1. What is being done in the interim to improve transit while the rapid transit project is being planned and constructed? The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is investigating opportunities between Langford and downtown Victoria to improve transit travel times and reliability along the Highway 1 and Douglas Street corridors. The purpose of their review is to examine the need for, and to identify the potential of bus priority improvements along the Highway 1 section between Old Island Highway in View Royal and north of Tolmie Avenue in Saanich in a manner that does not compromise the potential longer term implementation of LRT. In addition, BC Transit is continuing to work with local municipalities to look at ways to implement transit priority measures on the major transit corridors in the region.
2. How can the E&N alignment be integrated into a regional and Island transportation system?
The detailed analysis has demonstrated that a rapid transit alignment on the Highway 1 / Douglas Street corridor, with a major hub at Uptown, would serve more people because it would serve more regional destinations, connect more population and employment, school and personal trips and is better aligned with anticipated future development. Commuter rail proposals for the E&N, while offering peak hour trips to some important destinations such as the Department of National Defence in Esquimalt, would not satisfy the need for all-day, every-day service to the majority of the region’s growth centres. Recognizing the market served by the E&N alignment, BC Transit has been working with the Island Corridor Foundation to investigate opportunities for an “Inter-City Rail” service on the E&N rail line. The proposed line would offer two trains running at peak times between Duncan and Victoria West, stopping at six locations in total including Cobble Hill, West Hills, Langford and Esquimalt.
The ICF and BC Transit worked together, and the results of the assessment reveal there are a number of major barriers to offering this service. Accordingly, it is not viable at this time to move forward with a business case.
The conditions placed on the Province’s provisional offer of $7.5 million for repairs to the E&N line between Victoria and Courtney need to be resolved prior to operation of an Inter-city rail service. The ICF needs to secure an additional $7.5 million in matching funds. The conditions also depend on the results of a $500,000 engineering inspection about the status of the 40 rail bridges on the line, as well as an assessment of the general repairs needed on the track before safe passenger service can resume.
Assuming that these conditions are met and no further major infrastructure repairs are identified, the main issues around an Inter-city rail service include:
3. Are there ways to make the system more affordable?
The system could be built in stages. For example, LRT could initially run from downtown Victoria to Six Mile or to Juan de Fuca, with service on the rest of the route provided by conventional bus. Such an approach could allow the system to be introduced for $770 million. In addition to phasing the construction, BC Transit will investigate reducing the upfront capital cost to implement by, for example, eliminating construction of grade separated crossing at major intersections along Highway 1.
4. Are the population and ridership forecasts comparable to historical increases?
Between 1986 and 2008, population in the Capital Region District grew by 87,000 or 31%; meanwhile, transit ridership grew by 11.5 million or 94%. Moving forward, the population growth anticipated between 2008 and 2030 is 86,000 or 23%. Following historical service trends, the growth in transit ridership will be 8.8 million (or 37%). With transit priority measures (including LRT), ridership is anticipated to grow by 31 million (or 132%).
5. What is the difference in passenger capacity along the busy Douglas Street corridor with an LRT system as compared to today’s bus system?
The opening year system is based on 13 LRT vehicles. Using an average passenger capacity for the LRT vehicle of 230 and the initial estimate of the schedule, there will be 18 trips per hour between downtown Victoria and Uptown. This yields an LRT capacity of just under 4,200 passengers per hour, per direction.
Today’s all bus system operates very differently than the proposed rapid transit system. Under today’s system, 13 different routes spend a portion of their trip on Douglas St. For example, the Swartz Bay routes turn off Douglas at Hillside Ave.
Using the routes that travel the entire length of Douglas St there are 40 trips per hour during the peak period. Because there is a mix of standard 40 ft buses and double decker buses used, the average capacity for the bus vehicles is in the range of 65-70 passengers. Using the 70 passenger figure this yields a capacity of 2,800 passengers per hour, per direction.
On this basis, the LRT system provides 1.5 times the capacity per direction of today’s bus system.
6. What is rapid transit? A: Rapid transit is a transit system designed to improve travel time, reliability, passenger comfort and convenience along an exclusive transit only right-of-way. It provides high-frequency service (every 5-10 minutes) all day, every day.
7.Why does the Capital Region need a rapid transit system? A: Municipal Official Community Plans, the CRD Regional Growth Strategy and Transportation plans all call for reduced reliance on the automobile for transportation and improved transit service. The 2008 Provincial Transit Plan calls for the Victoria Regional Transit System to increase market share from 7% to 12% by 2030, nearly doubling ridership to 55 million passengers per year, and to contribute to the Provincial target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air contaminants from cars by 4.7 million tonnes by 2020. To achieve these objectives, we need a transit solution that reduces our reliance on cars, provides a travel time advantage, is convenient, comfortable, efficient and reliable, and has the capacity to carry much greater numbers of passengers.
