Cycling Signage in the Township

Over the past several years, the Township of Langley has ramped up its effort to invest in cycling infrastructure and bring more visibility to cycling. The Township adopted its ultimate cycling network plan last summer, and is now in the process of putting together an infrastructure plan to implement the network. One of the first orders of business was to adopt a consistent cycling route signage strategy.

The Township of Langley adopted the same signage as Surrey, but separated the cycling symbol from the directional arrows for more flexibility. While Surrey uses a continue-forward arrow on their signage, the Township of Langley chose not to. This resulted in a good chunk of the new signage in the Township being half the size and less visible than the Surrey signage. The next time you are on 96th Avenue, see if you can spot the cycling route signage.

Surrey Cycling Network Sign

The Greater Langley Cycling Coalition asked if the Township of Langley could install directional arrows on all of the new cycling network signage that the Township has installed and install directional arrows on all future cycling network signage. I'm happy to report that the Township has agreed and by the end of the summer, all recently installed signage and future signage will be the same size, and have the same feel as the signage in Surrey.

I’m very happy that the Township of Langley has decided to embrace the Surrey cycling network signage standard and I hope that the City of Langley will be the next to adopt this standard as they work on their master transportation plan update.

Viable Transit Options in Langley: Taking the new Port Mann RapidBus

Over the last several days, I have been experimenting with different public transit routes from my home in Langley City to my work near the Olympic Village in Vancouver. Since the new 555 RapidBus service was introduced across the Port Mann Bridge in December, I thought it would be time to reevaluate transit routes. There are three viable routes I can take between my place and my work during peak periods (There are other routes, but the time to get between home and work would take longer than 2 hours.)

The first route option is to take the 502 along Fraser Highway to King George SkyTrain Station, catch the Expo Line to Main Street, and walk to my work. Door to door travel time is about 1h30 in the morning and 1h50 in the afternoon. While this option requires the least amount of transfers and is generally the fastest route most times of the day, congestion along Fraser Highway between King George and 152nd Street during afternoon peak period slows things right down. It is bad that there isn’t a bus lane along that section of Fraser Highway when you considered the amount of people that transit carries along the corridor. I know Fraser Highway will be widened in that area, but transit will still not be prioritized. Transportation planners need to stop thinking about how to best move vehicles and start thinking about how to best move people.

The second route option is to walk to Langley Centre and take the 595 to the West Coast Express, catch the West Coast Express into Waterfront Station, than take the Canada Line to Olympic Village Station. Door to door travel time is up to 2 hours. While this route is the most comfortable and includes washrooms on the train, it can take the most amount of time.

The third option is to walk to Langley Centre and take the 595 to Carvolth Exchange, catch the 555 RapidBus to Braid Station, take the Millennium Line to VCC-Clark, than transfer to the 84 and get off near my work. Door to door travel time is 1h20 if I make all the connection and can increase to 1h40 if I miss a connection. Interesting enough, though I have to make 3 transfers, this route is actually the fastest option during peak periods. During the rest of the day, taking 502 is the best option. Taking the 555 now for a few days, I’m very happy to report that the bus is always full. I can see how this is a new valuable service for people who live in Walnut Grove. While it takes about the same time for people who work right in downtown Vancouver as the West Coast Express, the new 555 RapidBus runs more often and can shave about 20 minutes off connecting into the SkyTrain network for access to other parts of the region.

If you have a car and can drive to Carvolth Exchange, you actually have many viable options to get to other parts of the region on transit. The main issue is that there is no viable transit options into areas like Walnut Grove; all trips must still start in a car. The other main issue is that transit service is still sub-standard for connections into Surrey; where the majority of trips from Langley end up.

I’ll continue to take the 502 and SkyTrain as it requires the least amount of transfers and, besides afternoon peak periods, can take the least amount of time. I’m still looking forward to the new 503 RapidBus service along Fraser Highway that TransLink plans to introduce later this year.

