Of course an express bus route from Metrotown+to+Park+Royal should have been established before the 1990s. Unfortunatly, Vancouver & BC mover very slowly towards getting various things done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapidBus_(TransLink)#Metrotown_to_North_Shore
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/burnaby-metrotown-park-royal-brt-route-translink
https://www.vancouversnorthshore.com/park-royal , https://parkroyal.ca/
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/new-westminster-marine-drive-marine-way-brt-22nd-street-station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre#Transportation
There still should have been a Canada+Line extension from Vancouver to West Vancouver.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-ndp-bus-rapit-transit-route-west-vancouver
Either a new bus, HOV & train bridge has to be built, or a new much wider Iron Bridge is essential.
However, there should also be a train between Horseshoe+Bay and the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre with a link to downtown Vancouver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge A nice 8 lane bridge with 2 train tracks was possible in Montreal, because its far away from the stunted infrastructure agenda of Vancouver & the backwater BC mentality. Any new Iron Bridge should be at least as wide as the New_Champlain_Bridge_in_Montreal.
Of course people from Vancouver are allowed to visit Montreal, but the backward BC mentality just isn't allowed to take over Quebec, Ontario or Alberta.
There should have been an official plan to extend the Canada embarrassment Line to the Park+Royal+Shopping+Centre and the Horseshoe+Bay ferry terminal. Unfortunatly, Vancouver and the metropolitan region isn't a normal city with proper urban transportation planning.
While a rapid bus line connecting Metrotown+to+Park+Royal is a good idea, a rapid rail transit line between the Horseshoe+Bay+ferry+terminal and downtown Vancouver must be considered an essential link, someday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Exchange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R2_Marine_Dr
It is utterly foolish and inept to not extend an improved Canada+Line to the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe+Bay ferry terminal.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/capilano-mall-redevelopment-concept-proposal-north-vancouver-ocp
https://www.realestatenorthshore.com/news/market-minute/capilano-malls-big-makeover/
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/capilano-mall-north-vancouver-redevelopment-concept-quadreal
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-regional-district-governance-reform-deloitte-report
Why put an adequate amount of funds towards the regional transportation infrastructure, when it can be wasted on other things? That's what inept regional planning is suppose to do. Fortunately, most urban areas around the world try to avoid such a foolish approach.
There should be a 40-60 year audit to determine why Metro Vancouver doesn't have long, high capacity trains that real proper cities have.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11194788/metro-vancouver-board-changes-report/
There would also have to be an audit of the mismanagement over the past several decades to determine why Metro Vancouver doesn't have a regional network of bus & HOV bridges.
https://vancouversun.com/news/metro-vancouver-vows-change-consultants-report
https://www.nsnews.com/opinion/editorial-metro-vancouver-is-more-than-the-wastewater-boondoggle-10176971 So much extra money went towards a shit-box & a shit-pipe, that should have gone towards an express bus & high capacity train tunnel between Vancouver & Park Royal & the ferry terminal.
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/consultant-releases-damning-report-on-metro-vancouver-governance This is shit-box planning & funding at its best. Apparently, all this regional B$ was to just keep going on until enough people started to realize that something is wrong in Vancouver & BC.
The LGB has to be the worst or at least one of the worst traffic bottlenecks & chokepoints on the planet. Over the course of the past several decades, there should have been a bus and HOV tunnel and then a train tunnel close to the alignment of the LGB.
Seven lanes of Georgia+Street funneled into a 3 lane LGB is nuts! The LGB is already a nice bike bridge, with sidewalks, but it should also be a bus bridge. That would be possible if a proper big city tunnel was built. An eight-lane-tunnel would really help the LGB.
Of course in both cases, the Lion Bridge was never expanded, twinned or duplicated & the M Tunnel (H-99) wasn't replace with a 10 lane bridge. Unfortunatly, no serious consideration for rail rapid transit was considered for both crossings. It was as if the regional & BC governments just didn't think it was that important to have a train from the Horseshoe+Bay+ferry+terminal and the Park+Royal+Shopping+Centre to Vancouver-International-Airport. Just like not having a train from the Tsawwassen+ferry+terminal and Tsawwassen+Mills to the airport.
