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Starting from Main Street Skytrain station, a new rapid transit line would avoid creating added busyness to an already busy Broadway Skytrain station. The least cost path from Main Street Skytrain station is a very interesting route that instead of following a similar route from the other two start points, it goes through downtown Vancouver. This route adds an interesting proposal in terms of usage by people other than students. This route would allow for people living in the West Side of Vancouver to access the downtown core more directly and with less use of cars. It would also provide a faster form of transportation to other Skytrain stations as this route crosses over both the Expo and Millennium Skytrain lines while in the downtown core. The high concentration of people living in the West End would also be able to benefit from a new rapid transit line out of the downtown core. This route also touches the edge of Granville Island, making this tourist attraction much more accessible by transit and a rapid transit line's presence may also allow for a reduction cars on Granville Island, thus making it more pedestrian friendly then it already is. Although this line would not serve the Broadway commercial area like the other routes would, it would still service the commercial area along West 4th Ave as well as dipping a little deeper into China Town than the Expo line on the other end of the route. As with the least cost path of the Broadway Station start point, this line also provides accessibility to the cities popular beaches, Kitsilano and Spanish Banks. The total cost of this route would be 501,106.025. This is more expensive than starting at Broadway but this route is longer and will serve the downtown core as well as commercial areas in Kitsilano.
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Despite the added cost of Starting at Main Street Skytrain station and the longer route through downtown, this route provides the most interaction with the community center and library buffers. This line would intersect a total of nine community centers and ten libraries. This route intersects with more of these community assets then any other proposed route. Not only would this be line be a service to businesses on Vancouver's west side and downtown, it would also be a community asset in connecting people to community centers and libraries as wells as transportation for people other than students.
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The shortest path between the Main Street Skytrain Station and the University of British Columbia is not a feasible path. It requires the Skytrain line to spend significant time passing underneath the water of False Creek. Not only is this expensive, it does not serve anybody much purpose. This route touches upon Yaletown in Vancouver's southern downtown area and Granville Island before cutting across residential areas of the west side of Vancouver. The time that this route would spend underwater is expensive according to the cost surface and shows very little service to anyone other than people trying to get to or from UBC. It is true that touching upon Granville Island is nice in terms of tourism, accessibility, and car reduction but the lack of interaction with commercial areas and major transit routes in Vancouver make the line itself difficult to access. This route has a cost of 536,053.
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This route comes into contact with only five community centers and two libraries, is more expensive than the least cost path from Main Street Skytrain Station, and it is less accessible due to the time it spends underwater and away from major bus routes. This factors translate into inaccessibility for the public to use it for everyday things such as visiting community centers or libraries or even shopping. This route is mainly useful as a direct line for students across the city.
