In September 2020, TransLink indefinitely suspended the 258 Express Bus with service from West Vancouver to UBC. Three years later, first year students Assia Malapanis and Anali Delshadi are working to restore the route.
Together with Malapanis’ father, Theodore Malapanis, they launched a Change.org petition three weeks ago aimed at reviving the route. At time of publication it has over 1,500 signatures, and garnered considerable support from the community and local political officials, such as West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager.
During Term One, Malapanis and Delshadi realized that their daily commute was clocking in at a three hour round trip. According to their petition, the 258 would have taken 45-50 minutes each way.
“That was wearing on us,” Malapanis said. “It was hard for us to study [and] have a social life.” Many other UBC parents and students echoed similar concerns in supportive comments under the petition.
Without the express bus, commuting students have to take two—sometimes three—buses transferring through downtown Vancouver or Park Royal. One petition signee commented that, “many students also feel unsafe waiting to transfer buses downtown after dark.”
In a statement to The Ubyssey, a TransLink spokesperson wrote that current service from West Vancouver to UBC with connections between Route 44 and Route 250 is “within roughly six to twelve minutes of travel time compared to the service previously provided by Route 258.”
According to the spokesperson, service on the 258 was suspended due to lack of ridership.
Malapanis and Delshadi said that they often take buses downtown crowded with passengers connecting through to the North Shore. In their view, bringing back the 258 route, even for peak hours, would free up space and make service to the North shore more efficient.
With Translink’s directive to regularly review and adjust their bus services to meet the region’s evolving needs, Malapanis and Delshadi, “hope that the petition will play a role in their decision” on whether the 258 should make a return.