C-Tran’s busiest transit center is poised to get busier.
A planned expansion to Fisher’s Landing Transit Center will add as many as 200 parking spaces to the east Vancouver facility. The hub has about 590 spaces now, which are routinely 90 percent full on weekdays, according to C-Tran. That’s enough to cause problems for the people who use the park-and-ride lot regularly, or deter them entirely, said Katie Nelson, C-Tran’s capital projects coordinator.
“It’s been really causing an inconvenience for a lot of riders, especially when they’re in a hurry,” Nelson said.
C-Tran has started the development application process with the city of Vancouver. Construction could happen in 2016, with the $4 million expansion completed that same year, according to the agency.
Fisher’s Landing, which opened in the late 1990s, is served by seven of C-Tran’s regular bus routes, its paratransit C-Van service, the Camas Connector and Skamania Transit. The facility also has a community room that has been used for C-Tran board meetings and other functions over the years.
About half of its parking spaces are north of the bus loading area, with the other half to the south. The expansion would add 175 to 200 spaces in the vacant space to the south, Nelson said. It will also add other passenger amenities such as new lighting, signs and electric-vehicle charging stations, she said.
C-Tran has eyed the north end of the property for a mixed-use or retail space, but that’s not part of the current proposal, Nelson said.
The project likely won’t significantly disrupt the existing lot during construction, but it may affect how C-Tran operates the facility once the expansion is complete, said C-Tran spokesman Jim Quintana.
More parking spaces will mean more riders using the buses that serve the facility now, Quintana said. Service changes are up to the C-Tran Board of Directors, but the agency will have to consider whether more buses will be needed to accommodate Fisher’s Landing Transit Center once it grows, he said.
C-Tran’s other major transit hubs include the 99th Street Transit Center in Hazel Dell, the Vancouver Mall Transit Center and the Salmon Creek Park & Ride. But none is as popular or consistently full as Fisher’s Landing, Quintana said.
“It’s a big deal when you get that many spaces filled with people that are willing to park their cars and get on a bus,” Quintana said.
Much of the expansion will be covered by a state grant. Local funding for the project is included in C-Tran’s 2015-16 budget, which was approved by the agency’s board of directors in December.
