By: Karissa Ketter, News Editor
Once I graduated high school, I was incredibly excited to buy my first car. At the time, I didn’t care how expensive gas was, or how much I had to save for insurance. All I could do was offer to drive everyone I knew, everywhere. Reality sunk in very quickly once I started attending in-person classes, which are mostly in Vancouver. This means I live an hour’s drive away on a good day. The idea of driving for two hours, wasting gas, and spending the rest of my life savings on parking became unfeasible. After looking into transit options, I quickly came to the realization that Vancouver’s transit system is deeply flawed.
A 2017 survey conducted by an outside firm for the TransLink’s Mayors’ Council found 90% of folks in Vancouver think there needs to be major improvements to the transit system. CBC News documented the community’s common complaints which range from bus overcrowding and not enough buses, to being very off schedule. Beyond the unreliability of bus schedules, the lack of access to the Greater Vancouver area is a major concern.
The housing affordability crisis in Vancouver is partly linked to poor transit systems. Population density tends to centre around areas with SkyTrains because people want better access to commute from work, school, and leisure activities. However, poor transit access in Greater Vancouver means everyone is trying to move into the city, driving up the costs of housing units even more.
The lack of transit access in the Greater Vancouver Area and incredibly high rental costs in major cities means most people are forced to move far away from Vancouver and rely on their cars to get to school or work. Living anywhere but Vancouver brings forth numerous accessibility issues related to transportation: costly vehicles and unreliable transit are only a couple. This is an extremely unsustainable way for society to continue functioning.
The pandemic created huge challenges for TransLink, which forced them to cut some bus routes from Vancouver communities. Ridership plummeted to 44% of pre-COVID conditions in 2020. These rates are slowly recovering and sit at 75% in 2022, but transit access issues in the Greater Vancouver Area don’t seem to be getting much better.
However, there is some mild hope for improvement. Recently TransLink announced their 10-Year Priorities plan. Their goals include extending the millennium line to UBC, increasing the amount of Rapid Buses, a rapid connection to the North Shore, and of course, the Burnaby Mountain Gondola. TransLink is also looking at expanding their outreach to Langley City by 2028.
Perhaps there’s hope for improving the urban planning in Greater Vancouver. This issue isn’t something TransLink can dismiss — our access to quality social and economic life won’t improve while a huge portion of the community faces transportation barriers. For now, we’re stuck between the unreasonable costs of car maintenance and an extremely unreliable transit system.
