Are Translink's Fare Gates Fairly Distributed?

Above is the picture of the faregates on the North Side of the South Side of Commercial Broadway Station. You see: There are 9 (NINE!) Gates at this side of the station, each equipped to handle 40 pph. And this is the less intensive side of the station, where the only transfers are between the 9 or 20 and the skytrain. You may be unaware of the degree of overshoot until you see how many faregates are at Broadway-City Hall:

There are 5 (Five!) This Exit is more than 3X busier than the North side Broadway Station Exit above. Think about it; this is the major transfer between both directions of the 99B-Line and the Canada Line! Each Train that arrives at the station gives at least 50 people during rush, imagine the chaos if the 99 and the Train arrives together. My point is that with only gates, that is only 2 gates one direction and 3 gates the other direction. The maximum capacity for one of the direction with only 2 gates is 80 people. With more than 40 people getting off the bus at one time and even 80 people off the train, the waits just to enter City Hall station faregates will be >1 minute! Imagine lining up 70 seconds just to get into the Canada Line station!

This shows extremely poor planning on Translink's behalf, overshooting that side on Broadway station, drastically under calculating the volume of people using the City Hall exit. From my perspective, the only way 8 gates will be used is if the overhead walkway is closed down and people need to go down and back up again to transfer. But then again, there is a new walkway being built, and I can't imagine why there needs 160+ ppmpd (people per minute per direction) capacity at this exit.

TO TRANSLINK: Ideas for Service Optimization

I love that you are opening the Service Optimization Discussion to the Public! I've got lots of ideas!

Last Week, I posted my remix of the Burnaby Transit Network! [Here]

This Week, I have a completely new round of Specific Ideas!!!

But first, I must commend you on actually listening to the public about this (ie. Starting Service Optimization Consultation)!

Personally, I think those changes (that you have come up with) are really, they are great.

* * *

C23/C21 PROPOSED CHANGE BY TRANSLINK: Extending C23 along Terminal (presumably to VCC) and C21 to Stanley Park (presumably to Second Beach) 


The Terminal Avenue Extension is Extremely Helpful and an extremely good idea, connecting Millennium Line to Yaletown! The Stanley Park extention is also a Great Idea, and would serve not only Second Beach and the Fish House, but also the apartments along Beach Avenue that currently have no service! Translink, you really are hitting all the points that people want! 

TO TRANSLINK: Completely Overhauling the Burnaby Transit Network.

During the Summer Months, I worked on this project to improve the Burnaby Transit Network.

Here is my conclusion:

[Click to Enlarge]

Black = 7.5 or higher Frequencies, Blue =15 or higher, Pink = 30 or higher.
The Current Network is top right, and My 3 proposals (because I couldn't decide on which one was better).

But the map, though detailed, gives in accurate information, and is too complicated. So I invented something called a BUS SKELETON.

BUS SKELETON:
This is what I call a Bus Skeleton. My invention, but hardly my idea. Transit Geeks, what do you think?
A Skeleton Diagram is an Oversimplification of the Transit Network of a region. This diagram ignores speed, but bases extreme emphasis on Frequency.

Anyways, the top 2 are the Current Network, and the bottom is my proposal. The Right ones are oversimplified Bus Skeletons. Their objective is to remove all distractions from the network, leaving only the skeleton (thus a bus skeleton).

[Click to Enlarge]

I also Provided the Business Case for my Proposal, analyzing the cost implications based on route length and bus type. [Here] 

SELF ANALYSIS OF MY PROPOSAL:

In my proposal, I have determined that there are overlapping services, and many places with extremely lacking services. By removing bus routes, higher frequencies may be achieved. This though, will decrease the coverage level (eg: I have removed the 116). From my analysis, the higher frequencies and less routes in my proposal will save money, or at least cost less than the current system.

Comments Please! They are welcomed greatly.

PS: Translink, if you ever want me to volunteer on any part of the transit authority, I'd love to! Just shoot me an email!

HIghway-Less: A Vision for Metro Vancouver

Here's a project I did 1 1/2 years ago. That was when I was just starting to dip my feet into being an urbanist. Wow, I can't believe I've made it that far in one year already!

Basically, I tried fixing burnaby's screwed up road network, mainly by removing the whole Hwy 1 in Vancouver, removing Hwy 99, and fixing the road network. It's extremely poorly done, and I thought (as a stupid ignorant amateur) that I would get 100 views in a day. I'm only up to 61 after a year and a half. :)

Anyways, it's here more to spread the idea and vision than to really change politicians.


View HighwayLess in a larger map