Public washrooms may be coming to major TransLink stations and exchanges

Currently TransLink provides public washrooms at SeaBus terminals and on the West Coast Express due to federal regulations. Public washrooms are not provided at other stations or exchanges within the TransLink service area.

The primary reason why many transit agencies don’t provide public washroom is due to ongoing maintenance costs and the perception that washrooms will cause negative activity. This summer I was in Halifax, and I wrote about how Halifax Transit is able to provide safe and clean public washrooms at their major transit terminals.

TransLink completed a survey earlier this year. People were asked what TransLink’s priorities should be. While it is no surprise that people picked increasing service as their number one priority, their number two priority was to “increase the availability of washrooms on the transit system.”

Results from TransLink survey earlier this year. Preferences for TransLink priorities. Select chart to enlarge.

People who were older placed a higher priority on washrooms than people who were younger in the survey. As we age, the requirement for easy washroom access increases. Some transit trips can be over an hour, and not having a public washroom available could limit some people’s ability to move freely around our region.

The TransLink board is likely going to be adopting a public washroom policy this morning with the following objectives:

• Increase the availability of washrooms for customers towards a long-term network: increase opportunities for most customers to have a washroom available as part of their transit journey.
• Maximize accessibility: washrooms should be universally accessible and inclusive for transit riders of all ages, abilities and identities.
• Foster safety and security: washrooms should be designed and delivered to foster safety and security for customers and staff who use or work at the washrooms.
• Foster cleanliness, comfort and convenience: these key customer needs and expectations should be a focus of provision, operation and maintenance decisions.
• Be affordable: washrooms should be provided and operated in the manner that meets the objectives and other guidelines through the most cost effective approach available.
• Keep risks manageable: risks should be identified, considered and managed for both TransLink and our operating companies.

The focus will be to provide access to public washrooms at major transfer points and at locations where customers have long journey times. I look forward to this policy being adopted, so that public washrooms could open at locations such as Carvolth Park and Ride.

December 3, 2018 Council Meeting Notes: City Park Upgrades, Utility Rate Increases in 2019, and Building a Happy, Healthy Langley

Over the last year, Langley City’s Engineering, Parks, and Environment Department has been busy making our community happier, healthier, and safer. Rick Bomhof, who is the director of the department, provided a year-end update on the many projects that have been completed over the last year.

I’ve posted about many of these projects over the last year, so I won’t be highlighting all the projects that Rick touched on at the meeting. There have been several broad themes that the City has been focusing on. Langley City is an old community with end-of-life underground infrastructure. Replacing storm sewers, culverts, sewer and water mains has been one of the prioritizes over the last year. Reinvesting in our parks was also a priority with enhancements made to playgrounds and trails throughout our community.

One of the major programs that the Engineering department is actively working on is upgrading every City-owned streetlight to LED. This will make our streets brighter in the evening and at night, and will save taxpayer dollars due to less energy use. Rick noted that there was an issue with the initial order of LEDs which delayed the rollout, but things are now moving forward. To date, LED streetlights have been rolled out along Logan Avenue, 56 Avenue East, and 203rd Street. Many of the new black streetlights in downtown are also LED. In addition, the City has added improved lighting in lanes and streets where there wasn’t street-lighting in the past.

Giving people safe transportation choices has also been a focus over the last year. The City has installed new and improved walking and cycling infrastructure in our community. This is important because as our community grows, we must give people choices to get out of congestion. The City has also installed traffic calming measures in our community which has resulted in drivers slowing down which creates safer streets.

Langley City’s 2019 budget will be presented early next year, and I look forward to continuing the trend of infrastructure investment focus areas that we have been working towards over the last few years.

On the topic of budget, the Metro Vancouver regional district provides water, sewer, and solid waste management services to Langley City. As I posted about last month, the regional district is also upgrading their aging infrastructure. Water, sewer, and solid waste management rates will be going up for Langley City residents in 2019.

Langley City council gave first, second, and third reading to update these rates for 2019 as follows:

• The water rate will increase by $1.31 per cubic metre. This works out to an increase of $26.40 for single-family housing, and $15.20 for apartments and townhouses on average.
• The sewer rate will increase by $1.19 per cubic metre. This works out to an increase of $21.12 for single-family housing, and $12.16 for apartments and townhouses on average.
• The solid waste fee will increase by $8 per household.

