TransLink Bus Speed + Reliability Report

Bus delay due to congestion is a significant, but solvable, regional problem.

Every day, riders rely on buses to get them to the people and places that matter most—from work and school to healthcare appointments, and everywhere in between. Representing almost two-thirds of TransLink's daily boardings, riders take more than half a million bus trips every day. As ridership continued to recover from the pandemic in 2022, bus ridership consistently rebounded faster than any other transit mode. Buses are the backbone of the TransLink system, and they will continue to play a key role in how people move around this region.

For buses, operating alongside mixed traffic such as private cars, freight trucks, and other vehicles presents both daily and long-term challenges, particularly bus delay. The total cost of delay in 2021 was more than $80 million.

Bus priority measures such as bus lanes, queue jumps, bus bulbs, and signal improvements can help. These efficiency improvements allow transit providers to provide additional service at the same cost and help them save for the future. When buses are protected from rising congestion, transit providers can make more durable improvements in bus service, and most importantly, ensure that employees and riders have more certainty in knowing how long each transit journey will take.

The TransLink Bus Speed + Reliability Report has a hopeful outlook, highlighting both the problem of bus delay and its potential solutions. By identifying key locations for future bus priority investments, it provides an overview of 20 corridors that most warrant our attention, illustrating where TransLink need to focus its work.