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Rapid transit in Delta on horizon?

If you’re taking transit along Scott Road, get ready for shorter travel and wait times, according to TransLink, but a more ambitious rapid transit plan for Delta could also be on the radar.
delta rapid transit
TransLink will be looking at starting a new B-Line service in North Delta in a few years but will also explore rapid transit in the long-term for South Delta.

If you’re taking transit along Scott Road, get ready for shorter travel and wait times, according to TransLink, but a more ambitious rapid transit plan for Delta could also be on the radar.

The transit authority is launching four new rapid service B-Line routes in Metro Vancouver in 2019 as part of Phase 1 of the Mayors’ Council Ten-Year Vision. The next phase could see Scott Road also get a B-Line by either 2020 or 2021, according to TransLink officials who made a presentation to Delta council last week.

Geoff Cross, TransLink’s vice-president of transportation and policy, said consultations will soon begin on Phase 2 which includes the Scott Road B-Line.

“Our hope is we can accelerate this and this is something that’s not an academic exercise but will be a living document by which we can draw from. It will help inform some of our long-range strategies, priorities, such as rapid transit south of the Fraser that we will be looking at as well,” he said.

Matt Craig, TransLink’s manager of system plans, said increasing density on the Delta side of Scott Road is pushing the need for more frequent service.

B-Line buses have service from 6 a.m. to midnight, or better, running every 10 minutes during peak times and at least every 15 minutes at other times. Stops are spaced at least one kilometer apart.

 

north delta b-line

TransLink notes the service allows for not only increased frequency but also reduced overcrowding.

TransLink also notes that since its launch in 1996, the 99 B-Line in Vancouver has become the busiest bus route in Canada and the United States. The route has surpassed 61,000 average weekday boardings, which is more than double that of any other route in the region.

There are more average weekday boardings on the 99 B-Line than on all other routes in Ladner/South Delta/Tsawwassen, Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows and the Northeast Sector combined.

TransLink’s Southwest Area Transport Plan, meanwhile, is in its final draft. Cross said the plan will see an expansion of the frequent transit network for Delta, between the Canada Line, Tsawwassen and Ladner. The plan will also eventually see better connections between North and South Delta, which includes someone from North Delta being able to board a bus and go right into Ladner Village.

As far as the mention of rapid transit, Craig acknowledged some projects would have been “furthered” had the new bridge to replace the George Massey Tunnel went ahead.  

Delta engineering director Steven Lan said he was “heartened” to see the final version of the Southwest Area Transport Plan at least identify a replacement for the tunnel.

Pleased there’s at least mention of potential rapid transit through Delta in the future, Mayor Lois Jackson noted more transit passengers go through the tunnel daily than any other water crossing in the Lower Mainland. She said planning for the next 50 years should be taking place, something that should include looking at light rail between the Canada Line, Delta and right into the valley.

Cross acknowledged the need for long-term planning but noted the rapid transit plans for Broadway and Surrey had been identified in a transportation plan back in the early 1990s, so it takes a long time for such major projects to eventually come to fruition.

“The horizon that we’re about to look at is 2050. That will give you a sense of where development will be, what patterns will be, all the dynamics that are changing…connections through Delta and beyond will be one of the things we have to examine, and its relationship with land use as well," he said.

delta rapid transit south delta