A major bus route that has served the Burnaby community “really well” is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The No. 49 bus route from Metrotown to UBC launched on March 21, 1975, and Mayor Mike Hurley thought the milestone should be recognized.
“I think it has served our community really well for 50 years,” Hurley said at a council meeting earlier this month.
But not everybody was on board with the route 50 years ago.
“At a time of inflation it is ridiculous to spend $6,800 (almost $40,000 in 2025 dollars) … for a bus service which is not going to be used,” wrote Mrs. T.D. Devitt on behalf of 95 homeowners along 49th Avenue in Vancouver.
But in 2023, the route was the third most popular in TransLink’s network with more than 8.47 million total boardings.
A short history of the 49 bus
Advocates had been calling for the bus route to fill east-west service in Vancouver — and beyond.
BC Hydro (the regional transit operator in the 1970s) told Burnaby officials the east-west service had been designed to “link activity centres in Burnaby such as Simpson Sears (now known as Metrotown mall) and Central Park with notable focal point(s) in Vancouver like Champlain Mall, Langara City College and continuing through to the University of British Columbia.”
The route was set to become “a major east-west artery in the Greater Vancouver Transit System,” according to The Buzzer, BC Hydro’s transit newsletter in 1975.
Jim Lorimer, former MLA for Burnaby Willingdon and minister of municipal affairs at the time, advocated for the 49 route.
Lorimer first proposed the route in August 1973, according to The Province newspaper, but by October of that year, his Bureau of Transit Services warned Vancouver city council the bus service would be postponed because of the “slow delivery of new buses and a shortage of trained bus drivers.”
A year later, in July 1974, Vancouver resident E.J. Ruddell submitted a petition with 24,770 signatures lobbying council to “take whatever steps it can to have the proposed bus service inaugurated.”
Ruddell challenged council to get Lorimer, his Bureau of Transit Services and BC Hydro to “live up to their promise to provide a 49th Avenue cross-town bus service NOW.”
West side Vancouver residents oppose 49 route
The bus route almost didn’t end up along 49th Avenue west of Cambie.
Despite the overwhelming support from Ruddell’s petitioners, after a “noisy, emotional discussion,” Vancouver city councillors voted to re-direct the route off of 49th Avenue west of Cambie Street and down to 54th Avenue in response to a group of opposed citizens, according to a Vancouver Sun article Sept. 11, 1974.
The group argued there was little need for the bus west of Cambie, according to the Sun.
(The decision to re-direct the 49 by then-mayor Art Phillips of TEAM proved controversial at an all-candidates debate during the municipal election, with the Civic Non-Partisan Association candidate calling the re-routing “sheer nonsense,” according to a Province story from Nov. 13, 1974, but Phillips still won the election.)
Phillips agreed to the straight-shot 49th Avenue route after a city report showed a majority of residents between Cambie and Dunbar wanted the bus service.
On March 21, 1975, the route went live at 5:53 a.m, and it’s been on the road now for half a century.
The 49 today
In 2022, an unknown guerilla artist installed a metal “handbill” in Vancouver on the corner of East 49th Avenue and Kerr Street celebrating the work of Ruddell’s petitioners in favour of the 49.
“Residents’ political lobbying and petitions produced the much needed 49th Ave. bus route which began on March 21, 1975,” read the handbill.
Transit activism still surrounds the 49.
Denis Agar, executive director of the transit advocacy non-profit Movement, said the 49 has been a problem for as long as he can remember, as it faces many overcrowding complaints.
Agar, a former TransLink bus planner, noted ridership on the 49 surged in the early 2010s.
One possible reason for the increase: the opening of the Canada Line, giving people a good reason to travel east-west on buses, Agar said.
The region has also been decentralizing, with workers and students commuting to growing urban centres outside of Vancouver’s downtown, including Burnaby’s Metrotown, New West, Surrey and Richmond.
And as TransLink increased service to the 49, more people found the bus an attractive option.
“(The bus) just becomes this powerhouse.”
Agar said people both love and hate the 49 bus: it’s more frequent than any nearby bus service, it gets people to the SkyTrain quickly, but its popularity means it’s “so overcrowded.”
“It’s the quintessential love-hate relationship,” he said.
Movement is still working on campaigns around the 49, including advocating for bus lanes along the entire length of 49th Avenue.
Agar noted governments often hear from a small sliver of society, often wealthy landowners.
Transit advocacy brings different voices to the table, he said.
“Once transit riders are louder, once they are in front of politicians more, (it’s) easier for those politicians to make transit better.”
From everyone here at Burnaby Now, happy birthday, 49!