8. What are the benefits of rapid transit? A: By using an exclusive right-of-way, rapid transit provides fast, reliable and frequent service that allows users to bypass roadway congestion and reach their destinations as fast or faster than in a car. The community benefits from better service, more efficient use of travel corridors, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Rapid transit also tends to concentrate development around station areas, leading to more sustainable communities.
9. Why connect to the West Shore first? What about the Saanich Peninsula or UVic? A: The West Shore will experience the fastest rate of population growth in the CRD. The lack of a municipal roadway network to support east-west travel demands between the West Shore to the core area results in the highest level of congestion and travel delay along the existing corridors which is expected to worsen as the population in the West Shore grows. The Transit Future Plan also identifies the need to investigate Rapid Transit between Swartz Bay and Downtown, Uptown and UVic, and UVic and DND. Further studies on Rapid Transit elsewhere in the region can be expected within the next two years.
10. Why not just widen existing highways and roads? A: For urban settings and/or commuter routes, congestion would be only temporarily abated. Therefore, innovative solutions must be found as an alternative to single occupancy vehicles. It is time to shift our focus from moving cars to moving people by making our travel corridors more efficient. For example Rapid Transit can carry 10 times more people than a lane of roadway.
11. What’s the matter with business as usual? Why not just add more buses? A: While more buses would add capacity, efficiency might not be achieved during peak times, or on heavy commuter routes, because buses would still be queued up with all the other vehicles. To attract additional riders and achieve the local, regional and municipal transportation objectives, improvements to travel time are essential.
12. Why not just use HOV lanes for buses and high-occupancy cars? A: A major proportion (30-40%) of the road traffic already consists of cars with multiple occupants. Therefore, adding an HOV lane would merely sort the traffic but not actually add any significant capacity or transit advantage.
13. Why not just develop the E&N? A: The detailed analysis has demonstrated that a rapid transit alignment on the Highway 1 / Douglas Street corridor, with a major hub at Uptown, would serve more people because it would serve more regional destinations, connect more population and employment, school and personal trips and is better aligned with anticipated future development. Commuter rail proposals for the E&N, while offering peak hour trips to some important destinations such as the Department of National Defence in Esquimalt, would not satisfy the need for all-day, every-day service to the majority of the region’s growth centres.
14. Can the Region support a light rail system? A: The answer is yes! Population and city size are not the only determining factors in sustaining rapid transit. They go hand-in-hand with population density and constraints in the rest of the transportation network. The network in the Capital Region is limited by the shape of the land and the sea, resulting in fewer transportation corridors accompanied by more concentrated growth centres. These are key success factors for rapid transit, especially with the growing local emphasis on transit-oriented development.
15. Why introduce it now? A: This is not a new problem. There have been many studies that have recommended rapid transit for Victoria. Studies and assessments dating back to 1975 have recommended the introduction of measure and systems to facilitate or provide rapid transit services. Many opportunities could have been taken that might have made this implementation easier (e.g. bus lanes). We don’t want to let this opportunity pass by.
16. Will it really reduce road congestion? A: As the Capital Region continues to grow, road congestion will continue to increase. But rapid transit users will enjoy a travel time advantage by bypassing the road congestion. And as more people leave their cars at home, they help reduce rate of congestion increase while helping to make the transportation corridors more efficient.
17. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and just as effective to build an interchange on the Trans-Canada Highway at Admirals/McKenzie? A: Building an interchange at Admirals/McKenzie would not contribute to an increase in transit mode share or a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, nor would it reduce congestion in the long run.
18. How does the rapid transit plan support the regional growth strategy for the CRD? A: Once established, rapid transit has a permanence that encourages transit-oriented development. This is especially true of a rail-based system. The CRD’s regional growth strategy and the official community plans in the Capital Region’s municipalities favour such development as a way of combating sprawl.
19. What’s the incentive to ride rapid transit? A: The incentive to ride rapid transit lies in the benefits, including reduced travel time, reliability, savings in personal vehicle use, and lower vehicle emissions. The trip is also more relaxing than being stuck in traffic.
20. Where does the rapid transit alignment go? A: The approved rapid transit alignment follows Douglas Street between downtown Victoria and Uptown in Saanich, then runs parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway and the Galloping Goose Trail to Six Mile/Colwood Interchange, along the Island Highway to Colwood City Centre, then into Station Avenue in Langford via Goldstream Avenue.
