Relief could be in sight for bus-riding residents stranded on Coquitlam’s Burke Mountain.
TransLink’s latest draft plan shows additional stops along the C30 line that would link the under-serviced neighbourhood with the future Lafarge Lake-Douglas Evergreen Line station.
So far, the route is just a line on a map but Dan Mooney, Coquitlam’s manager of transportation, said that by making some adjustments to service hours in the Pacific Reach industrial area, TransLink would be able to free up some buses for the northeast section of the city.
“They assure us there are funding resources available,” he said during Monday’s council meeting.
Currently, the C30 departs from Coquitlam Station and travels west on Lougheed Highway, turning north onto Westwood Street and then on to Pipeline Road before looping around Dunkirk Avenue and Gabriola Drive in the New Horizons subdivision and heading back to the station.
Under TransLink’s draft plan, the route would continue up Pipeline Road to David Avenue before heading east up Burke Mountain. At the top of the hill, the C30 would take a left on Princeton Avenue and loop back to David via Coast Meridian Road. A city staff report said the line is expected to operate every 30 minutes during peak-traffic periods.
The new route was welcome news for councillors, although several said the city will have to continue to push for improved service in the area.
“It is a start but [TransLink] needs to realize it needs to be better than this,” said Coun. Brent Asmundson, who lives on Burke Mountain and is a bus driver with Coast Mountain Bus Company.
Coun. Craig Hodge, another Burke Mountain resident, concurred, noting that service is still years behind for the growing neighbourhood.
“Money is tight, I get that,” he said. “But we are still playing catch-up.”
No new net bus service hours are proposed in the TransLink draft plan and many of the service changes outlined in the document are a result of buses being freed up by the opening of the Evergreen Line.
Another change outlined in the report is the elimination of a proposed bus route that would have connected the city with Port Moody via Thermal Drive. Coquitlam had been against the proposal, noting there are not enough curbs, sidewalks and streetlights in the area to make the bus route work.
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