showed a new crossing would simply shift congestion to local streets, which could not absorb traffic. Creating new roadways in a constrained space is not even possible. Instead, the group prioritized near-term transit improvements. Those measures led to the implementation of the R2 RapidBus line from Park Royal to Phibbs Exchange.
Why the bus?
Buses are incredibly effective at reducing the space required to move people. In a sense, they act as de-congestants. How? General vehicle traffic lanes with private motor vehicles can move between 600 and 1,600 people per hour. Adding frequent buses more than doubles that number.
Source: NACTO
Currently, if you’re on the move during commute times on Lonsdale from the Quay to Keith Road over 50% of travellers are in buses. Same with the route on 15th from Grand Boulevard to Keith Road and down to Marine Drive. Along the R2 line from the Quay to Park Royal, between 55% and 37% of all commuters are taking a bus.
Rapid transit studies
Around the same time that the North Shore Integrated Transportation Planning Project was working, the province commissioned engineering studies that identified six viable rapid transit routes based on SkyTrain-like or light-rail models, using existing or new bridge crossings. The good news? Multiple options could work and deliver real ridership. The bad news: they all cost many billions more than any funding model could handle. Worse, neither of our two existing bridges can accommodate rail-based transit.
Okay, so we ruled out a third crossing and any near-term, rail-based rapid transit. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board. With no realistic new option, what’s left?
Prioritizing buses
Well, how about buses? This question is being asked all over Metro, not just on the North Shore. With Translink's 10-Year Priorities calling for over $20 billion in new capital investments and an approximate 50% increase in annual operating costs, the emphasis on cost-effective solutions becomes paramount.
Bus rapid transit is way cheaper—potentially ten times less expensive per kilometre than rail rapid transit—and can be implemented in less than five years.
Clarifying the different forms of transit discussed in this article
We have Rapid Bus now on the Shore. It’s the R2 Line. It has some dedicated lanes, but not all the way. Bus Rapid Transit would use the same route, but with dedicated lanes and stations, not stops. Rapid Transit is rail-based like Skytrain. We might get Rapid Transit in coming years.
North Shore Connects
The R2 RapidBus Line has been operational since 2020. But the North Shore was still not prioritized in Translink’s regional rapid transit plans. In late 2021, our three municipalities and two First Nations formed North Shore Connects, a coalition designed to speak with one voice regarding transportation. North Shore Connects published an analysis funded by the federal government showing the broad regional economic benefits from improved transit along the North Shore and over to the SkyTrain line at Metrotown. Demonstrating the regional benefits was key to advancing the project up the Translink list.
As well, all three North Shore councils passed transit-supportive resolutions in 2022. They each pledged they would do everything in their power to enable bus priority lanes (even in West Van). This united approach undoubtedly influenced Translink’s Transport 2050 Plan, which in 2022 finally designated the North Shore to Metrotown corridor as a future rapid transit corridor. Woot!
From maybe to working on it
Thanks to all of our Mayors, councils and MLAs in particular, who took this work to heart and publicized our plight. Their work in public and behind the scenes with multiple players all pulling together moved us from ‘maybe someday’ to ‘we're actually working on it.’ Bus Rapid Transit across the shore from Park Royal, over the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge to the Metrotown SkyTrain Station, is now on TransLink's top three projects list.
In parallel, in 2023, the District of North Vancouver issued a study showing that bus rapid transit would not have sufficient capacity to meet 2050 ridership, SkyTrain appears overbuilt, and light rail could provide the right level of capacity. But, without a new bridge, light rail isn’t even an option. This report may have nudged the province to consider replacement strategies for the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge, which they are now working on. Keep in mind, though, even if the province announced a new bridge tomorrow, it would not likely be constructed before 2040. That’s a long time to keep inching down the cut.