21. What technology will be deployed? A: Light Rail Transit (LRT) is being recommended as the preferred technology.
22. Why is LRT the answer? A: LRT is the only rapid transit system with the capacity to meet transit mode share targets. It will generate the most ridership, provide the greatest comfort and safety, and has the highest community support. It has the longest service life, and is the only technology where the cost per passenger is reduced over time.
23. What other options were considered? A: A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system was also evaluated, with both LRT and BRT considered against the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario of expanding the conventional bus fleet.
24. How will businesses be affected? A: The segment with the greatest potential for business impacts is along Douglas Street from Uptown to downtown. A major survey of businesses and their customers was undertaken in 2010 to identify issues and opportunities. And while concerns include recognizing a continuing role for the automobile (with accompanying need for access and parking), responses suggested that the overall impact of rapid transit on the Douglas Street corridor would be positive. The project team will continue to work with the business community to identify/address issues and engage its entrepreneurial spirit to maximize opportunities.
25. How will the rest of the transit system be improved? A: The rapid transit system will form the backbone of the comprehensive 25-year Transit Future plan, which will use layers of service to make transit more attractive throughout the Capital Region. The rest of the network will feed into the rapid transit system to provide faster, more reliable overall service across the region.
26. What will happen to the regular traffic lanes? A: For the most part, except for Douglas Street, regular traffic (“general purpose”) lanes will be unaffected. On Douglas Street, there would be some lane reductions as rapid transit would have exclusive use of one lane in each direction. However, traffic modeling has demonstrated that the remaining lanes on Douglas, combined with parallel streets, will continue to provide more than adequate capacity for general-purpose traffic.
28. What will happen to on-street parking? A: On-street parking is already virtually non-existent on Douglas Street north of Hillside Avenue. South of Hillside; approximately 150 spaces will be impacted.
29. What changes will be made to the bike network? A: In general all bike routes will remain in place with some segments receiving significant improvements. The Rapid Transit Project will improve and complete approximately 30 km of bike route/lanes connecting the West Shore to downtown Victoria along the entire Rapid Transit Alignment.
30. Will the Galloping Goose be eliminated? A: No. The Galloping Goose will remain where it is today. There are some isolated sections where the Galloping goose will require some shifting to accommodate the efficient use of the right-of-way for transit, cars and the trail. The Rapid Transit alignment and Galloping Goose trail along the Trans Canada Highway are planned to bridge over or under the major road crossings, thus improving safety and travel time for transit, bikes and pedestrians. Furthermore, provision has been made to widen the Galloping goose when warranted in the future for capacity.
31. Are the sidewalks being narrowed to accommodate Rapid Transit? A: No, on the contrary; all sidewalks will remain the same width as exists today or widened. For example, along Douglas Street downtown, existing sidewalks are approximately 4-5m wide, and that will remain unchanged. However, between downtown and Uptown, a distance of about 3km, sidewalks will be widened to 5m. In some other areas the wider sidewalks will be achieved through rezoning processes.
32. What will happen to existing bus service along the corridor? A: All existing bus service along the corridor is planned to be replaced by Rapid Transit.
33. What has been the experience of other communities that have implemented an LRT rapid transit system? A: The experience of other communities has shown that it takes LRT to generate 12% mode share, that ridership tends to exceed forecasts, and that LRT has the greatest success in generating transit-oriented development.
34. How much will an LRT system cost? A: A fully built-out LRT system from downtown Victoria to Station Avenue in Langford will cost $950 million to construct. Operating cost per passenger would start at $2.80, declining to $1.72 in 2038.
35. What's the cost of the alternative options? A: A BRT system would cost $520 million, but achieve much lower ridership. Its per-passenger operating cost would rise from $1.72 to $2.40 in 2038. The capital cost of business as usual would be $250 million just to maintain the status quo, with an initial operating cost per passenger of $2.84, rising to $3.56 in 2038.
36. What does the cost include? A: The cost includes the exclusive right-of-way, track and electrical system, stations and vehicles.
37. Are there ways to make the system more affordable? A: The system could be built in stages, although the exclusive right-of-way should be established for the entire route right away. LRT could initially run from downtown Victoria to Six Mile or to Juan de Fuca, with service on the rest of the route provided by conventional bus. Such an approach could allow the system to be introduced for $770 million.
