Frequent occurrences of long waits and pass-ups on the No. 23 bus route serving the downtown Vancouver peninsula could be a thing of the past by next year.
TransLink has confirmed its selected strategy of enabling the conversion of the No. 23 Main Street/English Bay bus route from its current use of a small community shuttle bus vehicle to a regular-sized conventional 40-ft bus with a higher capacity.
The No. 23 is a key route that serves the West End neighbourhood, particularly the beach and waterfront areas along North False Creek and English Bay. It runs between the Expo Line’s Main Street-Science World Station and English Bay (the vicinity of the intersection of Davie and Denman streets) with a connection at the Canada Line’s Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.
As part of the bus vehicle size upgrade, TransLink previously proposed essentially doubling the length of the bus route by moving its western terminus from the English Bay area to Burrard Station from continuing the service along Denman, Robson, and Burrard streets, but this option is no longer being pursued.
The general existing route terminating at English Bay will be maintained with the use of the 40-ft buses, but there will still be some changes, including shifting the westbound route from Keefer to Expo Boulevard between Quebec Street and Pat Quinn Way. Due to traffic lane widths and curbside street parking, 40-ft buses are too large to travel in both directions on Keefer Street. The westbound service running along Beach Avenue will be kept.
No. 23 Main Street/English Bay bus using a community shuttle bus vehicle. (TransLink | Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Construction will begin in late Summer 2024 to perform some road works to accommodate the 40-ft buses, including a section of Bidwell Street where the buses turn around, but cannot currently handle the weight of the larger buses.
After the road works are completed, the No. 23’s upgrade to the 40-ft buses will occur in 2025.
The No. 23 sees the highest ridership for any bus route that regularly uses the small community shuttle buses, and it is also the highest frequency for a bus route that uses such smaller vehicles.
Each community shuttle bus has a small capacity for only between 20 and 24 seated passengers, with zero standing capacity. In contrast, the 40-ft, two-door bus has an overall capacity for more than 50 passengers, including about 35 seated.
In 2023, the No. 23 recorded a total of 1.384 million boardings, with averages of 4,060 boardings per weekday, 3,600 per Saturday, and 2,850 per Sunday/holiday, making it TransLink’s 55th busiest bus route out of about 200 bus routes. This is up 1.129 million boardings in 2022, with averages of 3,300 per weekday, 2,990 per Saturday, and 2,330 per Sunday/holiday.
To address the long lines and pass-ups, TransLink has been increasing the frequency of the existing No. 23 service using the community shuttle buses. But this has proven to be an inefficient use of capacity, as it has only led to multiple buses bunching up, with pass-ups remaining an issue and the smaller vehicles unable to handle surges in ridership throughout the day.