Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion II

[RedArbutus]

Thanks!

RIP, you brave vessel. I will not miss your white plastic bucket seats.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by RedArbutus

IIRC the bus tap-out was jettisoned because the amount of time measured in literal seconds it would take to tap off on the way out the door would cause such a backup that it would impact bus performance, not to mention customer satisfaction. Cubic couldn't implement it in any way that wouldn't bring negative side-effects.

edit: maybe that's another facet of "storing the data". apologies

The tap-out from buses was also ditched because of the poor reliability of the data transmission to and from buses given MetroVancouver geography. There were dead zones and erecting transmitters for full coverage would be too expensive.

[LeftCoaster]

It's also a huge PITA for bus riders just to save a few dozen cents per ride. I hated having to do it while living in Singapore.

I think they made the right choice just going flat fare for busses and distanced for trains.

[RedArbutus]

Ah, I didn't know that, interesting.

[Mac Write]

110 new Skytrain cars? that's another 22 Mark V trains for a total of 69 Mark V Trains! that would put us into early 2032 for full deployment. as we would just keep getting one train a month after the current 47 trains are delivered.

60 cars I assume would be to replace the Mark II series 1100-1200 (cars 201-260 that went into service in 2002).

As for the other 50, that means capacity increase. by the end of the delivery of delivery of 69 trains (345-cars) that would give us in 2032

• 12 4-car Mark II 1300-1400 series (2009-2010)
• 21 Mark III trains (2016-2021)
• 69 Mark V trains (2025-2032)

With the retirement of the original Mark II's, what train generation for what route? and 69 Mark V trains WOW.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The tap-out from buses was also ditched because of the poor reliability of the data transmission to and from buses given MetroVancouver geography. There were dead zones and erecting transmitters for full coverage would be too expensive.

I wonder if that has changed in the years since, given the rollouts of various cell phone operators.

Or, is transit service always expanding just beyond good coverage zones?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

• 12 4-car Mark II 1300-1400 series (2009-2010)
• 21 Mark III trains (2016-2021)
• 69 Mark V trains (2025-2032)

With the retirement of the original Mark II's, what train generation for what route? and 69 Mark V trains WOW.

I expect Production-Way bound Expo trains will run all the way to Arbutus in the years following the Broadway Subway completion as it becomes clear that the Broadway corridor needs more service than the Coquitlam branch does. I would expect mostly Mark Vs on both branches of the Expo line with Mark II.5's (which are not going to be remodeled) and Mark III trains mostly handling Coquitlam Millennium Line service or any short turn service in Surrey/Langley.

[Mac Write]

Originally Posted by mcj

I expect Production-Way bound Expo trains will run all the way to Arbutus in the years following the Broadway Subway completion as it becomes clear that the Broadway corridor needs more service than the Coquitlam branch does. I would expect mostly Mark Vs on both branches of the Expo line with Mark II.5's (which are going to be remodeled) and Mark III trains mostly handling Coquitlam Millennium Line service or any short turn service in Surrey/Langley.

Where is concrete info on the Mark II.5's being remodelled?

[mcj]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

Where is concrete info on the Mark II.5's being remodelled?

You're right there's not, it was a fever dream that they would be and from this buzzer post which referred to Mark III's as potentially being upgraded.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I wonder if that has changed in the years since, given the rollouts of various cell phone operators.

Or, is transit service always expanding just beyond good coverage zones?

I don't know if they use cell phone data coverage or a separate data/radio system for the Compass.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I don't know if they use cell phone data coverage or a separate data/radio system for the Compass.

They ran/run their own network for T-Comm (2009)

First, the system installation at the end of 2008 included a full upgrade of our radio system. Digital radios were installed in all the buses, and we put up our own radio towers, meaning we don’t have to rely on third-parties to transmit our communications anymore. ( Correction: In fact we have never relied on third parties to transmit our communications. Transit Communications leases space on existing towers for our radio antennas and microwave dishes, as do most radio systems like police, fire, and ambulance radio systems. In the past we did however rely on leased phones lines to connect the radio sites with the communications centre. The major difference in our new system is the backhaul (the way the data flows between the radio sites and the communications centre). For TMAC we built our own microwave system (instead of continuing to depend on leased phone lines) so we can directly control the data flow.)

https://buzzer.translink.ca/2009/02/a-lo...%20maps%20and,at%20the%20end%20of%202008.

[officedweller]

Thanks.
That's what I thought.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by RedArbutus

Thanks!

RIP, you brave vessel. I will not miss your white plastic bucket seats.

Not so fast...

Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) operates four (4) SeaBuses. Of these, Burrard Beaver, with 49 years of service, is the oldest. As part of extending her service life, CMBC intends to invest in upgrading the door panels and operating mechanisms for all 12 passenger doors. Burrard Beaver will be accessible for this project at the SeaBus Maintenance Complex in North Vancouver BC.

https://portal.us.bn.cloud.ariba.com/discovery/public/rfx/23465449/preview

This Request for Proposal (“RFP”) is seeking a consultancy/experienced vendor to conduct and manage a feasibility study for assessing and planning the transition of CMBC’s transit centres to Battery Electric Bus (BEB) facilities by 2040, including analysis, identification of impacts
and constraints, and planning for phased Implementation

[swan_ch]

As a Compass Card public beta-tester in the early 2010's, one thing I could remember is the device could crash when we tap out from a bus while the Compass Card is in the wallet (BTW, the device they were using at the time is running Windows Mobile, possible a later built of 6.5 because it has a circular Windows logo on the bottom left)

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by swan_ch

As a Compass Card public beta-tester in the early 2010's, one thing I could remember is the device could crash when we tap out from a bus while the Compass Card is in the wallet (BTW, the device they were using at the time is running Windows Mobile, possible a later built of 6.5 because it has a circular Windows logo on the bottom left)

Probably still does. Someone posted a photo of a similar reader in the Bay Area and it looks the same

https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/102wula/til_on_muni_that_clipper_runs_on_windows/

[yesheh]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-escaped-the-public-transit-death-spiral

Interesting read.

[officedweller]

Good one, thanks.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by yesheh

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-escaped-the-public-transit-death-spiral

Interesting read.

Sounds good until you think about how they’re only at 90% of 2019 ridership while population has increased around 6%. Also gloating about frequency when you have a $600 million annual budget shortfall is disingenuous at best. That’s not sustainable.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Sounds good until you think about how they’re only at 90% of 2019 ridership while population has increased around 6%. Also gloating about frequency when you have a $600 million annual budget shortfall is disingenuous at best. That’s not sustainable.

It makes perfect sense when you think for one second and remember that a lot of people secured remote jobs over COVID and even among those who didn't secure fully remote jobs, many are still hybrid. Even a 4 day in-office work week is only 80% of pre-COVID travel. Many university classes are still held remotely or hybrid as well. Once again, nice try.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by chowhou

It makes perfect sense when you think for one second and remember that a lot of people secured remote jobs over COVID and even among those who didn't secure fully remote jobs, many are still hybrid. Even a 4 day in-office work week is only 80% of pre-COVID travel. Many university classes are still held remotely or hybrid as well. Once again, nice try.

Fewer riders is fewer riders no matter how you try and spin the reason behind it.

And I note you didn't even attempt to address their yawning budget shortfall.