Hey guys, welcome back to the channel.
So it's been a while since I did one of these videos. The past few weeks have just been
super busy, but [we’re] trying to get back into stride of releasing lots of videos every
week.
So before I get started, I just want to remind you guys to go check out our Instagram and
Twitter; a bunch of you guys have followed us there and it's fantastic to see.
Anyways, let's get started with the topic of this video.
So one issue that's kind of existed for a long time in my mind, but that I haven't really
discussed with regard to the transit system in Vancouver (so yes, this is a Skytrain / Vancouver
transit video) is Vancouver's need for a relief line.
Now, let me explain what exactly I'm talking about here.
So for about the past 10 to 15 years, it's been pretty well known that the next major
connection after the Canada Line (so perhaps this hasn't been known for 10 to 15 years,
but for what feels like 10 to 15 years) has been the fact that we're going to have a Broadway
subway connection in Vancouver.
Essentially, this is going to take the Millennium line from its current terminus at VCC-Clark
down Broadway to Arbutus street.
Now, the station locations and the length of the extension has been pretty much the
same the entire time since the Canada Line opened.
With the connection at Broadway-City Hall this means that Vancouver will technically
have some redundancy for people in the eastern suburbs to get downtown.
Instead of taking the Expo Line, people from the eastern suburbs could ride the Millennium
line to the Canada Line, and then take the Canada Line downtown.
So, comes the issue of relief.
The problem is, as many of you probably know, the Canada Line is incredibly crowded already.
Now, of course, capacity is being expanded with new train sets.
However, I imagine that with the Canada Line it's kind of a latent capacity thing.
The line is already so crowded in rush hour that I'm sure some people just choose to take
alternate routes, or some people have moved away from taking it.
I assume that, once we add a bit more capacity to the Canada Line, it will be almost as crowded
as it was before, because there's going to be a lot more capacity and people are just
gonna hop on it and start using it.
So, essentially, despite the fact that the Canada Line will have some more capacity,
it's probably all going to be used up by riders who already were riding the Canada Line, but
moved away from it because it's just become so crowded all the time.
The fact that the Millennium Line connection to the Canada Line allows for a different
route to downtown Vancouver for riders from the eastern suburbs means that we need capacity
on the Canada Line between Broadway-City Hall and the downtown.
It's kind of problematic when you think about it that there's there's no real differentiating
factor— there's no secondary line that connects these two locations.
The issue is that the Canada Line is pretty much already full before it even arrives at
Broadway-City Hall, and so the trains probably aren't going to have tons of capacity to be
filled with Millennium Line passengers.
Of course, I'm sure some people get off the Broadway-City Hall on the Canada Line and
will take the Millennium line west towards UBC etc, but I do not imagine this being the
same number of people that are going to try to travel north into downtown Vancouver now
that they, instead of transferring to the Expo Line at Commercial-Broadway, which is
a very big busy and very long transfer, they'll instead choose to take the Canada Line, and
the capacity issue bears itself and becomes evident.
So, in this case, what do I suggest?
I think what's natural, and this is something I've discussed with a few different people,
but the general sense is that Vancouver is probably going to need another north south
subway line.
We do have the Arbutus Greenway / LRT line, but that's not going to be high enough capacity.
It might carry — it's gonna carry less than probably 10,000 riders per hour, and we need
something with at least as much capacity as the Canada Line, if not around the same capacity
as the Expo and Millennium lines, which is around 25,000 people per direction per hour.
So what I think I'd suggest in this situation, is to bring a line down Granville Street that
interchanges with Waterfront and VCC — well, I want to make something clear and that's
that I often refer to Vancouver city centre as VCC, and VCC-Clarke as VCC-Clarke, so,to
specify, Vancouver City Center — having connection at Waterfront, Vancouver City Centre,
and then continuing down Granville to link up to the Millennium line extension at Granville.
The nice thing about this too is that if you drove that line into Waterfront at quite a
deep level, you could connect the Expo Line and Canada Line platforms at Waterfront within
the fare paid zone, which is something that a lot of people have complained we don't currently
have, and then potentially you could use this line — if it was deep enough at Waterfront
— it could continue on to the North Shore, which is another connection that we need to
make in the future.
Anyways, I'd like to know you guys think about this idea, what you guys think the solution
in Vancouver is to the lack of capacity on the Canada Line downtown.
Leave your ideas down in the comments, and as always, have a great day.
Thanks.