Despite Richmond,_British_Columbia having YVR, its as if no one really considered that Richmond should be a major intermodal transportation hub. Proper Transportation Planning has always been lacking in backwards BC.
https://www.theprogress.com/news/province-receives-business-case-for-new-massey-crossing-1911335
https://www.highway99tunnel.ca While an 8 lane tunnel is a good start as the first phase, eventually there will have to be a train, bus & bike bridge (or tunnel) next to it.
https://www.highway99tunnel.ca/project-overview-frt Then the H-99 tunnel could be 3 lanes each way with the 4th as a HOV lane. A new parallel bridge (or tunnel) could then have 2 rapid bus lanes, as well as 2 wide sidewalks & 2 wide bike-lanes. Extra width could allow for eventually 2 tracks, 2 HOV lanes, in addition to the 2 bus lanes. That would enable the H-99 tunnel to ultimately have 4 general lanes each way in a later phase. Of course it would have been better to do things correct right from the start, but that goes against the backwards BC mentality.
Its so sad that there was never a proper big city vision to have an airport+train connect to both ferry terminals.
"A SkyTrain from downtown to Horseshoe Bay would provide a solution to the North Shore’s traffic crisis,..." https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/letter-horseshoe-bay-skytrain-north-vancouver-7753960
When the decision and implementation to put a major ferry terminal at Horseshoe_Bay in West_Vancouver was done, there didn't seem to be any sense of proper long-range urban transportation planning. It didn't matter if it was 2010 or 2020, there still seemed to be no need to build or at least an official plan for a rail rapid transit connection between the Horseshoe+Bay+ferry+terminal, Park Royal, downtown Vancouver and YVR.
https://www.vancouversnorthshore.com/neighbourhood/horseshoe-bay
https://www.bcferries.com/routes-fares/schedules/daily/HSB-NAN
The lack of an official plan to eventually link the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal and the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal to YVR might as well be just another science fiction story.
The Greater Victoria, Swartz_Bay_ferry_terminal should also have a long-term plan for an intercity rail link to Downtown_Victoria and connect with the Duke_Point_ferry_terminal and the Departure_Bay_ferry_terminal in Nanaimo.
For some reason, Vancouver, Victoria and BC in general, doesn't seem to want to be a leader in transportation planning & development.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/false-creek-ferries-aquabus-vancouver
The concept of having False_Creek_Ferries was a good idea right from the start.
https://granvilleisland.com/directory/false-creek-ferries
https://granvilleislandferries.bc.ca/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Creek_Ferries#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aquabus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Bay_Launch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Island#Transportation
Greater Vancouver needs a lot of redundancy or overlapping transportation options.
The SeaBus should be at least every 10 minutes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaBus#Terminals
There should also be a ferry from Deep+Cove to Downtown_Vancouver and even from the Park+Royal area to downtown. The bridges easily get so jammed up & just 1 SeaBus route isn't enough.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-regional-district-governance-review-changes
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/metro-vancouver-treatment-plan-audit-1.7239051 Why have a train tunnel fromWest Vancouver to Waterfront_Station in Vancouver when instead, you can put a few extra billion dollars into a North Shore shit-pipe?
"The reasons behind the escalation are the subject of duelling lawsuits between the contractor Metro Vancouver fired and the regional district, but the now $3.9 billion is five times beyond the original $700 million budget Metro set a decade ago and more than double a revised $1 billion budget from 2021.
The issue’s complexity lies in the fact that Metro Vancouver’s sewage treatment services are broken up into four sewerage areas, unlike the drinking water system that is operated as a single entity.
The sewerage areas are: North Shore; Vancouver, which includes UBC and parts of Burnaby and Richmond; Lulu, which is most of Richmond and Fraser, which is most other Metro municipalities.
All municipalities pay for the capital costs of new facilities, but those within each district pay a bigger share for facilities in their own district." https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/metro-vancouver-will-pay-for-north-shore-sewage-plant
https://www.nsnews.com/in-the-community/north-vancouver-district-asks-province-for-public-inquiry-on-sewage-plant-debacle-9777554 So much extra money will have to be paid out for a shit-box & a shit-pipe cost overrun. A few extra billion dollars could have easily paid for an improved Canada+Line and extension from downtown Vancouver to Park+Royal and the Horseshoe+Bay ferry terminal.
https://vancouversun.com/news/new-westminster-mayor-sides-with-metro-vancouver-in-surrey-spat Surrey wants to eventually become the biggest city in BC. That means not having similar restrictions that Vancouver, NW & Victoria have. Surrey wants to have taller buildings than restrictive Vancouver. First, it will have to rival Burnaby & Bellevue, WA and ultimately, Vaughan, Ontario. Instead of having 1 big downtown area, there will be a few town centres as well.
