TransLink increasing bus service this fall on 47 routes - Action News
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British Columbia

TransLink increasing bus service this fall on 47 routes

TransLink is increasing service to 47 bus routes across the Lower Mainland next month.

Changes to take effect Sept. 2

A long line of people wait at the Surrey Central Station with a bus displaying, Sorry, Bus Full.
The Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation said funding the transit expansion plan is about making existing service work. (Mike Zimmer/CBC News)

TransLink is increasing service to 47 bus routes across the Lower Mainland next month but says it still won't be enough to address overcrowding.

Service increases include 21 "busy" routes in Surrey, North Delta and Langley and five bus routesservicing UBC, SFU and Capilano University as school returns in September, the transit agency said in a statement on Monday.

A new busbay will also be added at White Rock Centre to increase capacity at the bus loop, which serves 13 routes, according to the statement. Route 609 will be extended from scwan msteyx/Tsawwassen First Nation to Ladner Exchange to provide more equitable access to on-reserve communities and treaty lands.

TransLink says the additions will help maintain service but won't eliminate overcrowding.

"While service is being increased in some areas, these changes do not address the rapid ridership growth and increased demand being seen across Metro Vancouver," according to the statement.

The "short-term" improvements are made possible due to the 2024 Investment Plan, a plan released in April and approved by TransLink'sboard of directors and the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation.

A bus driver wearing a high-vis vest and a mask waits at a stop, with a sign above him reading, 'Sorry Bus Full.'
Commuters wait for a bus at a bus stop in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday, April 30, 2020. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

The overcrowding of the Metro Vancouver's transit system is back to pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest statistics from TransLink. Itsannual transit service performance review shows more than 233 million trips in 2023, up by 20.5 per cent from 2022.

TransLink says it will continue working with government partners to secure a new funding model that supports long-term regional transportation growth.

The transit company is working on a 2025 investment plan that will look at long-term solutions toovercrowding.

The new fall service changes will take effect Sept. 2.