Two trolley buses will be coming to White Rock for the summer months, following approval by TransLink’s board on Thursday.
The city applied to run two routes throughout the city: one along Marine Drive and another as a renewal of a “previously approved diesel rubber-tired trolley service providing a connection between different shopping, recreation, and entertainment areas within the city.”
The buses would run as independent transit services, which are non-TransLink provided public transit options.
TransLink is in charge of approving the new routes, which it will only do if they do not reduce the “effectiveness and financial viability” of its own system.
“White Rock has been operating their summer-only trolley on weekends for at least the last four years,” TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond said.
“It’s in a very heavily used summer tourist area going to the wonderful beaches. There’s a lot of traffic and not nearly enough parking… it augments the existing TransLink fixed-route system.”
A TransLink staff report found that the “seasonal single-purpose service unlikely to compete with existing TransLink service” because it the people targeted by the city’s proposed trolley buses would otherwise take their own vehicles.
However, a White Rock man disagrees.
Roderick Louis told the TransLink board on Thursday that the two buses would still “substantially duplicate” the routes served by TransLink’s 361 and 362 community shuttles.
| Roderick Louis, right, talks to Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan about trolley service in White Rock. (Katy Slepian/Black Press) |
That wasn’t Louis’ only concern.
Louis alleged that the lack of wheelchair exits and the buses high off the ground design made them impossible to use for people with mobility issues.
He compared it to TransLink licensing a transit service that “was only to be used by Caucasians.
“I see this service as offensive because it discriminates against people with disabilities,” Louis told the board.
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