The definition of hell (and it kind of looks like it too) is inching down the cut toward the Iron Worker’s Bridge. Photo: Heather Drugge
To recap
A third crossing for vehicles will not help due to space constraints on both sides
Dedicated Skytrain costs a mint and is capacity overkill, but the rest of the region uses it
Light rail might make more sense, but requires a new Iron Workers Memorial bridge, or a dedicated fixed link
Given these roadblocks, what should we do?
The logical thing is to work with what we have to make transit as frequent, fast and reliable as possible. We can extend the R2 Rapid Bus to Metrotown as a starter and then create Bus Rapid Transit along the same route over the existing Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. Demonstrating high ridership on a new North Shore to Metrotown Bus Rapid Transit route will help make the case for fixed-line transit, potentially dovetailing with a new Iron Worker’s Memorial Bridge.
The 2025 Translink Investment Plan, jointly agreed to by the board of Translink and the Mayors' Council, will fund the design work for three future Bus Rapid Transit corridors: King George Boulevard, Langley-Haney Place, and Metrotown to North Shore. That covers what they will build and where, but not the actual construction, estimated at $400 million.
R2 Extension to Metrotown and BRT in the future. Source: Translink 2025 Investment Plan
What to expect soon-ish: R2 extension to Metrotown
The existing R2 Marine Drive RapidBus currently provides fast, frequent and mostly reliable all-day service between Park Royal and Phibbs Exchange. Translink will extend that line to Metrotown and should open in 2027. The extension will improve connections to the North Shore, provide easier access to SkyTrain at Brentwood and Metrotown, and build ridership in advance of the Metrotown to North Shore Bus Rapid Transit project, now in design. The extension increases transportation options for people commuting to work on the North Shore from Burnaby and further east.
After that, we’ll see Bus Rapid Transit
Next will come discussions about the North Shore-Metrotown Bus Rapid Transit line. The route will likely follow the same path as the existing R2 Rapid Bus line, but stops will be upgraded to stations to accommodate level entry with the bus floor, as well as faster stops and starts. This project will include dedicated bus lanes and priority lights at intersections. (Though how we will get dedicated lanes along the length of Marine Drive is a tad unclear.) TransLink estimates Bus Rapid Transity construction can be completed in three years, once funded. But there’s no funding beyond the design phase. Yet. They’re working on it : )
Different potential designs for dedicated bus lanes. Source: Metrotown-North Shore Bus Rapid Transit Video
What we might get in the long term: a new bridge and light rail or Skytrain
No crystal ball, here. But based on all of the above, my guess is we’ll see a new Iron Workers Memorial Bridge with some kind of fixed-rail system that follows the Bus Rapid Transit corridor, using the same station locations, modified for rail.
By when? Wait for it (and I know you are). How about 2040? That’s if the government announces a new Iron Workers bridge sometime soon. Cough.
Scream to speed up the process
How can we speed things up? Advocate for better transit with your local, provincial and federal representatives. At the Seymour Town Hall, Member of Parliament Terry Beech expressed his appreciation for the 8,000+ signatures on the petition. He knows they can help him make a federal case on our behalf. He said, “The North Shore needs to really scream about the traffic tie-ups here.”
I noticed that Jonathan Wilkison, MP for North Vancouver-Capilano also wrote about this same topic in last week's North Shore News. It’s budget time, and he is willing to go to bat to get more funding, along with Terry Beech (remember the $400 million), but we need to say we want Bus Rapid Transit.
We need to scream for better transit now. Not a third crossing.
Contact your Mayor and Council and let them know that transit is a critical way to reduce congestion on the North Shore.
Let your MLA know that we would like provincial funding for the North Shore-Metrotown Bus Rapid Transit line
Lynne Block, Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Vancouver-Capilano
Susie Chant, Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Vancouver-Seymour
Bowinn Ma, Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Vancouver-Lonsdale
Let your MP know that we would like federal funding for the North Shore-Metrotown Bus Rapid Transit line
Jonathan Wilkinson, Member of Parliament for North Vancouver-Capilano
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