Login / RegisterNew study calls for rapid transit along Vancouver’s Broadway corridor
The City of Vancouver continued its push today for a rapid transit line to UBC, with the release of a new study that suggests the economic potential of the Broadway corridor could be hampered without a subway connecting the route.
At a news conference today at the Busson Spinal Cord Centre, Mayor Gregor Robertson and UBC president Stephen Toope released a KPMG report that calls for rail-based rapid transit from the Commercial Broadway hub to UBC.
“Capital, talent and jobs are literally pouring into the corridor, stretching from Commercial Drive right to UBC, and these jobs are growing at twice the rate of the B.C. economy,” said Robertson. “They are the future of B.C.’s economic success, and unfortunately that success is at risk, due to increasing gridlock and over-stretched transit, and a system that was built for yesterday’s economy. Only a rapid transit system–a subway extending from Commercial Drive to UBC–can meet the massive growth that we’re expecting in the coming years.”
The study shows the UBC-Broadway corridor is the second largest business centre after downtown Vancouver, with central Broadway and UBC representing 27 percent of employment in the city. That includes 40 percent of the city’s health-care and social-assistance businesses, and 25 percent of high-technology businesses. About 200,000 people live or work along the corridor, with numbers expected to grow by 150,000 by 2040.
According to Robertson and Toope, the report’s findings show that without rapid transit to connect the corridor, the city risks losing investment to other major hubs such as Toronto, New York, and London. The KPMG report indicates that the length of the commute to UBC is seen as impacting faculty and staff recruitment and retention, and that lack of efficient daytime access between the corridor and business or academic locations in the region is seen as a “major barrier” in the growth of sectors including technology.
“This is a much broader issue in terms of the province’s economy,” said Robertson. “This study identifies that by not having rapid transit through this corridor to UBC, what is currently a powerhouse of jobs will actually suffer and be choked off from the opportunity.”
Both Robertson and Toope insisted a subway rapid transit line to UBC is a regional need, and that it doesn’t need to come at the expense of the light-rail rapid transit that Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts is advocating for.
“This is not about this versus other opportunities,” said Toope. “UBC has a campus in Surrey…we actually have connectivity that stretches right across the region…But we’re not investing well enough to make sure that we will continue to be competitive with other great world cities that are making fundamental investments right now to ensure commercial connectivity.”
The underground subway line from Commercial Drive to UBC is expected to cost $2.8 billion to build—an amount Robertson said will need to come from the provincial and federal governments.
“We’ve yet to hear a commitment from the B.C. government to take next steps on building a Broadway subway,” he said. “I think everyone in the province recognizes there’s a big need here, right across the region—from Broadway to Surrey, and many points in between. But we don’t have the funding tools in Metro Vancouver to address further investment in transit.”
The KPMG report also identifies two other priority actions for developing the Broadway corridor’s economic potential: providing affordable commercial and residential space along the corridor, and developing a strategy for a “strong, vibrant and resilient” technology sector.
City of Vancouver staff have previously stated that an underground rapid transit line connecting Commercial-Broadway to the UBC campus is the most effective mode of transit to accommodate the anticipated volume along the corridor.
Broadway buses currently carry more than 100,000 passengers a day. UBC estimates that the combined east and west bound pass-ups for the 99 B-Line route total about 500,000 per year.
Regional transit authority TransLink is in the process of conducting a study to evaluate rapid transit options for the corridor.
Take the $2.8 Billion and build student and staff housing right at UBC. 75,000 people commute to UBC every day.
Build 40,000 - 50,000 units of housing for students and staff right at UBC and this could reduce fuel consumption by millions of barrels of oil every year.
This Broadway Skytrain Proposal was authored by Bankers, Foreign and Canadian Investors who live by the motto, the cost of everything must always go up.
To reduce the cost of housing for UBC folks, is the very last thing on their minds. When the cost of living goes down, it is called DEFLATION and this is considered DEATH to investors.
This proposal is a Big Fat Lie!
SPY vs. SPY: First off, I don't know how or where one would build 40–50,000 new units of housing at UBC. More importantly, doing so completely ignores the fact that many families have two wage earners and possibly kids attending school or working elsewhere as well. With roughly 30,000 people living in the UEL or at BUC, SOV traffic heading off-campus each day is already comparable to that coming on. Building more housing on campus, while laudable, will not remove the need for greatly improved transit connections between UBC and the city.
