With Translink's service continuing to deteriorate across the GVRD, it begs the question: which bus route is the most awful?

The worst I've taken somewhat regularly is 28 Phibbs Exchange-Joyce Station. it's just meandering... it takes forever to get anywhere.

the 129 Edmonds Station-Metrotown Station would be another candidate - it's not quite as slow (still slow), but painfully off schedule on a regular basis: +/- 15 minutes at various points of the route. if it was upgraded to 15 minute frequency, that would make it way way better. It also badly needs more timing stops, since it's more often early than late.

From personal experience I'd have to say the 25 UBC/Brentwood. Not only is it never on time it's heaving all day long. It's common to see it full on weekday nights around 11pm. It's supposed to run every 12 mins during the day but sometimes you can wait up to 20 mins and then find 2 buses running in a row or even 3. It's horrible and something needs to be done. I take taxis to work now and sometimes a bus home.

^ Good thing I don't have to go to UBC anymore, before Canada Line construction, it only took 30-40 mins to get to UBC from Main, I rode it once this year and it took 1 hr to get there. Totally unreliable now.

Let me nominate the 159 Poco Station/Braid Station route.

The only direct bus route between downtown Poco and the nearest Skytrain station that takes a long enough route through the Citadel Heights area to serve more residential areas during regular hours, strays further off course and takes an even more roundabout route through the industrial areas all around southern Poco during already slow rush hours.

Hey Translink, how about running a direct Poco-Braid route that goes directly down Lougheed Highway at least during these rush hours?

i must say,
ALL Routes suck
especially when we are currently lacking buses
its not fast enough
and some drivers being inconsiderate

99 B-Line in the morning and 145 SFU - Production Way after classes. Both a jam packed like sardine cans and 145 service is rather sparse during classes...

Actually I don't mind 99 B-line in the morning, even though it's jam-packed it runs pretty smoothly and can get me to school in 40 minutes or less (on good days). In the afternoon it is really slow due to pedestrians and can drag on for an hour or so.

Let me nominate the 159 Poco Station/Braid Station route.

The only direct bus route between downtown Poco and the nearest Skytrain station that takes a long enough route through the Citadel Heights area to serve more residential areas during regular hours, strays further off course and takes an even more roundabout route through the industrial areas all around southern Poco during already slow rush hours.

Hey Translink, how about running a direct Poco-Braid route that goes directly down Lougheed Highway at least during these rush hours?

I also believe the 159 is a really bad one, especially those industrial routing. I would rather take whatever bus that goes to Coquitlam Station (160, 189, 701 or C38) then transfer to the 169 (or the 177 starting April)... Its actually faster this way, not to mention that the 169 runs way more frequently than the 159...

I'll nominate the #84 UBC/VCC-Clarke. At first this bus was great, it came on time, was pretty fast from VCC to my stop at Granville (for work on Granville Island), but now it is totally unreliable. It advertises 10 minute service at peak hours but I usually wait 20 minutes or more. Buses just go missing and due to the Canada Line construction at 6th and Cambie the ride from VCC to Granville St. can take half an hour. Today, at rush hour no less, it took 50 minutes to go from VCC to Granville Street and the first bus that did arrive, 20 minutes late, didn't even pick up the thirty or so of us that were waiting. Instead it pulled past us with a Not In Service sign and dropped off its full load by the entrance to VCC.

I'll also second the 99 and 145 SFU. The latter comes pretty frequently in the morning but then falls apart throughout the day and is usually filled to capacity at the upper bus loop, making the lower bus loop and new $300,000 bus shelter the school and Translink jointly built both useless for much of the day. Incidentally, construction began on the shelter it in September and it still isn't done. It is a simple glass and steel design and it has taken seven months so far.

I'll also second the "all of them" comment. The system is groaning under the weight of current ridership, the drivers are rude most of the time, and yet they expect to double ridership in the next short while to make progress on the Province's climate change agenda? Maybe with a few billion put into new buses alone, doubling the fleet from the current 900 real buses (I don't count the community shuttles as true buses) to 1,800 still would probably fail to do the job. Translink needs to broaden out and incorporate trams into the mix. A single tram can carry as many people as a full Skytrain and do it at a fraction of the cost. Trams should be the step after bus rapid transit, like when the B-Line routes become completely full, and also before a tunnelled subway/Skytrain is built. Also, Translink should significantly expand the electric trolley fleet, not merely replace it, and all of the new expansion buses should be the high-capacity articulated models.

I agree with the comments on 84. That route has a lot of potential, but there still aren't enough buses for it to work well yet. Still, I'm not sure it could be called one of the worst out there. The slowdown would be construction related.

