1973: The Debut of a Major Facility for Buses in British Columbia

October 19, 1973

In the Canadian province of British Columbia, a key transit exchange for buses was opened at Highway 1 and Main Street in the city of North Vancouver. (This waterfront municipality is located on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet and directly across from the larger city of Vancouver.) That transit exchange was named after Charles John Peyton Phibbs, an Irish immigrant who served as North Vancouver’s reeve (the equivalent of mayor) during the early 1890s. Along with holding elected office, Phibbs owned a large dairy farm in the area.  

Phibbs Exchange is a major hub for various bus routes serving North Vancouver; other municipalities on the North Shore; and parts of Vancouver. This exchange is extensively used by passengers for transferring from one bus to another. Phibbs Exchange is also both the starting point and endpoint for a large number of local bus rides.

One of the impetuses for constructing the exchange was the need to accommodate area residents commuting to and from the North Vancouver-based Capilano College (present-day Capilano University), which had been established in 1968. Phibbs Exchange is also strategically located to help facilitate bus travel to and from the film company North Shore Studios (originally known as Lionsgate Studios); and across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge, which spans Burrard Inlet and connects the North Shore with Vancouver and other municipalities on the southern side.

Phibbs Exchange was initially both owned and operated by BC Hydro Transit. This exchange is now owned by TransLink (officially called the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority), which is responsible for transportation planning and management for that section of British Columbia. Coast Mountain Bus Company, a subsidiary of TransLink, oversees the operations for Phibbs Exchange. At this time, this exchange encompasses a dozen busy bays altogether that serve a total of 13 routes.

Photo Credit: Northwest (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on Phibbs Exchange, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phibbs_Exchange