While Surrey might want to have more autonomy, its still part of the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District.
There is North_Vancouver_(city) and then there is North_Vancouver_(district_municipality).
https://dailyhive.com/canada/canada-most-liveable-cities-ranking-2024
As long as you have everything you need on the North Shore, you are fine. Otherwise, you will be punished for using the inadequate The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge.
https://www.upperlonsdale.ca/blog/87130/north-vancouver-ranked-1-in-canada
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/article-canada-most-livable-city-north-vancouver/
Unfortunatly, transportation planners haven't seen a need to link Horseshoe Bay and Park Royal with downtown Vancouver. Indeed, a direct LRT connection from the North_Shore_of Greater_Vancouver to YVR might as well be part of a Sci-Fi story. However, multigenerational congestive planning in Vancouver is a harsh reality.
A 3 lane Lion Bridge never had any bus tunnels & especially an LRT line built far under it. The bridge is too narrow to accommodate one, let alone 2 proper bus lanes. This is the finest in BC bottleneck stagnation planning.
The Iron_Bridge was built too narrow for an urban TCH crossing. Unfortunatly, no one planned or designed it to eventually have a lower deck for buses, trains & trucks.
https://www.cnv.org/streets-transportation/travel-options/transit A bus and truck bridge should have been built next to the Iron Bridge, decades ago. Why do that, when you can cram everything into just 3 lanes each way?
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/rapid-transit-projects/bus-rapid-transit
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-skytrain-burrard-inlet-rapid-transit-brt-lrt-study
https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/opinion-lrt-remains-the-best-option-for-north-shore-rapid-transit-9643033 Of course a train would be able to move many more people efficiently.
https://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/a-letter-to-north-shore-mayors
Fortunately, most real cities around the world aren't affected by anything like the Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV). Thus, they are able to have at least one major regional train or commuter line directly extend from their downtown (CBD) and cross a river or inlet...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth)#Railway_bridge:_2005 WA
https://www.wsp.com/en-us/projects/i-90-track-bridge Seattle, WA.
Unfortunatly, a YVR-Canada-Line to Park Royal and the ferry terminal would make too much sense in backwards BC.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=North+Shore-Metrotown+SkyTrain+Line
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2018005-eng.htm
Despite being the 2nd largest nation in overall area, Canada is far off from housing just 1% of the world's population.
There aren't enough big cities in the vastness of Canada.
It's strange that Halifax hasn't become a big city like Boston or Montreal. Since the 2020s, a lot more people work from home and there isn't always an industrial base in major urban areas. More people are retiring and like people working from home, might like living in a town of 1000-10,000 people just as easily as a city with over a 1,000,000 people. The point being, that the top 30 towns in Canada could be built up to at least a million people each. Winnipeg has yet to have a million people. Then the top 10 cities could be built up to 5-10 population regions. Greater Montreal has yet to reach the 5 million point and the Greater Toronto Area has yet to reach 10 million people like Greater Chicago or, CHICAGOLAND. The San_Francisco_Bay_Area is getting close to having 10 million people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_municipalities_in_Canada_by_population Vancouver is only the 8th most populated city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_census_metropolitan_areas_and_agglomerations_in_Canada#List However, the Greater Vancouver Region is still the 3rd largest urban area in Canada. Yet, it's so far behind with the necessary infrastructure. Indeed, When Greater Toronto & Greater Montreal each exceeded the 3 million point, they had longer trains & wider roads. It seems that Vancouver & BC in general, have perpetually opted for a congestive planning approach.
Will Canada's Next Prime Minister be Pierre Poilievre? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dck8eZCpglc
Why is anti-immigration sentiment on the rise in Canada? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txyjmNXcWiU
https://www.norden.org/en/information/population-nordic-region
https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/population-growth-in-the-nordics Whether its Canada or the Nordic_Countries, places with cold winters can accommodate a lot of people. However, without setting up the proper amount of infrastructure first, its utterly foolish.
Canada hasn't kept up with building enough school & hospital facilities, as well as the overall necessary infrastructure.
https://www.definitivehc.com/resources/healthcare-insights/top-largest-canadian-hospitals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_General_Hospital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foothills_Medical_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Hospital_and_Health_Sciences_Centre#Facilities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul's_Hospital_(Vancouver) , https://helpstpauls.com/why-give/new-st-pauls-hospital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Health#Regional_hospitals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Memorial_Hospital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Columbian_Hospital
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