METRO VANCOUVER — Commuters travelling between Vancouver and the North Shore faced heavy traffic and major delays on transit Thursday.

Early in the day, the transit authority shut down bus service on the bridge and routed its passengers to Lonsdale Quay, causing one sailing waits for the SeaBus. TransLink enlisted a third SeaBus by the afternoon commute, which appeared to help shorten the lines.

Those extra sailings are only planned until 7 p.m., according to TransLink, then the SeaBus will return to its regular schedule.

Regular bus service is expected to resume Friday, according to TransLink, but those buses will be headed straight back into the heavy traffic being blamed on a 4.5 centimetre metal bump across all three lanes at the south end of the bridge.

The bump could be in place for as much as another month while engineers work on the bridge’s expansion joints, according to the Ministry of Transportation.

Crews plan to smooth the approach to the bump overnight in time for Friday’s morning commute, according to a ministry statement.

“We regret that the design of the bump that was in place earlier in the week created issues and delays for those using the bridge and we appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to resolve this issue and get the traffic moving more smoothly,” read the statement.

TransLink began divert passengers to the SeaBus as early as Wednesday, but it was not until 4:20 a.m. Thursday that transit authority staff announced none of its buses would be crossing the bridge that day.

Tina Robinson, a TransLink spokeswoman, said the decision was made after seeing lengthy delays on the bridge Wednesday.

“We felt it would be faster to divert to the SeaBus than have customers stuck on the bridge in traffic,” she said.

But no extra sailings were added to handle the passengers, and transit commuters soon found themselves delayed by one sail waits.

Meanwhile, West Vancouver’s Blue Buses travelled in both directions on the bridge Thursday.

North Vancouver mayor Darrell Mussatto is fed up with the traffic woes and has been lobbying the provincial government for years to invest in more public transportation on the North Shore. He said TransLink needs to increase bus service by 40 per cent, and establish a 10-minute SeaBus service during peak travel times, like it did during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“It’s so frustrating,” he said. “There’s some 180,000 residents on the North Shore and they’re landlocked.”

Calling recent traffic “the worst he’s ever seen,” Mussatto said vehicles have been backed up on both the Lions Gate and the Ironworkers bridges for several days during peak times because of the construction work and several accidents.

Mussatto said the only solution is better public transit, but acknowledged that since the transit referendum failed, the future for North and West Vancouver commuters looks bleak. In June, Metro Vancouverites voted No to a 0.5-per-cent sales tax increase to help pay for major transportation projects, making it uncertain how transit infrastructure will be funded in the future.

“There has been a failure of leadership, and (the provincial government) needs to find the money,” said Mussatto.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

mrobinson@vancouversun.com

With a file from North Shore News

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