no shuttle bus to downtown events (Vancouver, Lacey: house, neighborhoods, subdivisions)

[jertheber]

I called C Tran this AM to inquire about possible shuttle bus service to Turtle Place in downtown Vancouver, NO, there isn't any, but they have shuttles to the baseball game in Ridgefield...Over one thousand cars today for the cruise in, coupled with the Saturday Market crowds, but C Tran can't fathom the need for shuttle service. Hard to believe that this city can be taken seriously as an emergent destination point when we have such limited parking and poor bus service.

I was told to take the bus from Van Mall transit center to downtown--57-- minutes..We have a huge parking problem that could easily be accommodated by express bus service from the burbs, 57 minutes both ways is not an incentive to spend money in the city. We'll go elsewhere today, but I'd rather spend time in my own town..

[notnamed]

Uber/Lyft is a great option. Get there just as fast without worrying about parking.

[StealthRabbit]

I have only had parking issues in Vancouver, wa on 4th of July. Yesterday Cruz + Farmer's market I was parked < 1 BLK away each event. No traffic problems if I stay on the exit side of event,.

[jertheber]

Originally Posted by notnamed

Uber/Lyft is a great option. Get there just as fast without worrying about parking.

Yeah, I'm not an Uber or Lyft user yet, but I can see a time when that might be the only do-able means of transportation into any city. Cars are becoming a huge problem in most cities, and much of the traffic could be reduced by the use of efficient public transportation, especially when huge crowds will be attending local events..

[jertheber]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

I have only had parking issues in Vancouver, wa on 4th of July. Yesterday Cruz + Farmer's market I was parked < 1 BLK away each event. No traffic problems if I stay on the exit side of event,.

In the past I could always find parking someplace close to Esther Short Park, or in the uptown area, but as infill-building continues, parking will become a very real consideration for the merchants as well as the public. Most of America doesn't use public transportation, but, the expectation of our cars being a suitable means of transportation has come to be a real challenge in most cities.

[StealthRabbit]

Agree that there is plenty of room for improved Public transportation / alternative to cars in Vancouver, WA.

Ridership / habits cannot yet justify the schedule / capital investment.

Ironically... there WAS a great rail line from Battleground to Downtown Vancouver which the regional planners should have turned into mass transit (elevated / quick / safe). Had MAX built a dedicated right-of-way North Portland loop (instead of surface street Interstate Ave Light Rail)... Battleground to downtown Portland could have been achieved <30 min. (Either via 205 / existing transit ready) or a future I-5 link.

What are your views? What would you like done about downtown access? (I have connections with the city and planners that I can pass along your suggestions)

[notnamed]

Originally Posted by jertheber

Yeah, I'm not an Uber or Lyft user yet, but I can see a time when that might be the only do-able means of transportation into any city. Cars are becoming a huge problem in most cities, and much of the traffic could be reduced by the use of efficient public transportation, especially when huge crowds will be attending local events..

Yeah we often do that for Portland excursions as well. So much less hassle not having to find parking. Plus we can both get a couple drinks at a bar that way.

[jertheber]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Agree that there is plenty of room for improved Public transportation / alternative to cars in Vancouver, WA.

Ridership / habits cannot yet justify the schedule / capital investment.

Ironically... there WAS a great rail line from Battleground to Downtown Vancouver which the regional planners should have turned into mass transit (elevated / quick / safe). Had MAX built a dedicated right-of-way North Portland loop (instead of surface street Interstate Ave Light Rail)... Battleground to downtown Portland could have been achieved <30 min. (Either via 205 / existing transit ready) or a future I-5 link.

What are your views? What would you like done about downtown access? (I have connections with the city and planners that I can pass along your suggestions)

I'm concerned that Vancouver/Clark County will follow the auto-centric cities of America and build more parking lots/garages rather than incorporate a transit alternative to taking one's car into town. Vancouver city council's, Transportation Benefit District, is aimed at transportation improvement and should include concerns beyond the daily transit schedules as they relate to residential-to-work ridership. In order to create a comprehensive transit plan we can get an early start on working with downtown developers, merchants, and C Tran to include an express transit accommodation from the east burbs to downtown on the weekends when commuter transit riders aren't being served.

It's good to see the recent development of downtown business, people out later in the evening at the parks, restaurants, bars, and shops mean more vitality to a town that only recently realized it's potential. This ain't the 80's or 90's Vancouver, it's just now coming into it's own urban identity, and enticing others to move here. The heavy traffic, and limited parking, of most big cities has driven out the suburban crowds who used to go to the city for all types of recreation, it'd be a shame to see Vancouver become just one more hectic place to avoid..I would have loved that MAX you described, we love Portland, but...

