South of Fraser sees largest percent growth in bus ridership in Metro Vancouver

The TransLink 2017 Transit Service Performance Review was recently released; transit ridership is continuing to increase rapidly in the South of Fraser. There were 43,311,000 annual bus boardings in 2017 which was up 8% compared to 2016. Even in South Delta, which includes Ladner and Tsawwassen, annual boardings was up 9%. Overall, bus transit ridership is growing faster in communities south of the Fraser River than anywhere else in Metro Vancouver.

Annual Bus Boardings by Sub-Region from 2013 to 2017. Select table to enlarge.

In the Performance Review, the 319, 363, and 96 B-Line were noted as seeing the strongest growth in the South of Fraser. As a daily user of the 502, I’ve noticed that this route has become somewhat less crowded. Due to more bus services along the route, the 502 is no longer in the top 10 most over-crowded routes in the region.

Top 5 Routes - South of Fraser	Annual Boardings	System-Wide Rank
319 - Scott Road Station/Newton Exchange	5,193,000	16
96 B-Line - Guildford Exchange/Newton Exchange	5,019,000	17
502 - Surrey Central/Langley Centre	2,833,000	31
321 - Surrey Central/White Rock	2,550,000	34
335 - Surrey Central/Guildford/Newtown Exchange	2,508,000	36

The 319 is the most utilities bus route in the South of Fraser, travelling along Scott Road. This corridor is in desperate need of B-Line service, and thanks to the recent approval of phase two of TransLink’s 10-Year Investment Plan, service is scheduled to start by 2021.

Annual Bus Service Hours by Sub-Region from 2013 to 2017. Select table to enlarge.

The performance review shows that there was a 23% decrease in bus ridership in the Northeast Sector. This was due to the 97 B-Line being replaced with the Evergreen Extension of SkyTrain.

All TransLink services saw an increase in ridership expect for the West Coast Express in 2017. This was due to the opening of the Evergreen Extension of SkyTrain. The following table shows that ridership at stations such as Maple Meadows, Port Haney, and Mission City increased in boardings. In fact, Mission City saw a 17% increase in boardings in 2017.

West Coast Express Average Weekday Boardings, Fall 2016 and Fall 2017. Select table to enlarge.

TransLink has been able to invest in improving bus service in Metro Vancouver over the last few years due to new funding being approved by local, provincial, and federal governments. “Build it and they will come” is certainly the case for transit service in Metro Vancouver.

Take the State of Local Government Survey

Around a year ago, some friends of mine (and their friends) that are involved in government, urban planning, or civic advocacy decided to form the “Young Regional Leadership Collective.” We started this group to create a forum for people under 40 who are passionate about regional planning and governance issues in Metro Vancouver. One of the goals of the group is to research regional matters & gauging public opinion on current affairs.

On that note, we have launched a new survey. We want to better understand how different people from across the Metro Vancouver region perceive the state of local government services.

We know that local government is under growing pressure to find cost savings, while still providing a good level of public services. At the same time, there is also a growing desire for local government to increase services in specific areas.

Local government services have a profound impact on our lives and there may be a new growing interest in specific services. We’d like to hear from you about to learn about your thoughts on local government services, and the quality of life in your community.

Please take 5 minutes of your time to complete this survey between July 5th and August 3rd of 2018. Results will be published in September 2018.

Take the Survey

Creating strong neighbourhood identities and knowing your neighbours key to safe, health community

Jane Jacobs was one of the great urban philosophers of the twentieth century. Her call to action was the destruction caused by mid-century century “urban renewal” which saw walkable neighbourhoods razed to the ground in favor of housing projects, highways, and parking lots.

In her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs observed that one of the keys to healthy and safe neighbourhoods was the loose relationships that people formed with one another in those neighbourhoods.

It wasn’t that every neighbour was your best friend, but that people knew who lived in the neighbourhood, and could trust them. A Langley City example might be to trust your neighbour to water your plants and check your mail when you are away. Another example might be to trust them to walk your kids to school.

Langley City is taking a fresh approach to building a safe community. One of the first steps is to invest in building connections between neighbours, and to create a sense of place. You may have noticed the following banners throughout Langley City. This is one on ways to start building neighbourhood identity. Another is the “Know Your Neighbour” campaign which will be launching in a few weeks.

Blacklock Neighbourhood Banner. Select image to enlarge.

Alice Brown Neighbourhood Banner. Select image to enlarge.

As noted on Langley City’s website:

An important goal of Langley City Council is to foster strong community ties among residents in the City of Langley. Neighbourhood safety is a team effort and it is evident that when residents work together to improve community safety it results in a reduction in crime. To that end, Council mandated the Crime Prevention Task Group to develop strategies that will encourage residents to get involved and take an active role in helping to prevent and reduce crime in our neighbourhoods.

To realize this goal, the Task Group has developed the “Know Your Neighbour” campaign! An initiative that will have volunteers hitting the streets July 21 & July 28 (11am-3pm), going door to door to educate residents one household at a time, about crime prevention strategies and to share tips about how to easily improve neighbourhood safety. We want residents to get to know one another and help us build a strong, safe community.

If you’d like to volunteer to spread the message door to door, canvassers will be going out two Saturdays - July 21 and July 28, 11am - 3pm. Please contact Dave Selvage, Manager of Bylaw Enforcement by Friday, July 13 to sign up and help out! dselvage@langleycity.ca or 604-514-2822.

So far there has been a great response from people in our community, but we could always use more volunteers. Building a healthy and safe community starts at the neighbourhood level.

Here are more pictures of the neighbourhood banners that were recently installed in our community.

Contact information for discarded needle pickup program in Langley City

A few people have reached out to me over the last year, asking what to do if they see discarded needles anywhere in our community. While City staff members perform sweeps of our parks and public spaces for needles, Fraser Health funds a program for picking up discarded needles which is managed by the Lookout Housing and Health Society. For service, you can contact them by:

Phone: 604-812-5277

Email: langleyhror1@lookoutsociety.ca

In-Person: 102 - 5714 Glover Road

Langley City council has also requested that our staff investigate with Fraser Health, the possibility of a pilot program which would install needle drop boxes in areas where there is a pattern of discarded needles. These boxes have been effective in other communities. You can read more about this in a post I wrote in the fall.