How will people get to and from the growing PNE?

Hastings Park and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) grounds in Hastings-Sunrise are abuzz with activity and possibility, particularly concentrated on the north side of the 154-acre site. 

The Vancouver Goldeneyes, the city’s newest sports franchise, have drawn between 9,000 and 15,000 people to the Pacific Coliseum for its first three Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) games of the year. Construction on the nearby PNE Amphitheatre is expected to be completed within the next six months, in time for the FIFA World Cup. The new facility, which will serve as a long-term concert and event space, has capacity for 25,000 people per day to attend the city’s FIFA fan festival there next summer. 

In the long term there’s possibility for even more growth and attractions right next door to both the Coliseum and Amphitheatre. Late last week, the city and the Vancouver Whitecaps announced they are in exclusive negotiations with the Whitecaps for the team to build a soccer stadium and entertainment district on the site of Hastings Racecourse. The former racecourse, which announced it would be ending its horse racing program on Dec. 5, is also on city-owned property but is not formally part of the PNE.   

All these new attractions, developments, and grand ambitions at the site raise the question: how will tens of thousands of people get to and from the area as its offerings expand? 

Currently, TransLink connects the PNE area to the rest of the city via the R5 rapid bus along Hastings Street and two regular bus routes (4 and 16). 

“TransLink is currently working on plans to ensure transit riders are well-served to and from the Fan Festival during the FIFA World Cup,” TransLink spokesperson Dan Mountain told Vancity Lookout. Those plans are being finalized and will be shared in the coming months, Mountain added. 

“For special events such as the Fair, concerts and now the Goldeneyes games, we have extensive plans to accommodate transit users,” PNE media relations manager Laura Ballance  told Vancity Lookout, but declined to provide any details of those plans.

For this year’s PNE Fair, TransLink ran a special PNE bus service between the 29 Avenue and Renfrew SkyTrain stations and the Pacific Coliseum. TransLink has not provided additional transit service for Goldeneyes games, but is encouraging people to take the bus to games.  

There are several parking lots in and around Hastings Park for cars, but driving can be costly and time-consuming. Event parking costs $25, while drivers reported long waits to find parking and to exit the stadium after the Goldeneyes’ home opener in November. During the PNE Fair, Hastings-Sunrise residents are often seen with handmade signs selling parking spots in their driveways or garages.

With the PWHL agreement and the new amphitheatre coming online soon, the PNE will need to adjust “how people flow in and out of the site,” ABC councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung told Vancity Lookout. 

“It’s an ongoing optimization process,” as new events and attractions are added to the site, Kirby-Yung said, based on her past experience as PNE board chair.

In terms of shared micro-mobility options, Lime’s e-scooter service has eight stations surrounding Hastings Park, while the Mobi bike share program does not extend that far east. 

Mobi service to the area would be a “great thing to add if there’s demand and support,” Kirby-Yung said, indicating she would be open to bringing that idea forward through City Hall. 

Better bus service 

TransLink has two bus projects in the works that would improve transit service to Hastings Park. 

The R2 RapidBus, which currently runs from Park Royal to Phibbs Exchange in North Vancouver, is planned to extend to Metrotown in Burnaby starting in 2027 and will include a stop near the PNE, Dan Mountain with TransLink told Vancity Lookout. 

At the same time, they are also looking to upgrade the R2 to a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system (which is distinct from a rapid bus, confusingly), with a station near the PNE as well. 

“BRT would provide higher-capacity, more reliable rapid transit with features like dedicated bus lanes, station-style stops for faster boarding, and signal priority at intersections,” Mountain explained. The R2 is one of three bus lines in Metro Vancouver that TransLink is proposing to upgrade to BRT, with the two others connecting Langley to Maple Ridge and Surrey to White Rock. 

However, the BRT projects have yet to be funded by the provincial and federal governments. 

“TransLink is working to secure this funding from all levels of government through future investment plans,” Mountain said, estimating that BRT construction could be completed within three years after the projects are fully funded. 

TransLink is currently conducting the Burrard Inlet Rapid Transit Study, a long-term rapid transit strategy to connect the North Shore to Vancouver and Burnaby. The study is assessing which new transit options – such as SkyTrain, light rail, BRT, or a combination of several modes – would be most feasible and effective. By publication time, TransLink was unable to provide a timeline for when the study might be completed. 

Long-term improvements 

The R2 extension, BRT conversion, and Burrard Inlet study are part of TransLink’s goal to build better transit options between the North Shore and Burnaby over the Second Narrows Bridge. Northern East Vancouver, including Hastings Park, would benefit from those transit investments, but city officials have also been looking to prioritize bus improvements along Hastings Street. 

A successful motion at city council from Kirby-Yung in late 2023 directed the city to shift its focus away from the 41st and 49th Avenue transit corridors and instead undertake a Major Transit Network planning study on Hastings Street between downtown and the PNE grounds.

Prior to the city’s conversations with the Whitecaps about a new stadium complex – discussions which had already been happening over the past year – Kirby-Yung said the city had identified the Hastings corridor as the “next opportunity to really advance significant transit improvements, particularly with respect to rapid transit,” speaking to the city’s long-term transit priorities after the still-uncertain UBC Skytrain extension. 

“As we look to the future, we identified that it’s particularly important to keep people moving east-west, to support the entertainment destination that’s envisioned in the plans for the PNE and Hastings Park and connectivity to the North Shore and into the Fraser Valley,” Kirby-Yung said at the Whitecaps announcement earlier this month.

“It just makes a lot of sense to build a subway that connects the North Shore to Richmond and Vancouver and Burnaby,” Mayor Ken Sim said in response to questions from Vancity Lookout.

However, given the lingering questions around TransLink’s long-term funding model and major projects like BRT lines, the Burnaby Mountain gondola, and the UBC Skytrain all further along in the planning process, a possible subway line to Hastings Park is likely a decade or two away at least.