Wheelchairs and Bikes and BRT

Claim: bus stopped times on Fourth Plain aren't that long, even with wheelchairs and bikes.  All you need to do is add more buses and that will fix the problem.

Fact: it takes up to 3-5 minutes to board a wheelchair with current buses.  

Boarding a wheelchair involves the driver getting out and back into their seat, the wheelchair rider using the lift, and the driver securing the wheelchair on the bus.  There is no way that this can physically be done in less than 2-3 minutes.  And add to that the 2-3 times a month where a wheelchair rider can't board because the wheelchair bays are full.

Fact: it takes up to 2 minutes for a bicycle rider to board the bus.

This involves the bicycle rider walking into the street in front of the bus to mount their bike, and then returning to pay their fare and board.

C-TRAN has indicated some stops can take upwards of 5 to 7 minutes EACH.  Multiply a few minutes per stop by about 25 stops each way on the route, and you can see how much time the bus is NOT MOVING.

BRT solves this.  With level boarding, wheelchair riders can roll right onto the bus, and park themselves.  They become self-reliant, which is what most of them want in the first place: to be treated like any other rider.  Bicyclists can roll their bike onto the bus and put it in the on-board bike rack. Buses will run every 10 minutes during most of a typical weekday.  This increases wheelchair and bike parking capacity by as much as 33 percent.

BRT takes LESS THAN 20 SECONDS PER STOP.  This can save 8 to 10 minutes PER RUN.  That's a substantial time savings and improvement in reliability.  It benefits everyone.  Reliable bus travel times and ability to make connections.  Less time stopped in traffic.  More transit capacity for those who need, and for those who choose, to use transit.