Back to school means more people on transit and more cars on the road
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2019 21:45:48 +0000
TransLink is expecting next week to be one of the busiest of the year.
An estimated 100,000 extra trips will take place daily from Tuesday to Friday on public transit as thousands of students, as well as teachers and support staff, head back to school.
Commuters can expect traffic congestion as well with an increase of between one to six per cent in vehicle traffic during morning and afternoon peak periods on Highway 1 and other provincial highways.
“The first week of September has traditionally been one of the busiest weeks of the year for transit in the region,” Ben Murphy, TransLink spokesperson, said by email.
“Last year, we saw ridership during the week increase by around 12 per cent or approximately 100,000 additional journeys each weekday.”
TransLink has announced numerous improvements to SkyTrain, bus and SeaBus which it says will reduce wait times for commuters.
On Tuesday, 24 new SkyTrain cars will increase capacity by five per cent on Expo Line and nine per cent on the Millennium Line during peak periods.
As well, commuters can expect more frequency on 12 key bus routes with the addition of 40,000 service hours. On SeaBus, sailings are being increased to every 10 minutes during peak periods.
“TransLink has significantly increased services to compensate for the additional demand we’re expecting to see on our network,” Murphy said.
Bus riders will also notice other changes throughout the network. The regional transportation authority has implemented a new artificial intelligence algorithm that improved the accuracy of bus departure estimates by 74 per cent during a pilot project.
To use the new system, commuters have to text the bus stop number and the bus route number to 33333 to get the next estimated time of departure.
Along the transportation spine of Highway 1, Sgt. Roland Pierschke said he expects to see an increase in traffic along the heavily used freeway.
Pierschke is the NCO in command of Port Mann Traffic Services, which patrols the Trans Canada Highway from the West Vancouver-North Vancouver border to Abbotsford, except for the section from Boundary Road to the centre span of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge which is patrolled by Vancouver Police.
He said six RCMP officers will be focusing on the high-occupancy vehicle lanes, which are restricted to vehicles with a driver and one passenger or more.
“Our big issue with HOV is illegal riders and excessive speeds because that’s where people will take liberties,” he said.
Electric cars with only a driver can use the HOV lane with a permit and official decal from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Monthly mean traffic numbers on the Port Mann Bridge showed a weekday traffic volume of 156,443 in September, 2018, a dramatic jump from 107,000 in the same month in 2013.
Statistics indicate that last year’s figure for September is a decrease of about 9,000 from August, 2018. What changes, however, is the hourly distribution: the morning peak increases between one and six per cent and afternoon peak, one to three per cent, according to data provided by the Ministry of Transportation and Highways.
The increase in traffic will be especially evident around and in front of elementary and secondary schools.
Christian Behnke, a crossing guard at Ecole Cleveland Elementary, is prepared for traffic congestion at the start of the school year. Photo: Gerry Kahrmann/Postmedia
One person on the front line of dealing with increased traffic is Christian Behnke.
He’s a crossing guard who will be out Tuesday morning on Eldon Road in front of École Cleveland Elementary in North Vancouver.
Behnke lives close enough that he can walk his two children Jordan and Hannah to the French immersion school every day. Last year, Behnke was named as one of the top three favourite crossing guards in the country.
He expects to see scores of parents in vehicles driving their children to school in the morning and then picking them up in the afternoon. Many will be doing it for the first time.
“For the first couple of weeks, it’s me on the street being the tough guy. It’s the new parents to the school who don’t know what to expect,” he said.
“If I can be a bit pro active, maybe rub people the wrong way, I’ll set the expectation for the year.”
He tells new parents that they have to use the designated drop off zone and that they can’t park by the yellow curb.
Parents who have to drive, he said, can follow Drive to Five, a program that encourages them to park five minutes away and walk the remaining distance to and from school.
It not only helps to reduce congestion in front of schools, it also gives students some exercise and fresh air before they head into class.
“We’re all here for the same reason to get our kids to school safely,” Behnke said.
“As long as all work together to do, we’ll be fine.”
In addition to increased volumes of vehicles, commuters who drive may have to deal with various disruptions and delays due to several infrastructure projects on freeways and roads.
Major projects include:
• Highway 1 Lower Lynn Improvement Project: expect traffic delays due to volume as work on the $198 million project continues on the Upper Levels to upgrade interchanges built 50 years ago. Completion is expected in fall 2021.
• In Vancouver, sewer, water and other upgrades mean parking and lane closures along Boundary Road from East 1st to Grandview Highway to winter 2019, along Nanaimo from McGill to 4th Avenue to spring 2020, and on MacDonald from 1st Ave to 16th Ave to spring 2020.
• In Surrey, road widening projects include expanding 160 Street from two to four lanes between 26 Avenue and 32 Avenue to early 2020, 192 Street from two lanes to three and five lanes between 40 Ave to Colebrook Rd and 32 Ave to 40 Ave to winter 2020, 100 Ave from two lanes to four lanes from King George Blvd to 140 St & 138A St, to fall/winter 2019, and 32 Avenue to four lanes form 176 Street to 188 Street to Feb-March 2020.
• Two Metro Vancouver sewer projects are in Richmond and Port Moody respectively: Gilbert Road at Granville Avenue will be down to single lane traffic in either direction up to mid 2020; along Clarke Road at Saint Johns Street, traffic will be reduced to a single alternating lane overnight between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. for an estimated two weeks.