TransLink Bus Service Optimization Plan: Public Feedback

In November of last year, I posted about TransLink’s plan to be more aggressive with the optimization of bus service in the region. TransLink was already in the process of shifting service hours away from less busy routes to busier routes, but kicked things into high gear as a result of the recommendations of the TransLink Commissioner and an audit by the Provincial government. An example of optimization at work is the proposal for Aldergrove to get better bus service, but Salmon River/Uplands in Langley to lose bus service. I think that the process of optimization is good, but the key to making our region truly livable will be to increase spending on transit to increase overall service.

Due to the proposed 2013/14 service optimization plans which you can read about on TransLink’s website, the agency held a series of public consultation events from mid-November to mid-December. The full results of the public consultation are available online. The following changes have been proposed to the service optimization plan due to the feedback TransLink has received:

-C1/C2: an alternate proposal was developed in consultation with community groups in Burnaby Heights, retaining the current route and reducing frequencies during off-peak periods only
-211: with a range of feedback raised over the proposed removal of the Fairway Drive loop, TransLink has chosen to retain the existing route instead
-C48 & C49: a revised proposal was created to ensure service coverage in Thornhill, Ruskin and Whonnock is maintained, leaving the C49 unchanged and improving the usefulness of the C48 with a connection to West Coast Express and extension via McClure Drive in Albion

It was interesting to see that there was strong support for many of the changes TransLink has proposed to the bus network. I was surprised that nothing changed to the plan for the Tri-Cities area as there was strong opposition to many of the cuts that TransLink plans to make in that area.

The good news story is that even with service optimization, TransLink ridership continues to grow at a rate faster than population growth.

Another interesting note is that TransLink had 281 people submit feedback at real-life open houses and 532 people submit feedback online. It seems to me that online public consultation is coming of age. I hope TransLink continues to work at making the online experience more bidirectional. For example, it would be good to be able to live chat with someone at TransLink when submitting feedback on their plans.

Northeast Gordon Estate Neighbourhood Plan: Public Consultation Results

Earlier in January, I posted about how the Township of Langley is updating the Northeast Gordon Estate Neighbourhood Plan and how 208th Street may become a high-density, transit-friendly corridor. The proposed changes to the Northeast Gordon Estate Neighbourhood Plan include creating two walkable centres; one at 207 Street and 68 Avenue and one at 208 Street and 72 Avenue. These two nodes would be linked by a north/south off-street greenway that would run through the middle of the neighbourhood. There would also be a greenway along 208th Street, 72nd Avenue, and 70th Avenue. The original plan for the neighbourhood was adopted in 2006 and would not have resulted in the same type of walkable and transit-friendly community that this proposed updated plan calls for. I have to wonder if the Sustainability Charter adopted by the Township about five years ago is responsible for slowly shifting how the Township plans its neighbourhoods. The Township recently posted the results of the public consultations about the proposed update to the plan.

When it came to density, there was a balance of opinion. Some people wanted to see more density and others did not. The updated neighbourhood plan proposes to build the highest-density around the two walkable nodes with density stepping down as you move away from the nodes. The neighbourhood plan will include a mix of all housing types.

One of the other results from the public consultations was that there should be more accessible and seniors-friendly housing. This type of housing is called adaptable housing and includes things such as lowering the height of light switches, installing wider doors, and providing in-wall support to allow the installation of handrails in bathrooms at a later date. Township Staff is recommending that 5% of single-family housing be adaptable and 10% of apartments. From what I’ve been told, building adaptable housing only adds a few hundred dollars to the total cost of new home construction. To me, it makes sense to build a higher portion of adaptable housing considering our aging demographics.

As this is Metro Vancouver, there were concerns about the preservation of views. Apparently this updated plan includes previsions to ensure that view corridors are maintained. Public art was also brought up as a topic and the Township is working on developing a public art policy. This is good news as public arts seems to be lacking in the Township.

When it comes to transportation, the plan includes traffic calming measures such as reduced road widths and road pinches at intersections. The plan will also encourage the placement of off-street parking in the back of buildings which will allow for more on-street parking. Of course, the walkable nodes will also set the groundwork in place for increasing transit service.

I look forward to seeing this neighbourhood plan being adopted in the Township and I hope that the Township sticks to its guns requiring the creation of the walkable nodes. The next step for the updated plan is for Township Council to have a first and second reading to allow for the scheduling of an official public hearing.