Metro Vancouverites are expressing concerns about pedestrian safety around Metrotown after a man was hit by a transit bus near the Burnaby mall, leaving him seriously injured on Thursday.
According to Metro Vancouver Transit Police, authorities responded to a pedestrian struck by a bus in the 4500 block of Central Boulevard in Burnaby.
The man in his early 30s was trapped under the bus. He was rushed to hospital with “serious injuries” but is expected to survive.
Transit Police said they’re in the early stages of the investigation and are working alongside the Burnaby RCMP collision investigation team to determine what led to the collision.
This particular area is known for being busy with vehicles headed towards or leaving the mall. It is also the main entrance into the Metrotown bus loop. Transit Police told Daily Hive the accident occurred at the part of the intersection that does not have a marked crosswalk.
The arrow indicates where the incident occurred along 4500 Central Boulevard (Metro Vancouver Transit Police)
A few metres away, the 4600 block at Central Boulevard serves as a main source of pedestrian traffic and an access point to the mall, Metrotown Station, and the east entrance of the bus loop.
The crosswalk is steps away from the defunct pedestrian bridge, which served as a convenient and safe passageway connecting pedestrians to the mall and the area’s transit hubs.
The 4500 block of Central Boulevard (Google Maps)
However, the bridge was structurally cut off from the station in 2016 and hasn’t been replaced or reopened.
The City of Burnaby budgeted $17.25 million for a new overpass in its 2019-2023 Capital Plan.
The now-defunct Metrotown overpass (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
In a 2019 interview, Ed Kozak, the director of planning and building for the City of Burnaby, told Daily Hive the exact design and location of the bridge was “a difficult question to answer because there are a lot of moving parts.”
But fast-forward to 2025, and no new bridge has been built, as the old one remains awkwardly cut off, leading to a dead end above Central Boulevard.
“Gong show” at Metrotown crossing
Following news of the bus accident on Thursday, Metro Vancouverites spoke out about their safety concerns regarding the area.
“It’s been discussed ad nauseam, but the crossing at Metrotown has been such a gong show since they expanded the SkyTrain station and disconnected the sky bridge,” said one person on Reddit.
Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive
Another individual said that “blocking off the bridge and only having the option to cross at street level now is so ridiculous.”
“The whole design of it is stupid with how busy Metrotown Station is… having to go downstairs, cross the street, and go through the bus loop with hordes of people,” they added.
“I wonder how many more human sacrifices are needed to build the walkway,” wrote one Redditor.
Many others echoed these sentiments, hoping this incident would serve as a push to reopen or rebuild the overpass.
Concerns raised about pedestrian safety
In November, Metrotown’s security manager, Breanna Guy, spoke out about the safety concerns she had for pedestrians crossing along Central Boulevard.
Guy noted that the area is becoming increasingly congested with vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
“For pedestrians, there is a significant amount of volume that comes through here based on the Metrotown Station being the second busiest [station in the region]. This significantly increases during the peak hours … after 5 pm and evenings and weekend,” Guy stated during the November 21 transportation committee meeting.
“We’ve quite frequently seen dangerous actions taken by pedestrians in order to catch a train or make an appointment at Metrotown,” she continued.
Guy also presented two videos to the committee to demonstrate just how busy the crosswalk and intersection area get at non-peak times.
Guy’s first video showed footage of the crosswalk at non-peak times. (Breanna Guy)
The first video showed pedestrians walking outside the marked crosswalk while a vehicle attempted to turn right onto Central Boulevard after exiting the mall parkade. When the crosswalk signal flashed the orange hand symbol, indicating a “do not cross” warning, people continued to cross the street.
The second video showed a different view of the same crosswalk during non-peak hours. Pedestrians could be seen cutting corners to get to the station, while vehicles could not exit the parkade, turning right. When the light turned green, three individuals continued to try to cross the street.
Guy’s second video showed dangerous actions from some pedestrians at the crosswalk. (Breanna Guy)
Guy said her team brought its concerns to the city’s engineering department in 2023. “However, the response wasn’t ideal and [they] didn’t really see any improvement as a result of trying to reach out,” she said.
An internal traffic plan was also developed by Metropolis at Metrotown, and traffic control personnel was implemented to assist with the plan, she added.
Guy presented the committee with several recommendations, noting that she and her team would like to collaborate with the City of Burnaby to address the safety concerns.
She also highlighted potential solutions to explore, including adjusting signal operations at peak hours and the consideration of a pedestrian overpass or underpass.
During the meeting, a city representative noted that overhauling the entire intersection is outside the city’s capital budget.
In response to Daily Hive’s request for comment, the City of Burnaby said that while it did look into removing the bridge, it was later confirmed to be owned by Ivanhoe-Cambridge.
“Any decisions involving removing the bridge or rebuilding it would need to be answered by the ownership group,” added a city spokesperson.
Daily Hive has reached out to Ivanhoe-Cambridge for further comment.
With files from Kenneth Chan