Dedicated bus lane approved for Hastings Street in Burnaby, but more consultation coming

Advocates say the move will decrease congestion by improving traffic flow, but some in the community say the loss of street parking and the decrease in lanes for vehicle traffic will do more harm than good.

Josko Kraken says he sees dozens of people at his gym, Kraken Fitness, each day. Many of those clients arrive in personal vehicles.

"We depend on the street, of course, to park there," Kraken told CTV News, adding that he fears increased travel times for personal vehicles will hurt his business.

"The longer it takes to get from Brentwood, the longer it takes to get from Metrotown or Port Moody or wherever to get into here the less clients we're going to have. So that's the downfall that I see."

The change will affect dozens of businesses along Hastings Street between Delta and Duthie avenues, but that's a smaller stretch of the road than was originally pitched to city council.

TransLink's plan called for the dedicated lane to extend as far as Willingdon Avenue.

Kraken said he thinks businesses weren't adequately consulted about the plan, or the changes to which blocks would be affected.

"Why only there?" he said. "So only those businesses get affected? What about the rest of them? Why only there? There's no answer to those questions and it just really sucks."

At Tuesday's meeting, councillors noted they had received hundreds of calls and emails about the bus lane proposal.

Their ultimate decision was something of a compromise. The dedicated lane is shorter than initially proposed, and it will not take effect until 2026.

"What eventually passed was that they would do more consultation, and they would only do bus lanes on part of the section that was being discussed," said Denis Agar, executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, a transit advocacy group.

"And then (on) the other part, they would think of some other ways of doing bus priority."

Agar said Hastings Street in Burnaby is the location in Metro Vancouver where the largest number of buses gets stuck in traffic each year.

If and when it takes effect, the dedicated bus lane would be operational from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, including on weekends and holidays.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Abigail Turner