In 2006, and in an ongoing engagement since 2011, Jarrett Walker + Associates has assisted TransLink (the Vancouver metro area’s transit agency) with service planning, policy development, station area planning, and communication.
Much of this work is dedicated to helping the agency establish clear policies that explain to land use and road planning stakeholders exactly how their choices affect transit quality and possibilities – policies along the lines of those suggested in Mr. Walker’s book, Human Transit. This policy development work has required extensive consultation among staff people in many planning-related functions, and among external stakeholders, to build consensus toward a common understanding of how TransLink can make its transit planning more transparent.
Recent specific tasks in this extended contract have included:
- Co-authoring the Managing the Network Primer, a document that explains the principles by which the agency designs its network and how these interrelate with land use decisions.
- Serving as lead writer on the Regional Transportation Strategy of 2012.
- Developing the outlines of a new set of Transit Service Guidelines, which define the categories of services offered and the necessary conditions for each.
- Redesigning the Granville Mall, the main bus-only street in downtown Vancouver.
- Assisting in projects to reorganize the downtown bus system for Vancouver, which requires integrating access from the larger city with internal circulation needs.
- At Surrey Central, planning for replacement of a large suburban-style bus-loop with on-street arrangements in the context of the urbanization of the downtown area and the creation of a new urban street grid – all while retaining crucial functionality for stopping, bus circulation, and layover.