Public transit is an odd puzzle piece in downtown revitalization efforts
Efforts to make downtown Vancouver a place people want to go include lots of aesthetic changes, and the parties involved generally agree on the vision. But what to do with the unsightly transit center and all those busses? That’s another story.
Downtown improvement projects such as Main Street Rediscovered focus on widening sidewalks and creating a friendly pedestrian environment—changes conducive to a vital downtown area. These projects are attracting new businesses, to be certain.
Public involvement manager for Normandeau Assoc., Karen Ciosoia, said public meetings have shown business owners are making a conscious decision to put their businesses downtown—a condition due in large part to the improvement projects. But some say talk of removing the Seventh Street public transit center, which brings 3,000 people downtown each day, would be counter-productive.
"The city doesn’t think the transit center fits well with the revitalization project," said C-TRAN Communications Director Scott Patterson. The public transit firm has been working with the city regarding the future of downtown, and is in the midst of a study to determine how best to redesign its service route plan. Funding is in place to relocate the transit center to a location near 65th Avenue and Fourth Plain Boulevard. C-TRAN is in the permitting process to make the move sometime in the spring.
"It is safe to say that the transit center will no longer function as such in the downtown area," Patterson said.
Along with the 3,000 commuters, another nearly 6,000 pass through downtown through the center each day. That number is the cause for debate on the future of the center. The idea is that such a large amount of passers-through invites trouble, and does not lend itself to a vital and attractive downtown center.
"There have been problems with how the (Seventh Street) transit center has been handled," said City of Vancouver transportation planning manager Matt Ransom. "If you’ve talked with some of the business owners downtown, then I’m sure you know what those problems are."
The Esther Short Neighborhood Association has been a major proponent of removal of the transit center, citing police records that show 794 criminal incidents occurred in the neighborhood in the year 2005. Of those, 48 occurred at or near the Seventh Street transit center. Association president Tom Jones said it’s not unusual to experience problems with a major bus terminal in an urban center.
"Sure, it invites crime," he said. "And of course all the kids hang around on the corner (near the transit center) and harass people."
Jones also cited the excess diesel fumes and noise as a reason to remove the center. As an alternative, he said he would like to see a shuttle system to accommodate commuters coming in from the relocated center.
Restaurant owner and executive chef Zsolt Barabas, who opened Café Al Dente at 907 Main St. almost two months ago, feels the transit center—and all that it brings—is a part of any well-designed urban center.
"That’s what downtowns are," Barabas said. "You’re going to have those kinds of characters. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, having it there."
Barabas said he is excited for the changes in downtown, and said he feels it will be like the Pearl District in Portland when it is fully realized. His prediction may be correct; unlike The Pearl, which was nothing but rail yards before revitalization, downtown Vancouver is already zoned for retail commerce. One thing downtown has in common with The Pearl is an existing transit center. Patterson said comparisons with Portland’s Pearl District are common, and that the public transit model there should be considered.
"It’s an important part of the puzzle," he said. "Somewhere along the line, something is getting lost in translation. I think a lot of people are caught up in what downtown will ‘look like’ in the future, and they aren’t considering the huge investment in public transit made in successful urban areas."
Ransom agrees that public transit is key to any urban area. How it is done, he said, is the bigger question.
"What the city and C-TRAN are working on is what the look of that service will be."
The look of the service is a thing Barabas in not concerned with. He just wants the crowds.
"The more people come downtown, it benefits everybody," he said.
