What I Would Build in Vancouver

Vancouver has one of the best and probably one of the most forward-looking transit systems for a city of its size in the Americas with an integrated Regional agency driverless trains some of the first in the world and tons of different Transit modes so much of what made Vancouver such a good Transit city today and what allowed it to build a bigger subway system than Toronto or Montreal in just 30 years was bold and Visionary thinking but I'm afraid it feels like we're slipping away from that so in today's video I'm going to talk about what I think Vancouver should be planning for the future of its Transit Network so let's Dive In around two years ago I did a video on Toronto's Transit plans and how I thought they could be reworked to give us more bang for the buck but also a more coherent Network and while I did say in that video that it was indulgent I do think it could be helpful for us to Envision what a future network could look like for Canada's fast-growing cities and since I made a video about My adoptive home of Toronto it only made sense that I made one of my home Vancouver and someone also suggested I do a Vancouver version of crayoning with Reese so here we are this will be different from the Toronto one because while Toronto is doing a lot of big projects Vancouver just isn't beyond the transport 2050 plants which are not very specific and don't really Place priorities or tie the network together and so this video will be less about proposing changes and more about proposing projects the type of projects I'd be pushing for if I was CEO of the universe that type of thing but why you might ask are Vancouver's plans not good enough well I'd say the three issues with the current plans are as follows one they aren't bold enough two they don't play off of our historic successes particularly with the SkyTrain Network and three they aren't nearly specific enough there's a lot of General corridors highlighted but it isn't suggested how these corridors could be transformed into real Rapid Transit lines today Metro Vancouver's higher order Transit Network consists of three main things the SkyTrain Network made up of three different lines the Expo line Millennium line and Canada Line the sea bus route which connects downtown Vancouver with Lonsdale key in North Vancouver and the express and rapid bus Network made out of various brt light lines and Highway running Express buses now we aren't standing completely still there are currently projects underway and on the docket including phase one of the Broadway Subway which will extend the Millennium line from VCC Clark station which is kind of in the middle of nowhere West along Broadway to the Canada Line and Beyond to Arbutus there's also the Surrey Langley SkyTrain which extends the Expo line all the way Southeast to my hometown of Langley which really doesn't deserve a SkyTrain we're gonna take it this will turn the Expo line into an over 40 kilometer long Rapid Transit spine for the entire metro Vancouver region to be sure these are good projects but we've been talking about them since I was literally in elementary school I can remember reading a report when I was in grade 5 about the Broadway Subway and how it's a good idea and we should do it soon and in the meantime while Vancouver was talking about projects Montreal and Toronto Toronto in particular got serious Montreal is extending the Blue Line East with five new stations almost as far as the Green Line while building its own rapid automated Regional Transit System known as the ram which has a lot in common with Vancouver but has Wi-Fi system-wide platform screen doors and larger trains so it's kind of more impressive overall all of that work is going to give Montreal one of the largest rapid transit systems in North America in just over a decade Toronto is doing even more extending 3 three different Subway Lines building two more new ones building a number of different Tram routes in the suburbs and completely rethinking the way the Go Transit Regional train network works and it's in that context that Vancouver's plan to build two long discussed and not particularly impressive extensions just feels unambitious so let's talk about what I think Vancouver should be planning for starting with the transit at the center of Metro Vancouver's Transportation Network the SkyTrain today the SkyTrain network is nearly 80 kilometers long and under construction expansion we'll push that to over 100 kilometers but we need to think much bigger for the future SkyTrain will continue to be the backbone of the Region's transportation system and only increasingly so as people choose to drive less and live at higher density if the SkyTrain network isn't large enough people will choose to get cars and there will also be less land available for that high density housing which is critical to Bringing housing prices down from I don't know where they are today insane levels that being said I want to start my disc session of the SkyTrain network with structural issues it has and places it needs to go that it doesn't currently as well as the things the network needs to grow one of the biggest things I think the SkyTrain network is missing when I compare to other world-class rail systems are cross-platform interchanges these allow for more capacity because people can simply walk across the platform as well as a high quality passenger experience because again people can just walk across the platform and given the maneuverability of the various SkyTrain Rolling Stock given how small the trains are and the Fairly steep grades they can climb it's kind of surprising that we haven't gone and done a bunch of them which is something else we could learn from Montreal there were some other challenges to the system when you compare it to networks in places like Singapore and Hong Kong which come on you know you want to both systems use larger trains and have modern features like platform screen doors and well yes Hong Kong and Singapore bigger than Metro Vancouver it should be our goal to house as many people in this beautiful region of Canada as possible the small trains use network-wide are a challenge for long-term growth particularly on the Expo and Canada lines which are quite congested so let's talk about how we could address that systems around the world have extended train