More details on transit expansion plan for Metro Vancouver. Moving forward will require province to provide long-term, stable funding.

During the recent provincial election campaign, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation —responsible for approving TransLink’s plans, funding, and major projects— launched a #CureCongestion 90-Day Action Plan to get the provincial government to confirm stable, long-term funding for transit expansion and other regional transportation priorities in Metro Vancouver.

The key items that the Mayors’ Council wants to see action on by the province are:

1. Formal approval of funding for Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project by the end of July
2. Formal approval of 40% provincial funding for 10-Year Vision by September
3. Formal elimination of referendum requirement for regional transportation funding by September
4. New Development Levy for transportation approved in the fall 2017 legislative session
5. Develop fair regional funding strategy to provide long-term stability for regional transportation projects by the end of September

Transportation and transit was one of the major issues during the last election campaign, and I expect that the top four action items will occur. The big question is will the NDP government approve a long-term funding strategy to pay for regional transportation projects in Metro Vancouver, or will history repeat itself? Previous NDP and Liberal governments have not approved long-term, stable funding.

TransLink’s 10-Year Vision is being delivered in three-phases. Phase one is currently underway, and phase two is currently in development. The Mayors’ Council has recently released more information about the proposed phase two transit service expansion plan.

The following table shows an outline of transit service expansion as currently being delivered and planned.

10-Year Vision Transit Expansion Plan. Select table to enlarge.

In the currently funded phase one, TransLink is delivering 210,000 new hours of bus service in 2017, 36,000 additional hours in 2018, and 148,000 additional hours in 2019. As part of phase two, the plan is for TransLink to deliver 139,000 more bus service hours in 2020 and 80,000 in 2021. This is a significant increase in bus service for Metro Vancouver.

Around 25% of those additional bus service hours are just to deal with increased congestion in our region. These hours will help maintain existing bus schedules. This shows a real example of the cost of congestion in Metro Vancouver.

HandyDART service will also see increased service. This year, HandyDART trips expanded by 85,500 or 8% over 2016. This will increase an additional 4% in 2017, followed by an additional 3% ever year. Phase two will ensure HandyDART expansion continues until at least 2021.

The SkyTrain system is aging and needs to be modernized. Phase two continues the work required to keep the system in a state of good repair. In phase one, 28 Expo/Millennium Line car have been purchased. 22 Canada Line car will be purchased in phase one, increasing the size of the fleet by 1.5 times. A new West Coast Express train-set will also be procured.

Phase two will see an additional 86 Expo/Millennium Line SkyTrain cars being purchased which will support the proposed Millennium Line expansion to Arbutus.

Our region has been promised long-term, stable transit and transportation funding for almost two decades. By the end of this year, we will know if this provincial government intends to keep its promise to help improve transit service in our region.

TransLink statistics on mental health and suicide, plus new statistics on fare evasion released

TransLink recently held an open board meeting on June 23 where the Transit Police presented a report. Two areas in the report stood out to me, information about vulnerable persons and violation tickets issues.

In our province, the number of people who need metal health services, and are not getting those services is increasing. This is one of the reasons why the current provincial government is proposing a Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction. Because people can’t get access to the health services they need, police throughout the province have had to pick up the slack and do what they can to help people who need mental health care. This is not a good situation.

As noted in the Transit Police report, “dealing with the full range of suicidal behaviour and crisis-related incidents places significant demands on police resources as well as trigger the need for critical incident defusing.”

The following chart shows the number of mental health related files.

Mental health related files handled by Transit Police. Select chart to enlarge.

Another area of sombre statistics is around suicides and the transit system. In the first quarter of this year, three people committed suicide. As shown in the following chart, the majority of suicide attempts were not completed. In BC, suicide is one of the leading causes of death.

Statistics on disturbed persons and suicides on the transit system handled by Transit Police. Select chart to enlarge.

In some transit systems, suicide-prevention glass and doors are installed along rail station platforms. In Metro Vancouver, suicide-prevention barriers have been installed on some bridges to reduce the likelihood of someone taking their life. It may be time for physical suicide-prevention systems to be considered at rail stations to also reduce the likelihood of someone being able to take their life.

On a different note, in March, Transit Police were given the ability to issue tickets to people who tamper with, or avoid using, a fare gate on the transit system. A ticket comes with a $173 price tag.

