Email from R. Nienaber Re: transportation corridors through View Royal
Correspondence from a resident suggesting the conversion of the E&N rail track to a dedicated asphalt bus lane.
transportation corridors through View Royal
From: R N
Sent: May-28-17 11:59 AM
To: Mayor And Council Email
Subject: transportation corridors through View Royal
Dear Mayor Screech
The intuitive choice of Douglas/Hwy 1 for a bus corridor could take years to put in place, and not deal with traffic to Esquimalt dockyard.
I want to ensure that all mayors have heard the recent brilliant suggestion from Chris Foord, formerly traffic safety commision, and transit commission. His idea could be put in place very quickly, at minimal cost compared to previous ideas.
A rail car on the E&N would be fuel inefficient (because rail is only efficient when it is not stop and go), costly to run, noisy for residences along the way, and could not provide frequent service because of the need to return the car on the same single track. Rail also requires transfers to buses upon arrival at the Johnson St bridge. The track also needs expensive rebuilding.
He has suggested that the track be replaced with asphalt on the railbed, and that many consecutive buses on that dedicated lane could carry many passenger very quickly and efficiently along a dramatic shortcut. They can then continue the rest of the 50x route by downtown roads. The current congestion is for inbound in the morning, and outbound in the afternoon. Therefore, every bus inbound in the morning could return west along the lesser congested westbound road routes currently in place. In the afternoon, the reverse would occur; westbound on the dedicated corridor, and return east to town on the regular road route. The route obviously would also have a stop to serve Esquimalt dockyard, solving that problem too.
To be clear, the track north of Langford is probably best left as rail, because it bypasses the malahat highway, and rail is better in the snow.
Thanks for your attention. R. Nienaber