Platforms in order to lengthen trains and expand capacity and this is actually already happening in a very low-key way across the SkyTrain Network to prepare for five car trains that will be used on the Expo line in the future known as The Mark V which will actually be the longest trains ever used on the sky Train network but in the future we can and should go further looking at stations on the Expo line it's not clear to me that there's any good reason that most of them couldn't be extended to accommodate six car trains but given that a lot of the costs of extending platforms are fixed we should probably go even further and extend platforms to accommodate seven car trains which again most of them could actually handle without too much modification that would bring the platforms on the Expo line up to around 120 meters which is long for Vancouver but not all that long by International standards some stations like Metrotown will need larger redesigns but that's probably fine because metro town is an extremely busy station which would probably have needed another redesign in a few decades anyways to handle capacity that could look like adding new side platforms on the outside of the current tracks and it's worth mentioning that if there's ever a hard barrier to extending Platforms in a particular location you can always do the approach used on the London DLR which is to only open doors on certain cars at certain stations if you're not familiar what happens in that situation is upon arriving at a station there will be an announcement like the doors in the last car or last two cars of this train won't open at this station so people know to walk forwards towards the center of the train as the first two sets on last two sets of doors will not open of course the cattle line could also benefit from some extra breathing room in the long term now the strain on the line can definitely be reduced by providing some alternative north south Transit options including new rapid bus routes and perhaps another railroad but the reality is the Canada line is kind of the best route to go between YVR Richmond and Central areas of Vancouver it's just a really good route and major developments along can be such as at Marine Drive as well as an oak ridge mean that demand for the line is just going to keep increasing even if we try to relieve it with Transit on other corridors because of this I think our long-term plans for the line need to be extending the platforms up to 80 meters to accommodate four car trains with double the length of those we have today these trains could also have a higher capacity internal layout with more longitudinal seating and more doors as most subway cars of this size already would that would bring the Canada line to a level of capacity that's beyond even the Expo line with its five-car trance now the question you might ask is is it even possible to do that given that the stations were only ever designed to be extended up to 50 meters long well yes I've spent a lot of time over the years looking at the stations both in person and on maps applications and the reality is that all the above ground stations could pretty simply be extended out to 80 meters that leaves us with the eight underground stations on the line the downtown stations have fairly level areas on both ends of each station and on one end at Waterfront and that space could be used to further extend platforms now this isn't cheap or easy but it's definitely possible in Toronto a whole new underground platform that didn't exist before was excavated at Union Station while the station was still in use and there were similar plans to do that several levels down at Bloor young station for line two so this kind of construction is definitely possible and fortunately since many of the stations on the candle line were built cut and cover extending them really just means uncovering them expanding the station and covering them back up now is this optimal no and Those portions of the platform that were extended would probably not be nearly as flat as we would like so people boarding with wheelchairs for example and strollers would still want to board via the existing parts of the platform that are mostly level but when the 30-year P3 contract winds up around 2040 and TransLink takes control of the line they could do this they could unlock roughly double the capacity on the candlelight and it wouldn't be cheap but it would be less expensive than building a second Canada line on a parallel Corridor now of course there are changes that would need to be made the track work would need to be shifted in some places and expanded traction-powered substations would also be needed but I don't see any Show Stoppers if we have the money to spend and while this major upgrade project was going on stations could get Renovations and platform screen doors as on the Expo line in all of these projects the concept of infrastructure hardening should be Central the devastating impacts that flooding induced by Hurricane Sandy had on the New York City subway should be instructive future linear infrastructure stations and other facilities across the rapid transit Network in Metro Vancouver should be raised as much as possible to get them out of the way of rising sea levels which will only be made worse during extreme flooding events further unlike New York Metro Vancouver is particularly susceptible to forest fire smoke inundation and earthquakes and so more drastic consideration for mitigating those types of events should be designed into our transit system with all of that out of the way let's talk about system expansion I've divided this into a number of phases which are increasingly bold and in each phase I try to include a new project an extension and the number of smaller projects each phase would probably take around 10 years to complete but if Vancouver wanted to get crazy like Toronto and start building things really fast with multiple big projects going on at once each phase could be done in as little as five years and honestly multiple phases could even happen at one time the first phase of expansion would be the Broadway Subway phase two to UBC via the Jericho lands as well as the pork aquilum extension of the Millennium line connecting that municipality to SkyTrain for the first time and the construction of a lion let's call it the inlet line from