Number of violation tickets issued in the first quarter of 2017 by Transit Police. Select chart to enlarge.

This April, the number of violation tickets issued more than doubled. It was reported in the media that the number of fare evasion tickets were down 29% in the period between April 2016 and 2017, compared to the same period in 2015-16. With the Transit Police now able to issue tickets for people that try to get around using a fare gate correctly, and if the April 2017 numbers are any indication, the number of tickets issued should markedly increase this year.

Langley City Water Quality and Usage Report Released

Continuing with my mini-series on some questions I’ve received from residents in Langley City, today’s topic will be on water quality. I received an email a few weeks ago inquiring about the quality of water in our community, the frequency of water testing, and if those testing results are made available to the public.

Langley City like most municipalities in our region receives its water from Metro Vancouver. Our water comes from the Coquitlam reservoir. Water is treated at the reservoir, and is also treated again in the Clayton area of Surrey, before arriving in Langley City.

The City also has its own reservoir to store water and provide water pressure in the southern part of our community. There are also interconnects to the Township of Langley’s water system in the event there is an issue with the one connection to the Metro Vancouver water system.

Langley City Water System Map. Select image to enlarge.

In addition to the water quality tests done by Metro Vancouver, Langley City also tests our water weekly. There are 14 water quality sampling stations located throughout the community. You can see the results of 714 drinking water samples tested in the City’s 2016 Water Quality Report. The short of it is that in 2016 all water samples met Provincial Drinking Water Protection Regulation standards.

The specific question I received was about lead in the water system. Federal guidelines say there should be no more than 10 μg/L of lead in drinking water. The samples taken in Langley City were around 1μg/L or less. I should note that your building’s pipes can also impact water quality; this is something that the City can't test.

On a different note, the City keeps track of the amount of water used in our municipality. While our community is growing, the amount of water we use is shrinking. We are doing our part to conserve water in the region.

Langley City Water Consumption ‐ 10 Year Comparison. Select chart to enlarge.

In Langley City, we have some of the highest quality drinking water in the world. As the recent results show, our water is safe to drink.

Green Waves, Traffic Signal Synchronization, and the 200 Street Corridor

A traffic signal along 200th Street.

One of the questions that I receive from residents in Langley is if the traffic signals along the 200th Street corridor can be synchronized to promote both speed limit compliance, and the efficient movement of people and goods. Some people refer to this as a “green wave.”

The go-to reference guides for me are put out by the National Association of City Transportation Officials. This organization provides transportation guides based on best-practices, and real-world examples from urban areas with a focus on North American cities. Their Urban Street Design Guide states the following about the synchronizing of traffic signals:

Coordinated signal timing is typically applied on corridors with closely spaced intersections (1/4 mile or less) [400 meters or less], and where there is evidence of a desire for “platooning”—the seamless flow of a given street user or set progression speed. Where applied, coordinated signal timing should meet the specific goals and parameters of the surrounding context.

One of the key requirements is a close spacing of traffic signals. The greater the distance between traffic signals, the less likely that traffic can stay “platooned” together. If the platoon of traffic starts to disperse, traffic signal synchronization becomes ineffective.

If you want to get into the details of this, I found a presentation called, “Arterial Traffic Analysis: Coordination of Fixed Time Traffic Signals” by Dr. Gang-Len Chang.

Based on the 400 meter or less rule-of-thumb, the only section of 200 Street that could be coordinated would be between Fraser Highway and 66th Avenue. This area contains traffic signals that are owned and operated by Langley City, the BC Ministry of Transportation, and the Township of Langley.

To synchronize this section of road, all three agencies would have to have compatible traffic signal software and hardware that could be coordinated together. This is not impossible, but would require funding and political will. The BC Ministry of Transportation would also have to be convinced to prioritize this section of 200th Street over their provincial highway. Fraser Highway and other “side streets” would not be prioritized in this section of corridor.

The biggest challenge would be the rail crossing between Logan Avenue/Production Way and the Langley Bypass. Rail traffic overrides all traffic coordination, and would be the likely fly in the ointment to signal coordination.

Traffic signal coordination makes sense in areas where there is a close spacing of traffic signals, and can be an effective tool to nudge people into keeping the speed limit. Today along 200 Street, there is one section where signal synchronized could be applied if synchronization could be maintained even with unpredictable rail traffic.