Burnaby, B.C., council approves bus lane for 3-kilometre stretch of Hastings Street

Council in Burnaby, B.C., has approved a motion to install a dedicated bus lane on a three-kilometre stretch of Hastings Street between Delta Avenue and Duthie Avenue that would operate for 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

The motion, which passed unanimously Monday night, featured an amendment from the original, which sought to have a longer bus lane stretching another five blocks between Willingdon Avenue and Duthie Avenue.

Now, those blocks of Hastings Street could instead see "bus bulbs" — meaning the sidewalk would be bulged out into the travel lane at bus stops, maintaining much of the street parking in the area.

In writing the original motion, quoting transit authority TransLink, city staff said bus riders on Hastings Street face major delays with the current setup, in which a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane operates during weekday rush hours only.

Transit advocates favoured a curbside bus lane to run between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., seven days of the week, to alleviate those delays. Local businesses in the Burnaby Heights area, however, said the loss of curbside parking would significantly affect their businesses.

The motion that passed Monday struck somewhat of a compromise, keeping the proposed bus lane between Delta and Duthie avenues between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. all week. The stretch of Hastings west of Willingdon will keep the HOV lane that is currently in place.

"We're still happy that we're going to get a big stretch of bus lane on what is the most congested corridor in the region," said Denis Agar, the executive director of transit advocacy organization Movement, who added that it will make a big difference for people who ride the the R5, 160 and 134 bus routes.

Agar said, however, that including bus bulbs for one stretch would be a downgrade from the current HOV lane. He said Movement would continue to push for more improvements, as the motion that passed Monday asks for more consultation.

Isabel Kolic from the Heights Merchants Association said it was important for businesses in the area — and their customers — not to remove curbside parking entirely.

"Once you ixnay all the parking, you've hampered your seniors, you've hampered your people with children, you've hampered people with mobility difficulty and so on," she said.

Some councillors agreed it was crucial to keep curbside parking on the stretch between Willingdon and Delta avenues.

"They established their business based on the traffic coming from the neighbourhood, from around the city ..." said Coun. Sav Dhaliwal. "I think we are really talking about their livelihood."

North Shore-Metrotown route

The amended motion passed as TransLink continues to push for faster transit between Metro Vancouver's North Shore and Burnaby's Metrotown area — with the Burnaby Heights area, which is centred around the Hastings Street artery, in the middle of that route and set to play a major role in that discussion going forward.

TransLink said they conducted consultations in the area on the issue of a bus lane between 2021 and 2022, after Hastings Street was deemed to be in need of transit improvements — however, Kolic said the consultation was lacking in specifics, and Monday's motion came as a surprise to businesses.

The authority said that it has now secured regional funding for bus speed and reliability improvements in the area, which is why the motion came before council on Monday.

Staff in Burnaby have now been told to begin design work on the bus lane and bus bulbs, with a projected implementation by 2026, after consulting with people in the area.