around Park Royal along the North Shore and then across the second Narrows on a new combined Road Rapid Transit bridge that the province has mentioned from here the line would connect to the PNE site where Playland is being turned into a serious amusement park with new roller coasters and then East along Hastings and South along Willington to Brentwood BCIT and Metrotown which would have a north east and south station where a new cross-platform transfer Arrangement could be set up with the Expo line probably in a new cut and cover station with two Island platforms built under the existing station and Central Boulevard this line would adopt three car trains with the same size as those used on the Canada Line and with the potential to extend up to 5 cars in the long term highlighting the fact that we probably aren't going to build another orbital line anytime soon as well as platform screen doors of course in the second phase of expansion I'd suggest just extending the Expo line East with a new station under Gastown and a route along Hastings that would end with a cross-platform transfer capable terminal connecting to the inlet line at the PNE creating a pretty seamless connection between downtown Vancouver metro town and Brentwood at the same time I'd suggest kicking off works on expanding capacity on the Expo line including transferring the branch to sapperton over to the Millennium line with the long-term plan of having it operate as a shuttle from low heat to Colombia the last big project would be a new line all titled the Stanley line it would use the space reserved but unlikely to ever be used for a new second downtown Commuter Rail line into Waterfront and head West through coal Harbor and the West End a dense area with no Rapid Transit today with stations on Pender Denman and at English Bay with the Terminus at the southernmost end of Stanley Park this line would be connected to the Expo line with a new cross-platform transfer at Waterfront and would use seven car linear motor trains as with the expanded expo line relying on that Line's yards and infrastructure for Rolling Stock maintenance at released initially the third phase of expansion would extend the Stanley line along Davey Street and then North to Robson Square and Vancouver City Center before the line heads South to serve BC Place and Park Crossing Falls Creek to Olympic Village proper and terminating at an interchange with the Millennium line at Mount Pleasant not far away I would replace the original Terminal Avenue section of the Expo line with a new alignment built to the South with a realigned Millennium Line near the rocky Mountaineer station relieving congestion at commercial Broadway and replacing the old and not entirely seismically sound Terminal Avenue tracks while creating another cross-platform Interchange to drive Redevelopment of more of the Falls Creek Flats I'd also start work on a new line all called the Fraser line which would be designed for high capacity with eight car trains and speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour eventually meant to usurp the Expo line as the main connection between the south of Fraser region and the rest of Metro Vancouver the first phase of this would include elevated branches to South Surrey and White Rock via King George Boulevard and North Langley and Guilford via 100 Avenue and Highway 1. having fast trains passing you driving along these major roadways would be a great way of driving people onto SkyTrain in Surrey Central the Lions would converge possibly at an expanded underground Surrey Central Station which could be designed to again provide a cross-platform transfer from the Expo line north of central Surrey the Fraser lion would cross the Fraser River on a new Sky Bridge serve the major Fraser Mills development site in Coquitlam and terminate underground at Loki town center phase 4 would extend the Stanley line Southeast tonight along King's Way and then downnight providing a parallel north-south Corridor to the cattle line optimally aligned to intercept East-West bus riders as well as divert Riders from various north-south routes the inlet line would also be extended West along 49th and 41st Avenues to the major noted Oak Ridge with a cross-platform transfer with the Stanley line possible at night when transitioning between 49th and 41st Avenues finally the land banked Corridor along Arbutus would finally get rail service with a low-cost tram train route running from Granville Island South to Arbutus station and then South along Arbutus turning East along the Fraser Riverfront to connect to Marine Drive station the south terminal of the inlet line and the River District with further extension East to New Westminster possible in the long term the Final Phase would extend the Stanley line to Bridgeport and if demand required YVR to provide better integrated intra-regional connections between the east of the region the airport and Richmond assuming demand warns it the inlet line could also be extended along 41st Avenue to UBC serving carousdale and Westbrook Village along the way finally the Fraser line would be extended West in one of the most expensive projects in my plan to connect to metro town then run under King's Way and connect with the Stanley line in yet another cross-platform interchange as well as Broadway City Hall before turning North and serving the dense area of housing on the south end of Granville in the downtown Peninsula and continuing to Waterfront via hornbeam now this route would be truly transformational it would cut travel times between Surrey and downtown Vancouver in half and it would pull Riders off of the various other lines and interchanges with along the way freeing up capacity on those lines and necessitating the largest Trends in the system think something similar to Bart or one of the new high-speed metros being built in Asia all in all these expansion plans are significant but the only real element of them that doesn't appear to be considered currently to at least some degree is the Fraser line but the reality is with how capacity constrained and speed limited the Expo line is serving the rapidly growing south of Fraser region while also providing capacity relief to the existing Network necessitates a line like this now I would be remiss if I didn't mention other parts of the higher order Transit networks and some