Editor,
I drive along Highway 99 on a nearly daily basis, both for commuting and for purposes of general travel, as do so many residents south of the Fraser. As such, I am well familiar with the struggles of traffic congestion, especially around the George Massey Tunnel, but I can say with certainty that the cause of the problem is not the Bus-Only lanes.
It鈥檚 true that many people choose to drive in the South Fraser region, but this is a trend that we should be working to change. Transit can carry drastically more people than cars relative to the footprint they take up.
The fact that the double-decker buses that run on the 351 can comfortably carry over 80 people while taking up the space of just over two cars does a fantastic job of portraying the inefficiencies of car travel.
Now, the 351 rarely carries a full bus of people, but this is something we can change! The best way to get people to consider taking transit is to make transit better, and a great way to do that is to get the buses out of vehicle traffic.
It is worth noting that some of the most congested portions of Highway 99 do not have bus lanes. Namely southbound in Richmond between Westminster Hwy and the tunnel, northbound between Highway 17 and the tunnel, and southbound between the Highway 91 interchange and King George Boulevard.
With this in mind, we should be (and are) working to expand bus lanes region-wide. There is a bus lane going in along Highway 99 southbound in Richmond already, changing the defunct HOV lane to a regular lane for everyone.
Nowadays, HOV lanes have lost their worth. Since single-occupant EVs can use them, the vast adoption of EVs in the region means that there are just as many single-occupant vehicles in the HOV lanes as regular cars in regular lanes.
People can see this first hand along Highway 1 and Highway 99 during rush hour, where their HOV lanes move at practically the same speed as the rest of traffic.
If we, as a region, want to be serious about moving the increasing numbers of people coming to the area, then we cannot keep with the status quo. Bus lanes might not be the full solution, but they are critical pieces of infrastructure when it comes to moving people.
Arden English, White Rock
馃摙 SOUND OFF: Got an opinion about bus lanes on Highway 99 鈥� or any other local issue?
