Proposed updates to Vancouver’s liquor service hours could leave student hospitality workers stranded

By OKSANA SHTOHRYN

Local transit advocates say Vancouver’s late-night transit system cannot support hospitality workers if plans to extend liquor service hours get the go-ahead.

Denis Agar, executive director of Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders, said current transit services are not equipped to support the growing late-night economy, leaving workers, many of them students, without reliable or affordable ways to get home.

“Our NightBus system is bad. We need more night buses. We need them to be more frequent, and we need them to go more places,” Agar said. 

Vancouver’s liquor rules, unchanged since 2004, are under review following feedback from businesses. Restaurants can currently serve alcohol until 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, while bars and nightclubs can serve until 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., depending on location. The City of Vancouver says the proposal aims to modernize regulations.

While businesses say the change could boost the hospitality sector, some workers worry that the change will create new challenges without improvements to late-night transit.

Student workers face more costly commutes

Langara College student Juan Valencia Fernandez, who works two restaurant jobs while studying full-time, said transit options are already unreliable for late-night workers.

The last bus from the SkyTrain station to Fernandez’s home leaves at 12:20 a.m. He said that when he works a late shift and misses it, he has to take an Uber or a taxi. 

“It’s gonna cost more money,” Fernandez said. “You have to start to find different ways to get home.”

Vancouver’s NightBus system provides some late-night service, but routes are limited, and travel times can be long, especially for workers commuting outside the city.

As the late-night economy grows, local transit services fail to keep up

A TransLink spokesperson said in an email that SkyTrain hours cannot be extended due to overnight maintenance requirements. Translink’s 2019 Late Night Service Report found that later hours would leave staff with insufficient time to maintain the system.

TransLink said expanding NightBus service could be a solution, but there is no additional funding.

“If TransLink is given a choice between increasing funding for NightBus or addressing overcrowding during the day, they’re going to pick overcrowding,” Agar said.

Some hospitality managers say they have taken matters into their own hands.

Stephen Sherry, restaurant manager at Glowbal, where Fernandez works,  said staff often arrange their own transportation when transit is unavailable.

“A lot of our staff go home together … senior staff often give younger workers rides,” Sherry said.

Coun. Mike Klassen said the city wants to balance business needs with worker safety.

“Ultimately, we want to make sure that people can get to and from their workplace and do so safely,” Klassen said.

But Agar warned that without new funding, service could get worse, not better.

“TransLink has said that if they don’t get additional funding soon, they may have to cut 50 per cent of bus services and 30 per cent of train services starting in 2026,” Agar said.

Many hospitality workers will have to rely on expensive or unreliable options to get home without improvements to late-night transit.