of the most important projects I see in the future are improvements to the rapid and express bus networks now for rapid bus new line should be built anywhere where bus demand justifies it so if bus routes get busy enough you install a rapid bus as long as there isn't another Rapid Transit Corridor planned on that route I would see nothing wrong with Metro Vancouver having more than 20 rapid bus routes in the next couple of decades it's just a good way to enhance what is traditionally not been the most attractive local bus service that being said I think it's really important not to water rapid bus down because it's not full brt already and so if you water it down then you basically just have a standard local bus keep the softer seats keep the nice hybrid or maybe electric buses in the future keep the nice wayfinding with real-time information keep the enhanced stops and don't get rid of the priority measures that make buses travel fast and keep them reliable the other side of the coin here is the express bus Network which consists of a number of different routes which run long distance is on highways at high speeds connecting to various different Regional destinations expanding this network should also happen as demand justifies but also as highways Bridges and tunnels are rebuilt to better seismic standards adding things like dedicated busways the Highway 1 Express buses like the 555 are a fantastic example of this with essentially a dedicated median best way in the middle of Highway 1 that provides for fast service and stops which are just off of the highway connected with dedicated bus ramps now TransLink has talked a lot about doing brt and transport 2050 but I don't think that's a good idea as I talked about in a previous video I'm just not convinced that brt is a great solution for places where operating funds for Transit are scarce and capital funds for transit or plentiful which Vancouver is one of where we often build lots of new projects but struggle to continue to fund the transit Network the reality is so much of the urban success of Metro Vancouver has been on the back of SkyTrain we've been able to build SkyTrain pretty quickly and pretty affordably compared to other cities in North America and we should continue that Trend with SkyTrain remaining at the center of the Region's Urban growth that's not to say that the express bus and rapid bus networks shouldn't also improve though double decker buses are popular and should probably be used on more routes at the same time the digital next bus wave finding that's included at rapid bus stops should be rolled out at all express bus stops and probably any busy bus stop in Metro Vancouver as many cities in Europe have introduced we should also have nice bright LCD screens within buses to show connections to other routes as well as the bus's current location on a map helping to improve the passenger experience for people who aren't on Rails but are on rubber tires I also think it's really important that buses on rapid bus and express bus routes run 24 hours a day to highlight their importance for Regional Transportation even if that's only once an hour it's a huge improvement over nothing the nice thing about express bus infrastructure in particular that is bus lanes on highways for the most part is it can also be useful for longer distance Regional and even Intercity bus services which we all also need far more of especially since western Canada is unlikely to be getting a lot more long distance rail anytime soon I know very sad such service would be really useful on BC to Sky Corridor as well as traveling deeper into the Fraser rally another project that clearly should have been done years ago is the Burnaby Mountain gondola to Simon Fraser University this project will improve the resiliency of connections to SFU and reduce the number of buses that need to shuttle up and down the mountain that being said this project and other Rapid Transit and higher order Transit projects shouldn't simply replace all local Transit Service as we saw previously with the Canada Line Branch to YVR the reality is some combination of Rapid Transit and local Transit service provides the best Transit service allowing people going short distances to use the local service and going longer distances to use the rapid transit for example for a lot of trips traveling west of SFU the R5 rapid bus will continue to be a really good option and it should be maintained much as rapid bus route should be built widely as demand justifies bike parkades which Translate link has rolled out at a number of SkyTrain stations should also be drastically expanded to Major interchange hubs as well as bus exchanges that currently have bike lockers that would be really nicely replaced with bike parkades such as car valve exchange and Langley or Newton Exchange in Surrey there should absolutely also be West Coast Express expansion I won't dive too deep into it because I could make an entire future video about this but the long and short of it is that all-day servers should absolutely be a thing and I think aiming for half hourly service in the long term and hourly service in the shorter term would be a good goal much of the rail Corridor where the West Coast Express runs east of its connection points with the Millennium line has sufficient room for additional TransLink owned tracks building these would be taking an approach similar to what's allowed Go Transit in Toronto to start offering all-day service on five of its seven lines and Metro Vancouver could one up Toronto by buying nicer trains for example flirts from Stadler or Lintz from Alston which provide a European level passenger experience improving this service to be in all all day one with nicer trains would make it relevant to the entire region as opposed to a small number of peak hour commuters currently traveling from the north of Fraser communities into the city center and so that's what I would do in Metro Vancouver there are a ton of things the region needs to keep tackling over the next few decades and whether Transportation infrastructure is expanded a little or a lot will have huge implications for our climate goals housing goals as well as our dreams of having Vancouver be a respected City not just in North America but around the world a transportation Network to Aspire to is at the center of that [Music]