Well the 25 UBC/Brentwood I took home once again last night around 11pm and when it pulled up at Cambie(going east) it didn't have any seats to spare it was that busy. Now any bus that is that busy on a Tues night at that time really needs to be looked at for some added buses. It's the only crosstown bus between Broadway and 41st, it's insanity!:nuts:

Going to and from UBC from East Vancouver daily, I'd have to say #99 is the best for the morning rush but as previously stated it deteriorates. #84 is decent but has been disrupted due to construction under the Cambie bridge. It's still faster than the 99 during the afternoon rush imo. I avoid the #25 during times just before and after school because it gets flooded with kids that get on and off everystop, making it excruciatingly slow. But between rushes the #25 is probably better than the #99. I've only taken the #41 a few times but it's atrocious during the afternoon rush, just awful; the #49 is better but still slow before coming off marine drive (eastbound).

I've also taken the #98 quite a bit in the past and it seems to be pretty reliable except during the afternoon rush when Granville gets jammed to hell.

Make noise and apply political pressure to build a Broadway Skytrain extention ahead of the Evergreen, or at least concurrently with it.

the 49.
during the day its always full and slow, and at night its only every 30 minutes.

also it passes langara just minutes before night class is over

Well, I'm going to put forward the #44 bus (Downtown Vancouver to UBC). Unreliable service, way too many stops for a so-called "express", poor routing. Additionally, more times than not the service is full, thus stranding passengers along Burrard Street. Finally, it only runs every 15 minutes during peak hours, and 30 minutes outside of that.

This for the express service connecting the two largest centers of employment in all of British Columbia!!!

I think the worst route is the 20 Victoria/Downtown. While tardiness and unreliability of buses is a large problem with translink in general, be it their fault or because of stupid transit patrons, the importance of the #20 route makes it all the more stressful. The sheer number of people that use this bus between hastings, along commercial drive, then on victoria drive til maybe 41st avenue make this a bus to avoid if you can - I guess then I'm saying this route is the worst because of the people that take it. I've often opted to just walk to Broadway or Nanaimo Station to catch the skytrain rather than waiting for the bus.

^ i agree
i would never take the bus on the hastings / commercial portion
its already scary walking there
standing there...
what if someone walks by and stabs a needle into me?
then im screwed! ahah jkjk

323 newton exchange

100 airport

^ i agree
i would never take the bus on the hastings / commercial portion
its already scary walking there
standing there...
what if someone walks by and stabs a needle into me?
then im screwed! ahah jkjk

your just paranoid. i wait for the bus at hastings and main all the time day or night. people only mess with you if you mess with them.

people are just people, youre probably more likely to get jumped at metrotown

^true.

Well I guess we are all pretty much in agreement that for the City of Vancouver, crosstown buses are the worst.

your just paranoid. i wait for the bus at hastings and main all the time day or night. people only mess with you if you mess with them.

people are just people, youre probably more likely to get jumped at metrotown

Or Granville Street, with all the drunken retards around.

I would say that any bus that services UBC. I do not ride too many other lines frequently enough to comment. I must say that after I moved here, I took the bus to work and home again for the first two years. Over these same years, my transit time increased by at least 25% on a good day, and by the time the busses reach my stop it is standing room only 90% of the time. So what do I do now....drive my gas guzzeling Mercedes to work and back to my home. So unfortunately, I am once again contributing to unnecessary global warming and traffic congestion on the city streets. However, I just cannot afford the extra time and my painful back from standing on the bus with my bad back. ( I am not a young man anymore). Is anyone listening?

On another point, I just do not understand how the city can justify building the Evergreen line, when just getting down Broadway is unmanageable.

^ imagine all the additional traffic from the Evergreen Line, heading west and interchanging at Commercial onto the already congested 99 B-Line to UBC. 100,000 people pass through Broadway/Commercial Stations everyday and another 100,000 use the Broadway bus corridor everyday.

I have to re-nominate the number 20 as the worst line, if not the GROSSEST line. I was on the bus today with this bum or malcontent who would fart every so often along hastings and up commercial just before the station. It got so bad that these 2 guys forcibly kicked him off the bus. Seriously, bus drivers really should not let thees people on the bus, I doubt any of them pay anyways.

^ Or just incontinent maybe?

they seem to have random transit securities on the buses along hastings
but then they dont seem to be that effective

are you serious? theyre effective every time. i always sit near the front when theyre on so i can see the bums get denied at the door hahaha.

im sure those exact same bums just hitch a free ride on the next number 10 though

are you serious? theyre effective every time. i always sit near the front when theyre on so i can see the bums get denied at the door hahaha.

im sure those exact same bums just hitch a free ride on the next number 10 though

remember the skytrain was screwed up last week?
so i had to take the #20
and this bum sneaked on too
she had this huge bag of cans
and herself was swinging everywhere..
the security got on, but cared less about it
and let her stay..>.>

I hate seeing people sneak in from the back, whether they pay or not (B-line notwithstanding since drivers open all the doors). I sometimes just want to sorta get in the way so they can't get on but then I'd be one of those people that blocks people from getting off.