32. How will it be funded? A: The funding formula remains to be established. Transit funding in Victoria currently comes from fares (38%), the Government of British Columbia (30%), property taxes (20%), fuel taxes (12%) and advertising (.1%). Both provincial and federal governments will be approached to develop a cost-sharing agreement. Alternative funding sources might also be considered, such as additional fuel taxes, parking taxes or vehicle levies.
38. How will property taxes be affected? A: The effect on property taxes depends on how much funding can be obtained from other sources, including the provincial and federal governments. Business as usual, providing negligible additional benefits and not likely to receive additional support from senior levels of government, will increase the average residential property tax bill by about $100. Depending on the level of funding obtained from senior government and the use of alternative funding sources, the significant benefits of a fully-built-out LRT system could be had for property tax increases in the range of $160 - $265.
39. Why choose the most expensive solution? With a higher benefit-cost ratio, doesn't BRT give better value? A: BRT does have a higher benefit-cost ratio, but it is really a short-term solution as it would run out of capacity in 10-15 years and require conversion to LRT, which would ultimately cost more than beginning with LRT. LRT is the only technology with the capacity to meet transit mode share targets, concentrate development and provide benefit beyond the 25 year planning horizon. It is better to build the right system in stages that will serve our community for the long term, than to build a cheaper system that won’t do the job.
40. Why would business as usual cost so much and deliver so little? A: To maximize ridership with regular buses on existing roads, there would need to be a significant expansion of the conventional bus fleet. But ridership would be limited by both capacity and the lower appeal of the system, which would not provide any travel time advantage because buses would be stuck in the same traffic as cars. And as road congestion increases and buses take longer to get anywhere, more buses would need to be added just to maintain normal service frequency, adding further to the cost. Investment in transit priority measures would help, but the results would still fall well short of the outcomes that would be achieved by a rapid transit system.
41. What is the travel time advantage for rapid transit? A: The travel time advantage is significant, as shown in the following chart:
42. It seems the greatest advantage of the rapid transit system lies in the exclusive right-of-way. Why not just run existing buses on the exclusive transit way? A: It would be necessary to buy many more buses, which have much shorter life spans than LRT vehicles. Their per-passenger operating cost would start slightly higher than LRT, and grow to double the cost by 2038. And they would fall well short of reaching the targets for transit mode share and greenhouse gas reduction.
43. The highest demand seems to be on the Douglas Street corridor. Why not just focus on that part? A: There is little question that the highest travel demand is on Douglas Street itself. But a connection to the West Shore is essential to address the congestion and growth in travel to and from the West Shore.
44. What consultation has occurred with the public, and what has been done with the input? A: Consultation with the community has been extensive. It has included five rounds of public open houses in Victoria and the West Shore, attracting nearly 1,200 visitors, travelling displays on the Transit Future bus, which has greeted 4,200 visitors, dozens of meetings with municipal and CRD representatives, including staff and councils of all 13 Capital Region municipalities. In addition, regular meetings have been held with a 36-member Community Liaison Committee, which reflects a broad spectrum of the community and has acted as a “sounding board” for the project team. In addition, over 500 downtown businesses and 400 customers participated in a major survey in 2010 that provided valuable information about the expected implications of introducing a rapid transit route on Douglas Street in Saanich and Victoria. Feedback received from all these engagement activities has been incorporated and applied throughout the course of the project, and the results reflect the recurring themes supporting the concept of rapid transit and a preference for a rail-based solution.
45. How soon could construction begin? A: Funding would need to be secured first. The earliest likely start of construction would be two years from project approval.
46. Where would construction begin and how long will it take? A: Construction would likely begin with the major exchanges. With timely funding approval, the earliest a full LRT system could open is in four to five years.
47. How will construction affect businesses and other properties along the alignment? A: Construction will be managed much like a road-widening project in which access is maintained to businesses and other properties. All efforts will be made to minimize the effects of construction, and consultation on how to achieve that will occur with those affected beforehand. There will be diversions and periods of time when alternative routes will be necessary. Notifications will be provided in advance to prepare the community.
48. What will the service frequency be? A: The service will be high-frequency, every 5-10 minutes.
49. Where would stations be located? A: Final locations of stations have not been confirmed. The preliminary plans have included stations near major intersections and destinations.
50. What are some other key features of the system? A: Key features include: Exclusive transit way to bypass conventional road traffic, high-frequency service, all-day, every-day service, accessibility with level boarding at stations, off-board fare collection, all-door boarding and unloading, next stop and next train announcements.
51. What are the next steps? A: The conclusions and recommendations, including a strategy for staging implementation, will be finalized and presented to senior governments for funding approval.
52. How can I get more information on the project? A: Visit the project website at www.bctransit.com/vrrt.