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Agree that there is plenty of room for improved Public transportation / alternative to cars in Vancouver, WA.

Ridership / habits cannot yet justify the schedule / capital investment.

Ironically... there WAS a great rail line from Battleground to Downtown Vancouver which the regional planners should have turned into mass transit (elevated / quick / safe). Had MAX built a dedicated right-of-way North Portland loop (instead of surface street Interstate Ave Light Rail)... Battleground to downtown Portland could have been achieved <30 min. (Either via 205 / existing transit ready) or a future I-5 link.

What are your views? What would you like done about downtown access? (I have connections with the city and planners that I can pass along your suggestions)

1. MAX is eventually coming to Vancouver along with a new I-5 bridge. The simple fact is that OR will not fund a car-only bridge across the Columbia. You can count on that. The two politicians who's OR legislative districts touch the Columbia (Congressman Earl Blumenauer and State House Speaker Tina Kotek) are both very big rail supporters. In fact, Blumenauer is more or less the father of light rail in Portland form his time in local government and the House of Representiatves. The chances that Oregon will go along with a Clark County that wants to send tens of thousands of more cars into Portland via a new bridge WITHOUT joining in regional mass transit solutions are essentially zero.

2. Rather than being dragged kicking and screaming into rail transit, and demanding the most stunted and non-functional line possible, which is essentually what happened with the last aborted Columbia River Crossing proposal, Vancouver and Clark County should leverage Oregon's interest in expanding the system into a variety of big ticket improvements on the OR side of the river that would advantage WA commuters. Right now the yellow line essentually runs on surface streets to the Expo Center and would be extended into Vancouver on most proposals. The costs would be high but there are probably a lot of improvements that could be made speed the trains and shorten the delays on the yellow line to improve commute times into Portland. Or, alternatively, push a new line along I-5 for express rail service from Vancouver into Portland skipping all the surface street stuff along Interstate Ave. In other words, leverage MAX expansion into Vancouver into real improvements in the system (paid for by OR) that would largely benefit WA commuters.

3. Unlike Portland, Vancouver and Clark County has a lot of space. It would be an ideal area in which to expand a lot of multi-modal micro-tranportation ideas by adding protected narrow lanes for new electric powered bikes, scooters, and other stuff not even invented yet. I have my doubts about self-driving cars. But reasonably fast e-bikes and scooters, and a lot of small utility type vehicles are essentially here. Just no real safe place to ride them. To make that work well in Vancouver the city would need to punch a lot of access points through all the disconnected subdivisions. For example, in East Vancouver there are really only 2 East-West routes other than Highway 14. You can use Mill Plain or you can use 20th and McGillivary which is the recommended bike route. None of the other suburban streets connect because all the subdivisions are separate. The city could punch trail connections between a whole bunch of subdivisions in Vancouver to create trail connections so that commuters on small electric vehicles had viable safe direct routes and could avoid major thoroughfares like Mill Plain. It would be a LOT cheaper and easier to do this for 10' wide bike lanes than to make 50' wide street connections between subdivisions. Amazon is talking about silly things like drone deliveries. But things like electric-powered cargo bike deliveries on neighborhood streets is definitely a viable thing today if we had the connecting routes and is a much more environmentally sound approach than having UPS and FEDEX trucks idling in every neighborhood all day long.

[jertheber]

[quote=texasdiver;55743215]1. MAX is eventually coming to Vancouver along with a new I-5 bridge.

I'm hoping that will be the case just for the fact that local population levels are rising to the point that Vancouver will soon find itself in the same trouble as other fast growing places in western Wa such as Lacey, Battle Ground, and Yelm. Those areas are now experiencing terrible traffic woes due to the mass of residential housing relying on nineteen fifties roads and a very limited mass transit situation in the town central areas.

Suburban sprawl seems to continue it's domination of the developers world, and towns are failing to build out directly from the city centers. Vancouver has an opportunity to tie it's near burbs into the city's core rather than continuing to lure newcomers to the culturally sterile eastside shopper neighborhoods. But that's been the norm for so long that we've come to accept that kind of living---even as towns and cities are attempting to reinvent themselves as cultural bastions while offering an address that encourages walking and biking, parks and restaurants, with art and music as an added attraction.

On another note, looking at the new waterfront development, and the news of Whosong and Larry's being replaced by office buildings etc. I'm now wondering how the new bridge plus rail would "fit" in such a narrow space.