Channel: RMTransit

Views: 53,958

Keywords: transit, transportation, rail, railway, railfan, public transit, public transport, public transportation, train, subway, metro, underground, rail transport, urban planning, vancouver, translink, skytrain, rapidbus

Id: qZavPFZ9H1E

Length: 22min 40sec (1360 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 25 2023

Reddit Comments

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[u/Angry_beaver_1867]

I love the Stanley line. It’s so odd we don’t have rapid transit to the west end considering it’s the densest neighborhood in the city.

[u/dustyvision]

Awesome to see a big transit channel like RM Transit talk about what could be in Vancouver's future.

[u/pieman3141]

I'm excited to see a video about WCE expansion. Maybe a train all the way to Hope or even further (north)east. Would allow for some interesting urban planning that isn't just car-centric suburban sprawl. And no, I don't suburbs are bad, but rather incredibly inefficient in their current form. Trains and light transit could make suburbs far better if designed properly.

[u/FavoriteIce]

Huge focus on Vancouver and Burnaby, which is always the downfall of these plans. I like RMTransit, but I think he forgot that Translink serves an entire region (even though he mentioned it).

People in Surrey wont find it fair that they're paying the same in gas taxes, but getting very little in return.

[u/PaperMoonShine]

No Richmond to Tsawwassen link. 0/10

[u/BatmanSpiderman]

You didn't touch richmond or delta at all. maybe i missed the explanation in the video.

[u/norvanfalls]

I take issue with his complaint that while he was in grade 5 we were planning the Broadway expansion when other cities were building their shit. We were building the Canada line or evergreen extension. Translink has been constantly been undergoing expansion after expansion for a while now. With only a brief break for the Olympics. Fuck, surrey even cancelled and replanned their rapid transit to make it make sense and we still haven't had a break in construction.

[u/rushadee]

That final map looks so good, but I wish he included additional rapid bus services as well.