The implementation of priority bus lanes along Douglas Street has not lived up to expectations, but that doesn鈥檛 mean the concept should be abandoned. Public transit is an essential component of regional transportation, and as the population grows, it will become even more important.
The concept is simple enough: At certain times of the day, the designated lanes are restricted to buses and cyclists, the idea being that the buses in dedicated lanes will move more people than general traffic lanes, alleviating rush-hour congestion.
The execution of the concept is not so simple, for many reasons, and the Douglas Street bus lanes are often clogged with cars during the heavy commuting times.
Part of the problem is the intermittent nature of the lane designations: The restrictions are in effect from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the southbound lane, and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the northbound lane. The designation applies only to certain portions of Douglas 鈥� from Hillside Avenue to Fisgard Street for the southbound lane, and from Fisgard to Tolmie Avenue for the northbound lane.
So as a driver, you have to keep track of where you are and what time it is to determine which lane you should use. Sure, there are signs installed along priority lanes and there are diamond markings on the pavement, but there is already a profusion of signs along the busy street, and traffic quickly scours the markings to near-invisibility.
Couple that with the necessity to keep an eye out for other cars, cyclists and pedestrians, and it鈥檚 easy to reach sensory overload. The signs won鈥檛 register readily with drivers who haven鈥檛 read about the lanes in the newspaper or heard about them from other sources. Visitors could be easily confused. Drivers entering Douglas from side streets might not encounter the signs.
Having said that, most people obey the rules, but it takes only a few lawbreakers, inadvertent or otherwise, to defeat the purpose of the dedicated lanes.
Even if everyone complies with the rules, it鈥檚 complicated. A private vehicle may enter the priority lane to make a right turn. Stay in the lane for more than a block, however, and in the eyes of the police, you鈥檙e breaking the law.
But a wise driver doesn鈥檛 wait until the last minute to make a lane change, so a block might not be enough.
And if you鈥檙e turning right into the priority lane, it might take you more than a block to get over to the next lane.
Police aren鈥檛 writing a lot of tickets for bus-lane hogs, though.
鈥淔rom a traffic-enforcement perspective, we must ensure that every ticket we write will provide a substantial likelihood of conviction,鈥� says a police department email to a frustrated transit commuter who asked why there wasn鈥檛 more enforcement. 鈥淭he current signage and road markings do not allow for that.鈥�
Police are working with the city on those issues.
These are growing pains. There are few instant solutions to the problem of growing traffic congestion. The priority lanes have been implemented in phases, and will be in effect on both sides of Douglas by the end of 2017.
So let鈥檚 not give up. Buses account for three per cent of the vehicles travelling Douglas, says B.C. Transit, yet carry 40 per cent of the people at peak times. That shows the vision of a transit corridor from Fisgard to Uptown is well worth pursuing.