You have to remember that a Broadway rapid transit line is more than about just serving UBC. It will also service Central Broadway, the second largest employment centre not only in this region but in British Columbia, and with potential to grow further through rapid transit.
As another line is set to be pushed out to Coquitlam we are told by the mayors of these very well-served suburbs (shame on you, Corrigan and Watts) that Vancouver is asking for a Cadillac system because the Broadway line would have to be underground. Get serious! The logistics of building an above ground line would be nightmarish - expensive and a death knell for the small businesses along Broadway. In most parts of the world underground is the norm.
The B-Line, while a good idea at one time, is now a crowded, antiquated joke. I suggest some of the critics of this proposal try using it on a daily basis before being so quick to condemn us that support the underground line. Maybe a cheaper technology than Sky train could be used to help curb costs.
I also suggest the city talk to Christie before she's toast about a UBC bid for the 2020 summer olympics. Or another expo. That would get it built.
at the same time they destroy nature with more ugly buildings.
why did they ever put ubc where it currently is? should have never happened. the area should be one big nature park
The people claiming that the suburbs are well served by transit clearly never been to the suburbs. You also haven't been to very many "world class" cities because everyone I've been to has much better transit service to their suburbs than Vancouver. The only way you can reduce car congestion in the urban core is by reducing commuter traffic going into it. A UBC line might be more convenient for the few who use it but it's a terrible idea in terms of a strategic use of resources.
On a side not, I have a joke. What is the NDP's position on this? ahhahahahahhahahahaha Good luck getting an answer on that.
Subways are:
1) notoriously expensive to build.
2) very poor in attracting ridership.
3) are seen as inconvenient by many transit customers.
4) have horrendous maintenance costs as they age.
5) do little for businesses along the route.
6) unless specifically designed to, may not have the capacity when compared to LRT or even a simple streetcar. The Canada line, as built, has less capacity than a streetcar and it would cost at least a billion dollars more to upgrade!
7) pauper the operating authority, which in turn increases taxes to pay for subways.
A Broadway subway will cost a minimum of $3 billion. For the same cost we could build,
1) Two east-west LRT lines in Vancouver with a combined capacity in excess of 40,000 pphpd.
2) Build two north-south LRT lines in Surrey, with a combined capacity of 40,000 phppd.
3) Reinstate the Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban!
That's why we need independent, comprehensive, region-wide transit planning instead of the periodic Transit Beauty Contests where mayors vie for the diamond tiara. And that's why the provincial government has to take a more active, direct role.
As a resident of Surrey, I'm willing to accept the need for a more efficient Broadway corridor ... but only if I know that Surrey (for example) is also in line for SOMETHING; and what it will be; and when it will come.
It's called a "plan".
Long time without talking still have not learned I see.
1) Subways are expensive to build, but a well used subway will have a lower cost per rider than a much cheaper but poorly used service. Consider the latest Portland LRT being built for 1.5billion dollars. It is projected to have 25,000 boardings a day. The Broadway 'subway' will have at least 125,000 boarding per day on opening day for 3billion. What is the better deal?
2)Subways are poor at attracting ridership? The Canada line has more boardings per day than the ENTIRE Portland MAX LRT system.
3)Are you kidding?
4)They have higher maintainance costs than surface infrastrure but usually have more riders so cost per rider tends to be less.
5)All those riders are potential customers, If I was a business owner I would want the subway.
6)We got what we paid for in terms of capacity for the Canada line but it can still be easily doubled (and I think lessons learned), after that we can develop a parallel system on Arbutus to share the load and increase service area.
7)Everything costs money, not building anything costs money in buses and roadworks or lost economic activity, LRT costs money, Subways cost money, what is the best use of the money?
The amount of LRT you think you can build for the same amount of money is only a wet dream.
We spent a billion dollars on the Millenium Skytrain line.
We spent 2 billion on the Canada Line.
We left a 20 block gap between the 2.
If we get started tomorrow, the Broadway line won't be built until 2022. It's an absolutely ridiculous state of affairs, and I have absolutely no faith in any level of government to rectify the fact that we have no plan for rapid transit down the busiest bus corridor in North America.
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