West Vancouver B-Line will stop at Park Royal, keeping priority bus lanes out of Ambleside

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WEST VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After protests, rallies and pressure from both those for and against the project, the city of West Vancouver has voted to halt the proposed B-Line express bus at Park Royal.

Many wanted to see the B-Line run all the way to Dundarave, but those who fought against the full route are celebrating the decision after months of heated debate.

Councillor Peter Lambur saw his motion to keep the line short upheld on Monday evening, a week after a crowd of people packed into city hall to have their say on the project.

Throughout the process, he accused TransLink of fudging ridership numbers in an attempt to sway the outcome.

District of North Vancouver Councillor Jordan Back supported the full-length route, and even recorded a jingle to drive his point home.

“West Van, don’t let us down. Our young folks can’t pay to live here,” he’s heard singing in a song on SoundCloud, to the tune of the Beatles’ hit “Hey Jude”.

The lyrics were posted a day earlier by North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma on Twitter, with the politician asking her followers to record their own parodies.

Meantime, Councillor Craig Cameron successfully put forward an amendment to the motion, to look at future B-Line options west of Park Royal that would not run past schools or require priority bus lanes along Marine Drive.

Proponents argued a full-length B-Line would have reduced congestion, but those against the project have said the removal of two lanes of parking along Marine Drive would be devastating for local businesses.

“With the current congestion that West Van has, with just having the two lanes on Marine Drive, it was going to cause more congestion and problems for the people who have businesses along there,” one woman near Park Royal told NEWS 1130 on Tuesday.

In response to the outcome of Monday’s vote, others say while things may flow right for some, more buses would be better for everyone.

“It just works,” another person said. “It’s just easy peasy. It’s affordable. I think a lot of smart thinking has gone into it. Like I said, nothing’s perfect and there’s hiccups with almost everything.

“Transit in my experience just works,” the woman added. “The timing is great, they connect really well. I just don’t have to worry about anything.”

Proposed West Vancouver B-Line route. (Source: TransLink)

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