TransLink has recently completed a public consultation process and at the July 23 council meeting, Brian Mills, director of services and infrastructure planning, and Martin Lay, director of contracted transit services, shared some of the feedback and plans for Bowen Island.
Lay said that after collecting and evaluating comments from transit users, TransLink has initiated transport improvements that include increased seabus service and additional bus service to reduce crowding. Lay also stated that TransLink is partnering with local government and municipalities to facilitate improvements like the approach to the Lions' Gate Bridge. In the regional context, major funding initiatives included the Evergreen Line rapid transit program, major Road Network funding that comes to $20 million in 2012 and funding for the TransLink Bike Capital program for $6 million. Lay also stressed that TransLink is making an ongoing effort to increase service optimization. The company is assessing least productive and most productive services with the intention to increase ridership as well as revenue.
Bowen Island is included in the North Shore area transit plan and was part of the public consultation that saw face-to-face meetings as well as online feedback in 2012. Lay said the goal of the evaluation was to look for the "greatest opportunity to make a difference."
"Our vision is to look forward 30 years and partner with the community," Lay said. "On Bowen Island, a number of corridors have been identified for the opportunity for service in the future in an effort to provide increased mobility for residents."
After asking community members what they would like to see, TransLink evaluated all requests and suggestions with a view of whether they could be delivered and made sense from a financial point of view as well as "some sort of transportation benefit." The suggestions were also assessed for their potential to be included in a long-term plan. "On Bowen, we received requests for service to Hood Point, to Cowan Point and the golf course and to Taylor Way, Valhalla," Lay said.
TransLink also received a number of suggestions that related to way-finding, fare dealers and bus stop infrastructure on Bowen Island. "We have started to draft a way-finding plan and are exploring what signage needs to be improved," Lay said, adding that the feedback primarily addressed the physical way-finding but the online component also needs attention. "Bowen Island is included in the online trip planner but some locally known names are not recognized by the system. We can work with staff to put the names into the system," Lay said.
Lay believes that tickets need to be available for purchase in island shops and says that TransLink has communicated with a fare dealer group that is willing to work with a local business. But he added that this is a temporary measure, "We soon plan to implement a smart card, like the London Oyster card. The principle is that one person owns a card and can top it up by internet or pay stations. That will change how people buy fares in the future and will probably reduce the need to go to a physical shop."
An issue that was identified as needing improvement was the bus stop infrastructure. "There were requests to have more stops on the island," Lay said. "We offer the flexibility of having a flag stop system but it was suggested to have designated bus stops at some intersections. A bus stop involves at the minimum a pole describing what the routes are and how to get in contact with TransLink but we also encourage the provision of a safe and sheltered waiting area with a bench."
Councillor Alison Morse interjected that it would be helpful to have designated bus stops in areas that are frequented by tourists like Artisan Square and Bowen Bay Beach.
Challenges to coordinate buses with ferry departure and arrival times lay in the change of ferry schedules as well as cut-off times, according to Lay. "I've asked my staff to establish connection with BC Ferries for better coordination," he said.
One of the discussion points Lay spoke about was the flexibility of service. "The Bowen Island service is designed according to our standards," he said. "At the moment, we don't have all the tools to make that service more flexible than it is today. One thing we will look at in our 2012/13 regional strategy is to lower the cost and find ways to make the service more flexible."
Lay said that a HandyDart service was suggested for Bowen Island but that the number of local registered HandyDart service users is very low. "We will look at a more flexible service design to serve people with disabilities," he said.
Lay said that TransLink is working diligently to reduce its cost and is looking at ways for measuring capacity utilization rates. "For this kind of service level, we would expect 20 or more passengers boarding the bus by hour," he said. "But we also look at other aspects like peak utilization and whether it's the only service in the community or not."
Councillor Darron Jennings was curious to learn TransLink's view on passenger ferries. Lay said that an earlier study had identified the market for passenger ferries as small. "The benefit was not obvious at that time," he said.
Councillor Wolfgang Duntz asked about the cost of the bus system on Bowen Island. Mills replied, "For 2012, the budget cost was $450,859. That includes repair and maintenance, so we are running over budget this year." Lay added that fare recovery is not broken down by municipality. "The regional fare recovery is 54 per cent and we know that Bowen Island is a low recovery service," he said.
Duntz said that, with a heavily subsidized service, he could see part of the subsidy go to support a passenger service from downtown Vancouver to Bowen Island. "We recognize that the ferry is part of the transportation system and we have two boat operators who have approached the municipality for a subsidy to enable a much needed and much appreciated system to walk on the boat and end up in Vancouver."
Lay said that TransLink would certainly examine the potential of the service if a proposal was brought forward from the municipality or a private enterprise.
Toni Leverett spoke on behalf of Bowen Transit and said that the ridership on Bowen is recorded and sent to TransLink but the numbers have not found their way into TransLink's system. She also said, "We haven't had timetables printed out for years and years, we print them out ourselves but having printed timetables like they have in town here would be lovely."
Richard Goth was also in the audience. He said, "I have the privilege of being a bus driver and I see a lot of gratitude from people for getting them there and back. It would be good to get increased signage."
