So much competition, but on any short list, the Phibbs Exchange in the District of North Vancouver would be highly ranked.
Isolated, decayed, desolate, intimidating, no services, and no washroom. (It’s here.)
But there’s hope.
Are you a transit rider? Do you commute through Phibbs Exchange?
Drop by this Open House to learn more about what’s happening with the upgrades out at one of North Vancouver’s most critical transit hubs and let TransLink planners know what you think.
Phibbs Exchange Open House with TransLink
Thursday, July 19th from 4PM – 6PM
5-221 W Esplanade, North Vancouver, V7M 3J3The format will be influenced by attendance so advanced registration is preferred.
(Walk-ins still welcome.)
Photo credit: North Shore News
A couple of years ago , when I was part of the now defunct District of North Van Transportation Committee, we attended a meeting at which Translink presented their vision for the new Phibbs Exchange. I think that everyone at the meeting was dumbfounded by what was missing.
– No washrooms, except possibly inside the coffee shop on the site. Translink went so far as to say that the plans included washrooms, but there was no budget included to actually build them.
– No Park and Ride, or Kiss and Ride drop off areas. Want to drive to the exchange, park, and change to the bus before the bridge? No luck. Want to drop off a family member on your way to another destination? Forget it. The North Shore has been designed and built for cars, and the lack of transitional infrastructure to move drivers out of cars and onto transit seems like big mistake.
The real gobsmacking mistake though was the placement of the bike lane that runs through the Phibbs exchange. Main Street busses will be stopping on the south side of the chevron to pick up and drop off passengers. Other busses will be pulling into the loop above the chevron and parallel to Main Street to pick up and drop off their passengers. People transferring busses will walk between the two sides of the chevron.
The planned bike lanes ran right between the two pickup/drop off areas, so pedestrian (and disabled) traffic would be constantly crossing the bike lane at right angles, and in front of commuting bikes.
Admittedly this was back in the Liberal era, when transit was a dirty word, but it still speaks to a culture that makes plans from within a bubble with no thought to consulting with the people who will use the facility until after decisions have been made.
There were many more obvious problems – obvious to actual transit users – most of which seem to remain in the Conceptual Design Study. Those tend to be the features whose execution is described as “Fair” or at best “Good.”
Every bus from West Vancouver to Vancouver terminates at the old Post Office where no one wants to go. It is a miserable dark place to wait at 10:30 on a winter night for a bus home. No rest rooms. The Blue Bus supervisors don’t want to provide good service in my opinion and expect everyone to be able to walk a long way to or from their destination even when there are mobility issues.