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Support the SkyTrain Extension to UBC 
While I support your desire for more efficient transit that better serves the UBC/Point Grey area, I can’t agree with you having any priority above the rest of the transit system which also needs upgrades. I attend the BCIT marine campus in North Vancouver, and spend a fair amount of my own time on buses, the skytrain and the sea bus. Before UBC and West Point Grey get such upgrades, I would like to see other regions of Metro-Vancouver better served, and other post secondary institutions. It is unfair to give priority to UBC when there are many areas that have extremely insufficient amounts of busses and shuttles, let alone access to local LRT or Skytrain.
In all eventuality, it would be useful to have transit which better serves our post secondary institutions, all of them. I would rather see the weak areas of our current transit system improved before we consider adding to it.
Hey Angela,
Thank you for your comment. Other areas of Metro Vancouver will have their share of rapid transit before the UBC Line. Of course, we have the opening of the Canada Line before Labour Day this year, replacing the congested 98 B-Line (which is the second-most filled B-Line in Vancouver), which serves the City of Vancouver, City of Richmond, and the Airport Authority. The Evergreen Line will also be built by 2014, connecting many of the neighbourhoods of the Tri-Cities. The Expo Line expansion and extension into the South of Fraser is set to be built by 2020, which is also the same target as the UBC Line. This means that there are many plans for rapid transit expansion into many areas of Metro Vancouver before and potentially during the construction of the UBC Line.
The Provincial Transportation plan back in the beginning of the year outlined many new RapidBus routes for the South of Fraser [also see today’s new post for more information].
Right now, UBC is well served with many buses and shuttles, like you said. However, many of the routes are nearing capacity and/or feels very congested already. As traffic within the City of Vancouver increases, buses will get slower and slower and transit will not be a viable solution. We must make sure transit is fast and attractive: SkyTrain is our only option.
I’m a Canadian living in Amsterdam where there’s a very long term transit plan. I agree with the arguments you make for an extension of the Millennium Line to UBC. Every city needs a trunk system which secondary (trams) and tertiary (buses) systems link up with. People will choose transit if it is quick and comfortable. Having to transfer onto another mode of transportation at VCC-Clark is time consuming and stressful, especially if we’re talking about large numbers of commuters.
Although a European style tram would likely represent a lower initial investment, it’s at best a less than ideal and short term solution…hardly sustainable planning.
I’m not knowledgeable enough about the specific streets and issues associated with locating the route under 10th Avenue to have an opinion. But I have talked to some merchants having to deal with the effects of the construction of Amsterdam’s new “Noord/zuidlijn” subway.
It seems that some businesses that were popular before construction began are not seeing a decline in customer numbers despite long periods of construction outside their doors. So it seems that only more marginal businesses are affected. Which is bad enough of course, but this does demonstrate that declining sales are likely not wholly the result of construction.
As a detached, and therefore somewhat impartial, observer I see the Skytrain extension to UBC as a priority for basic trunk system. One that could perhaps also include a Skytrain extension under Burrard Inlet to North Vancouver, which as of yet has no rapid transit connection. Not very likely, I know…
I would like to know who you are…how are the principals behind the organization?
What is the price to relocate UBC campus to say the land in the Terminal Main area, the underutilized rail yard?
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to do that than to build a $2.4 billion train?
I for one am tired of paying for services that are of no benefit to me and because of poor land use planning is costing the residents of this region hundreds of million of dollars to fund and operate transit to these pedestals of higher learning in Port Grey and Burnaby Mtn.
It’s good to see UBC, SFU and BCIT move a portion of their campus to downtown which is already well serviced by transit options.
The Main and Terminal location is currently served by both lines of SkyTrain as well as six bus transit routes and is an easy hop from the new RAV Line at Cambie, sorry just can’t muster up enough stupidity to call a 19km rail line, a Canada Line.
Building any more transit to UBC is just not going to happen before the rest of the region gets a transit system combined with rational land use planning that equals Vancouver.
If you want SkyTrain to UBC then you finance it! If you are already receiving a U-Pass, then you are receiving a deep discount, a discount not available to those who pay 12 cents a litre for fuel and pay hundreds of dollars of property tax subsidizing you.
And don’t even think of debating subsidies. Those subsidizing 2/3 of the cost of transit also subsidize more than 90% of the roads and bridges.
If you aren’t willing to indentify yourselves then I can only assume you are part of the flock that either work for CLCO Bombardier, SNC Lavalin or just plain foolish. Identify yourselves, I have.
Go see Facebook. Even that will confirm we aren’t representing Bombardier, SNC-Lavin, the Provincial Gov’t, etc.
Relocating UBC is costly as UBC has built many new, permanent education facilities at UEL. Though you do bring a good point up: Main/Terminal area is suited for a post-secondary institution. How about a University of Vancouver? The fact of the matter is, relocating is not going to happen and the SkyTrain isn’t just to UBC. See newest post.
It would cost billions and billions and billions to relocate the UBC campus to the False Creek Flats (the “Terminal Main area”). It is simply not feasible.
And this isn’t just for UBC. Surely, UBC students will benefit greatly but this is a regional line. The Central Broadway Corridor is the second largest employment centre outside of Downtown Vancouver. And secondly, such a line completes a large portion of the region’s rapid transit rail backbone. Every city in the world has a high capacity, high frequency rail backbone that trams and buses feed on. This is simply good transit planning: not just for today, but for the future as well. And the ridership is there today to support such a line.
There’s no doubt that it will cost quite a bit, but that’s the price we’re paying for not doing any transit expansion for 35 years after the Second World War.
Just to let you know, the residents of 10th Avenue will be up in arms at the first mention of placing tunnels under their homes. Having seen the utility drawings for Broadway, there is less services than Cambie.
10th Avenue is a narrow street west of Cambie and is not much better all the way to Arbutus.
If you throw enough money to the engineering fraternity they will build anything. However, despite common belief, public money is not free.
SkyTrain or any train to UBC will not get the support of residents south of the Fraser.
Incidently, a Translink study showed that less than 15% of trips south of the Fraser cross a bridge or tunnel. Now we want transit that will support a population greater than Vancouver Burnaby and Richmond.
It’s true: there are fewer benefits for the residents from the south of fraser. That’s not to say there are none. When you build the infrastructure, people will come to use it. A lot of people drive from the South of Fraser to where-ever they need to get to on the Broadway Corridor/UBC because they don’t like buses. That’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality.
We have to understand this: the Broadway corridor had the most ridership in Vancouver. The 99 B-Line is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, bus in North America. It’s clear that the B-Line is insufficient to current demands already; there is a need for rapid transit. Since Broadway is expected to grow larger as a commercial district along with CoV densification plans, it would be smarter to invest in a longer term transportation solution and LRT just isn’t one of them because there is not a lot of space on Broadway.
Adrien, I commend the work that you have done here! I completely agree that the skytrain technology should be extended to UBC through the west side. As Broadway is one of the busiest corridors in the City (only to get busier in the future), it should be a top priority for Translink NOW. I think that something that is being overlooked is that it’s not just a mode of transport for UBC students, it’s fast transport for all people living on the northern west side. Obviously, the line will be going through one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the City — an area where most well-off residents are likely not bus users. The skytrain — fast, effiicient and connecting to the Canada Line to get downtown — may be an impetus to get the green and well-heeled onto public transport. Such an extension to the Millenium Line will benefit all travelers throughout the City.