A local Burnaby business association is hoping TransLink will put the brakes on some proposed changes to transit service.
The Heights Merchants Association has come out against some of the proposed changes being considered by TransLink for the transit system and is calling on the transit authority to do more consultation with the public.
For the last several weeks up until last Friday, TransLink had been conducting an online survey to get feedback on a number of changes to the system, including 17 in Burnaby alone.
The changes include adding a B-Line bus between downtown Vancouver and SFU.
But the association’s executive director, Isabel Kolic, said local service would be greatly diminished, noting the proposed 135 B-Line would only stop at Boundary, Gilmore, Willingdon, Holdom, Sperling and Duthie, but none of the smaller stops in between.
She said association members are concerned the Heights will no longer have a local bus service that covers all of the district, adding parents with toddlers, teens and seniors with mobility issues and others would now need to transfer buses to continue on Hastings Street if they are using local stops.
Kolic said merchants would like to see local service that covers the entire Hastings Street corridor in North Burnaby, also noting the group doesn’t oppose the B-Line as long as it doesn’t impact daily parking patterns.
“We do want to see TransLink fostering and encouraging localized transit use and not just thinking about the long-range commuter,” she told the NOW.
Kolic is also troubled by how TransLink is going about getting feedback through the online survey.
She noted in the past TransLink has held open houses on transit changes and suggested some seniors and people with lower incomes may not be able to take part in the survey.
“It’s not facilitating the responses from those folks who depend on transit the most,” Kolic said.
But officials with TransLink are standing by their feedback methods.
Colleen Brennan, TransLink’s vice-president of communications, said the transit authority has found in recent years the primary method to reach the most amount of people is online.
In this case, she noted TransLink has received 12,000 responses to the survey across the region, which is a record.
She said TransLink typically gets 800 to 900 responses to a survey.
“It’s difficult to please everybody, that’s for sure, but we’re really happy with the response that we have had,” Brennan said, also noting TransLink has accommodated smaller, personal discussions about the changes to groups that have asked.
As for the proposed changes, Brennan insisted no decisions have been made and TransLink will consider the feedback from the survey.
She said TransLink is aware proposals for the Hastings corridor have raised concerns. She said access to local shopping will be maintained but acknowledged that it may involve a transfer.
While TransLink is looking to put together a report relatively soon and move forward making recommendations before the end of the year, Brennan said the transit authority still welcomes input from the public through the customer line at 604-953-3040 or online at
feedback.translink.ca.
