UBC’s Alma Mater Society is hosting a Community Transit Forum to discuss the future of the Broadway corridor. The event will take place on Thursday, May 2nd, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the Hollywood Theatre on Broadway.

The Broadway corridor (from Commercial Drive through to UBC) is a key economic, residential, institutional and cultural area for Vancouver and British Columbia. It boasts the highest concentration of jobs in B.C. outside of the downtown core. More than 100,000 public transit trips occur in this part of the city each day, making it one of the most heavily used diesel bus routes in North America.

Broadway’s current and potential demographic and economic development has driven recent discussion about the future of the corridor. Given the ongoing discussions regarding the future of the corridor, the AMS is inviting a number of speakers to lead a discussion, with community input, on the kind of future that is envisioned for Broadway. Informed debate will help the community shape and articulate its own future within a rapidly growing region.

Vancouver Public Space Network’s Karen Quinn Fung will be participating as a panelist to share her views on this issue through her experience as VPSN’s public transit project lead, and to bring forward VPSN’s interest in enhancing Vancouver’s public spaces to the dialogue. Other panelists include Yuri Artibise (Yurbanism), Claire Havens (SFU’s Carbon Talks), and Arno Schortinghuis (HUB – Your Cycling Connection).

Want to join us? Register online at the event’s Eventbrite site. Looking forward to see you there and hearing from everyone on this very important topic!

From Wednesday, March 30, to Wednesday, April 6, TransLink will be holding a series of community consultation workshops in different areas along Broadway to share where they are at with Phase 2 of the UBC Rapid Transit study. Since Phase 1, a new crop of considerations have appeared, so now is a great time to get caught up on the status of the study!

The Vancouver Public Space Network did a lot of thinking about the Broadway Corridor last year, when we held a series of open workshops exploring the concept of Broadway as a ‘Great Street’ called Transforming Broadway.

These workshops, as well as TransLink’s UBC Line Rapid Transit Study website, are a great way to learn more about what’s possible and what both TransLink and people in the area think, whether they work, live or play in or around the area. Transit — both in terms of getting around and the ‘fixed infrastructure’ which supports it — is a huge defining factor of both public space and life in Vancouver generally.

We highly encourage you to attend the workshop, attend TransLink’s online webinar on the topic, or weigh in online. If you participated in their workshops last year, or if you need to get caught up, I recommend checking out TransLink’s summary of what they heard in their Phase 1 Consultations.