Langley City council also approved tendering a contract to Cedar Crest Lands (B.C.) Ltd. in the amount of $627,772 to continue with the renewal of City Park. The following map shows what will be completed.

A map of upgrades to City Park. Select map to enlarge.

The renewal of City Park is a multi-year program, so this is one of many contracts that will likely be tendered.

Next Monday will be the last council meeting of 2018.

December 3, 2018 Council Meeting Notes: Long Service Award Ceremony, Budget Amendments, plus a Parking and Management Plan for a Proposed Construction Project

Last night was a special council meeting as it was an opportunity for the mayor, council, and senior city staff to acknowledge and thank people who have worked for the City for more than 10 years. There were several people who received a long service award for working at Langley City for 10 years, and several others that received a long service award for working at the City for 20 years. Every person who received the long service award had interesting stories about their commitment to our community. One interesting fact that we heard last night was that there are now second-generation people who work for the City. One person’s parent worked for the City, and now this person does.

People at the long service award recognition section of the council meeting. Select image to enlarge.

I posted last month about proposed amendments to the City’s 2018 capital budget to support our new Nexus Vision and other matters that surfaced during the year. You can read more about the additional projects in that previous post. Last night, opportunity was provided for people in the community to provide feedback on the amended budget. No one took advantage of that opportunity. Council gave final reading and approved the amended capital budget.

Last month, council held a public hearing for the proposed rezoning and development permit for the properties located at 5398, 5410, and 5448 208 Street to accommodate a 40-unit, 4-storey apartment building. Council asked the proponent of the project to provide a construction traffic management plan, construction parking management plan, and answer some specific questions about the underground parking.

Map from Construction Traffic Management Plan for the proposed project on the south-east corner of Douglas Crescent and 208th Street. Select map to enlarge.

The proponent provided the information requested by council. I was happy to see that the project’s proponent also secured off-street parking at St. Joseph's Church for the construction crew.

Redevelopment does have negative impacts to the community during the construction phase. I’ve heard from people who live near job sites about traffic, parking, garbage, and noise issues. By addressing some of these challenges, we can maintain the quality of life for current residents in our community.

Council gave third reading to the rezoning bylaw.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting about the other matters addressed at last night’s council meeting.

TransLink’s MRN expansion means more money for municipal road maintenance

One of the unique attributes of TransLink among transportation agencies in North America is that it is responsible for both providing transit services and maintaining a portion of our regional road network.

I posted about the funding that municipalities in the South of Fraser received in 2017 to maintain the Major Road Network (MRN), and to expand walking and cycling infrastructure, last month.

When a road is part of the MRN, TransLink provides a per kilometre subsidy to municipalities for:

• street cleaning
• snow removal
• maintaining streetlights, traffic signals and signs
• patching potholes, and
• repaving

This subsidy worked out to $20,205 per lane kilometre in 2017. When a road is part of the MRN, it also becomes eligible for 50/50 cost-sharing between TransLink and the local municipality for projects that increase the flow of people or goods. This could include enhancing sidewalks, bike lanes, bus lanes, and even general travel lanes.

For a section of road to be eligible for inclusion in the MRN, it must these objectives:

• Facilitates intra‐regional travel of people and transportation of goods.
• Connects regionally significant destinations.
• Forms an interconnected and complete network.
• Moves high volumes of general purpose vehicles, transit passengers and/or trucks.
• Maximizes safety of travel.
• Maintains road and bridge structure conditions in a state of good repair to support all modes.
• Minimizes adverse impacts to adjacent neighbourhoods.

As part of new funding that was unlocked by the Mayors’ Council 10-Year Vision, the Major Road Network will be growing by 10%. The following map shows the current MRN with the proposed additions to the network.

Current MRN in blue. Proposed additions to MRN in purple. Select map to enlarge.

In Langley City, additional sections of Fraser Highway and 203rd Street are being proposed to be included in the MRN.

Road network in Langley City. Provincial highways in red. Currently MRN in blue. Proposed additions to MRN in green. Select map to enlarge. 

If these additional sections of road are included in the MRN, the current local funding that is being used to maintain these sections of road can be reinvested to better maintain other parts of our road network in Langley City. With the new Fraser Highway B-Line in the works, it should make it easier for Langley City to cost-share implementing transit priority measures, and enhance cycling and walking infrastructure along Fraser Highway and 203rd Street.