It appears there is little chance the beloved 601 bus will be returned to its former glory.
Delta council received a presentation from TransLink representative Brian Mills Monday night, after which Mayor Lois Jackson asked about the future of the 601.
When the Canada Line rapid transit service opened in 2009, TransLink amended several bus routes, including the 601, which used to take passengers directly from South Delta to downtown Vancouver via Granville Street.
It now travels between South Delta and the Bridgeport Canada Line station, where riders heading into the city must transfer onto the train to continue their trip.
Many regular transit riders were unhappy with the change, which seems to have hit seniors particularly hard.
A representative from Delta's seniors planning team told council Monday that many local seniors have simply stopped going downtown since the 601 route was amended.
Many with mobility and other issues, and safety concerns, find having to make the transfers difficult and have opted to stay closer to home.
Jackson asked Mills to view the 601 issue from the seniors' perspective.
"Efficiency for them is to get on one bus and arrive at their destination and I think that's what people were used to for a very long time here... Is there any way we can get that 601 back again?"
Mills said there's no chance that the 601 direct service to Vancouver will be restored.
He said that while the issues identified are real, it's a matter of efficiently serving the entire region.
"We live in a very large urban region and there are many, many places that people want to travel to to satisfy their employment, for recreational and social opportunities," he said, "and it's not possible, as you can understand, for us to serve every one of those directly.
"So the way we provide the maximum quality of service both in terms of the frequency and the choice of locations is that we have a system in which there are frequent services that pro-vide connections with each other."
He said that having to make transfers to get to a destination is a reality of a transit system serving a complex urban region.
He added it is not cost effective or reliable for TransLink to provide single-use direct services to specific destinations.
"We have a practice also of not duplicating services that we've invested in heavily."
Mills said TransLink is looking at improving HandyDart services by making them more flexible and increasing the hours.
He also said the transportation authority is looking at starting a new TravelSmart program that will provide better travel information to people using the system and could help those new to, or unsure about, using the public transit system.
