Dear Editor,
Richmond’s bus routes operate in a primarily north-south direction, beginning in locations such as Steveston, and Ironwood/Entertainment Blvd. and taking different routes to culminate around Richmond Centre.
The benefit is riders from around Richmond can quickly reach the city centre or grab the train. The downside is this makes East-West travel on transit impractical.
Consider a trip from Ironwood to Steveston — a roughly 10-minute drive. The 413 route connects these two; however, the 413 runs very seldom, and stops running hours before the rest of the network. Attempting to bus this distance can take riders nearly an hour, due to the detour to Richmond centre, and the wait times when transferring.
The 401 and 410 routes used to be decent at connecting East to West, albeit still stopping at Richmond Centre. Unfortunately, in 2018, TransLink made the decision to split these routes into two, resulting in the need to wait significant amounts of time for a connection.
If Richmond is committed to reducing vehicle emissions, as well as continuing to urbanize to support our growing numbers, we must discuss ways in which we can connect population centres in more practical ways than what currently stands.
In doing so, we will encourage more transit ridership, further reducing vehicles on the road, and further progressing towards a greener future.
Rob Perry
RICHMOND
