Why SkyTrain to UBC
Thousands of people commute to UBC each day
The daytime population of the Vancouver campus is over 83,000—about the same size as most of BC’s mid-size cities. There are more than 80,000 students, faculty and staff living in municipalities across Metro Vancouver, which results in over 150,000 daily trips to and from UBC. Close to 82,000 are on transit. About of those travelling to and from UBC each day come from outside the City of Vancouver.
TransLink data consistently shows five of the top ten busiest bus routes in Metro Vancouver serve UBC. This massive volume of UBC-bound traffic is clogging things up, causing long, slow commutes for people who use the Broadway and adjacent corridors and lower productivity for businesses in the area.
83,000 people on campus each day
over 150,000 daily trips to/from
54% (81,000+) of all trips are on transit
Busiest bus exchange in Metro Vancouver
22,000 daily weekday transit boardings
1100 buses a day
Congestion and overcrowding is slowing the B-Line
Increasing congestion and overcrowding
is leading to slower 99 B-Line speeds every year
4,000 people per hour will be left waiting
for overcrowded buses to go the rest of the way to UBC
A seamless, rapid connection to UBC meets the need
The Broadway Subway project will extend the Millennium Line SkyTrain to Arbutus Street, ending in the middle of a residential neighbourhood. Travellers headed to UBC will have to transfer to B-Line buses, which will follow the current route of the 99 B-Line through Point Grey to campus.
Technical analyses reveal that these buses will be over capacity on opening day. Extending SkyTrain service to UBC would eliminate this inefficient and inconvenient transfer to the B-Line buses at Arbutus. Passengers will benefit from faster, more convenient transit times, and the businesses and residents along the Broadway corridor will benefit from less noise and congestion.
TransLink estimates that by 2050, a SkyTrain extension to UBC would carry 130,000 per day between Arbutus Street and UBC; similar ridership to the entire Canada Line today. The central campus SkyTrain station is projected to be busier on opening day than any current SkyTrain station is today, with about 10,000 people per hour arriving during the morning rush by 2045. This is more than double today’s peak-hour arrivals at the networks busiest stations.
SkyTrain is the only technology with room to meet future demand along the corridor beyond about 2045, especially if the region is successful in achieving the TransLink target of 50% of all trips by sustainable modes by that same time. Learn more about the selection of SkyTrain technology for the extension of rapid transit to UBC.