Photos: The lineup for the 99 B-Line is a farce

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      TransLink may have had its shit together on the first day of school this year, but since September 3, the lineups for the 99 B-Line to UBC have become farcically bad.

      These photos are from the last two days of my commute, which included roughly 15 minutes of standing in lines and numerous passups for the poor souls who have the misfortune of waiting at any stop west of Commercial Drive.

      I have now begun breaking out into hysterical laughter every time the 20 Downtown deposits me at Broadway-Commercial Station because this whole system is a joke.

      The lineup at Broadway-Commercial Station on September 12 goes on...

       

      ...and on...

       

      ...and on.

      Dare I ask how your morning bus rides have been, Vancouver?

      Comments

      11 Comments

      heyo!

      Sep 13, 2013 at 2:21pm

      I take this bus every morning and it's a complete sh*t-show each and every time. Especially now since school has started again.

      UBCstudent

      Sep 13, 2013 at 2:28pm

      I've been commuting to UBC from Broadway/Commercial for almost 4 years and It's always been like this in the mornings. The trick is to schedule your classes later in the day so you avoid the line-ups. They should have more transit people there though - some hipsters just walk past 20-30 people lines and get on the bus. No one says anything.

      DavidH

      Sep 13, 2013 at 3:03pm

      Surrey is now "articulated". Yep, we now have a "B Line" that runs from Newton to Whalley and on to, I think, Calgary or something.

      Sadly, the regular buses have been cut back just a little. So the net result is ... who knows.

      Gregory

      Sep 13, 2013 at 6:41pm

      As DavidH mentions, the new 96 B-Line was started on King George with about 10 days notice. They also cut the local #321 service in half.
      I took #321 a couple days ago about 10 AM. It was aisle-full standing room packed. Meanwhile the new limited-stop B-Line buses were zooming by about 10% full.
      (Nice planning)

      Yep

      Sep 13, 2013 at 10:37pm

      It's been like this for years. Translink are assclowns. I've been to the poorest countries on earth yet they manage to move multi millions of people per day with transit, and surprisingly little lineups. We can't even figure out a direct line to UBC

      Nanaimo

      Sep 14, 2013 at 12:53pm

      For those in line they could catch a bus or walk to Nanaimo as the 99 stops there and is quite empty.

      UBC Student

      Sep 17, 2013 at 11:49am

      Thank you for posting this. I was starting to wonder if it was just me, but it HAS been gradually getting worse the further we go in to the school year (and only 3 weeks in!).

      To the person suggesting ppl should walk and get on at Nanaimo, this may help those willing to plan ahead and do that, but it certainly does not help solve the bigger issue: there are not enough buses to get everyone to school/work in the morning along this corridor! This is not a new issue either.

      I really feel for the bus drivers who have to deal with it every morning as well. I can't imagine it is easy what with packed buses and disgruntled passengers ...especially those morning commuters who haven't had their daily dose of caffeine or good humour yet.

      RUK

      Sep 19, 2013 at 11:32am

      I'm digging Nelson's coverage of this issue and the East Van garbage beat also. Little things, maybe, but when our public workers are held accountable for the little things, it sets a tone for the whole enterprise. That's what I think, anyway.

      To me, photos like the ones above reinforce the case for the Broadway corridor Skytrain, small comfort that will be to bus riders for the next say 8 years.

      Dennis

      Sep 22, 2013 at 1:35pm

      There needs to be some form of rapid transit built on Broadway, but I think Skytrain to UBC is overkill and expensive. Either do LRT from Commercial to UBC, or extend Skytrain to Granville to deal with the high traffic on Central Broadway and run LRT from Cambie to UBC.

      You dont need to know my name

      Nov 8, 2013 at 12:15am

      This is a public network, maybe consider to watch your language at lease ?