Taxis using bus lanes?
That's just plain crazy talk.
Actually, not really.
But regular users of taxis or buses may have noticed an increase over the past year in the number of cabs tooling along in bus lanes.
That's because, as of March 2012, cabbies were allowed to use the bus lanes and will continue to use them indefinitely if city council agrees with a city staff recommendation to have the cabs and buses share the lanes.
A staff report goes before city council Wednesday and it says the one-year trial has worked, despite a few concerns raised by TransLink, Coast Mountain Bus Company and the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities.
Those concerns stemmed mainly from cabs stopping in the bus lanes, which they're not supposed to. Apparently, a lot of this - including weaving in and out of lanes and cutting off buses - was going on in the early stages of the trial.
So the Vancouver Taxi Association put a stop to most of the scofflaws by imposing penalties for drivers of the companies it represents. That includes Blacktop, Checker, MacLure's, Vancouver Taxi and Yellow Cab.
A first offence amounted to a four-hour driving suspension and escalated to up to five days for subsequent infractions. To ensure cabbies got the message, the driving suspensions were immediately broadcast to all taxi drivers via their in-vehicle messaging systems.
The report didn't indicate how many cabbies were penalized but "the number of offences" dropped dramatically once the penalty structure was implemented, the report said.
But then what to do about the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities' point that wheelchair accessible taxis and taxis carrying seniors and disabled people be allowed to stop in bus lanes?
City staff's answer: "Should council proceed with making the taxis in bus lanes trial permanent, it is recommended that this request be examined in collaboration with TransLink, Coast Mountain Bus Company and the taxi industry to identify how to better serve these populations while maintaining the function of the bus lanes."
Now to the benefits of the trial...
The taxi association did a travel time study and found one of the bus lanes provided a 21 per cent savings, or one minute and nine seconds, during the morning rush. That measurement was taken from Burrard and Pacific to Burrard and Pender.
In the afternoon rush, the study found a 32 per cent savings, or two minutes and 41 seconds, in the lane from Georgia and Richards to Georgia and Denman.
The average time savings of the routes measured in the morning was 12 per cent and 17 per cent in the afternoon. Those figures were for downtown routes.
The taxi association noted allowing taxis in bus lanes means cabbies can get to their destination quicker and save the customer money - which is a good thing for taxpayers, considering some of your elected officials spend a lot of money on cabs.
CELEBRATING GRAVES
I've talked to, walked with and written about Judy Graves many times over the years. As regular readers will know, Graves has retired from her job/passion as the city's homeless advocate.
On Wednesday night, Graves will be at Heritage Hall at 3102 Main St. to "celebrate her retirement with a cause." Tickets are $30, which goes towards refreshments, rental of the venue and entertainment.
If you plan to attend, she doesn't want gifts. Instead, Graves suggests you make a donation to the Streetohome Foundation for "a bricks and mortar project to end homelessness."
Happy retirement, Judy...although I don't think you'll ever retire from doing what you do for the homeless.
twitter.com/Howellings
