Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[DKaz]

Good Friday is Sunday schedule
Easter Monday is a slightly reduced weekday schedule.

West Coast Express is only running westbound trains #1, 3, and 5, and eastbound trains #2, 4, and 5.

[CLC]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Good Friday is Sunday schedule
Easter Monday is a slightly reduced weekday schedule.

West Coast Express is only running westbound trains #1, 3, and 5, and eastbound trains #2, 4, and 5.

Easter Monday is regular zone fares? just curious

[deasine]

Originally Posted by CLC

Easter Monday is regular zone fares? just curious

Yes.

Hey, just got this from the buzzer blog... but is it just me, or is that sign new.


Source: Buzzer Blog

[mr.x]

^ that sign is definitely new, I really like it. Too bad the Canada Line wayfinding looks nothing like that. But I am puzzled at why they said "To Vancouver"....could you not be any more specific than that?

Also notice the Expo Line logo by editing the M-Line logo. I love it. Looks like they might have a problem though with the Evergreen Line.

[usog]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

Also notice the Expo Line logo by editing the M-Line logo. I love it. Looks like they might have a problem though with the Evergreen Line.

Just put a logo of an evergreen tree on there =P

[lightrail]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ that sign is definitely new, I really like it. Too bad the Canada Line wayfinding looks nothing like that. But I am puzzled at why they said "To Vancouver"....could you not be any more specific than that?

Also notice the Expo Line logo by editing the M-Line logo. I love it. Looks like they might have a problem though with the Evergreen Line.

I think Evergreen line, as a name, is history. It will be an extension of the M-line, so not a problem.

Now they have to get the idiots on the C-line on-board (come to think of it, C-line seems appropriate term in a naughty way).

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by lightrail

I think Evergreen line, as a name, is history. It will be an extension of the M-line, so not a problem.

Now they have to get the idiots on the C-line on-board (come to think of it, C-line seems appropriate term in a naughty way).

lol, so much for whoever that came up with that name and won a mountain bike from that contest.


Agreed.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ that sign is definitely new, I really like it. Too bad the Canada Line wayfinding looks nothing like that.

This talk of consistent branding is moot in my opinion, but they do look similar to me. Most evidently, the font is the same. The main difference is the kind of blue. Obviously the C-line, to Richmond at least, is being branded with a light blue, while the E-line is a dark blue and the M-line is of course yellow.

[SpongeG]

why do they need to be more specific for Vancouver? it also lists burnaby, new westminster and Surrey on the same sign

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ that sign is definitely new, I really like it. Too bad the Canada Line wayfinding looks nothing like that. But I am puzzled at why they said "To Vancouver"....could you not be any more specific than that?

Also notice the Expo Line logo by editing the M-Line logo. I love it. Looks like they might have a problem though with the Evergreen Line.

Honestly, the sign should have looked like this:


Okay look, here at the Commercial Drive platform, you have Expo Line transfer signs that indicate the station names... then all of a sudden you have city names as you move up the station? It doesn't make any sense at all.

Stupid shaw likes to make my images blurry.

[mr.x]

^ that looks wayyy better....you/we should be designing the signs for them, for all three lines, seriously lol.

I like how you listed the Expo Line transfers

[mr.x]

TransLink picks new top planner
Michael Shiffer will be the new vice-president of planning for TransLink.

Surrey Leader

Published: April 09, 2009 1:00 PM
Updated: April 09, 2009 1:16 PM

TransLink has again turned to the U.S. to fill a hole in its top executive ranks.

Michael Shiffer will be the new vice-president of planning, effective May 4.

He comes to TransLink from Chicago, where he is professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois and served for the previous six years as vice-president of planning and development at the Chicago Transit Authority, the second-largest transit system in the U.S.

TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast, who came here from New Jersey last summer, also studied at the University of Illinois and worked at the Chicago Transit Authority.

Shiffer takes over planning duties from TransLink vice-president Sheri Plewes, who had taken that role in addition to overseeing engineering and capital management after the retirement of former planning vice-president Glen Leicester.

Shiffer arrives as TransLink struggles to decide how aggressively it will expand transit and transportation infrastructure over the next 10 years – and how any expansion will be financed.

His research has often involved information technology and he counts himself as a fan of smart cards for payment – which dovetails with TransLink's current plan to bring in such a system.

He predicted in a recent U.S. public radio interview that transit is poised to improve dramatically, even in areas where car culture has dominated.

"It is very difficult in this day and age to build new superhighways in dense urban environments," he said. "So we have to think of alternatives otherwise we're going to be very constricted by congestion."

He also likes the use of park and rides to steer suburban motorists onto transit.

Prendergast, in a recent interview, told Black Press the region needs much more park and ride space.

"We're on the real low end of the scale," he said, adding it's worthwhile to intercept as many motorists as possible and get them onto transit, even for part of their journey.

Audio online

Listen to a December, 2008 interview with Michael Shiffer by Chicago Public Radio.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=30594

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/business/42760022.html

[metroXpress]

^ Cool. Can't wait to see what ideas he's going to offer to us....good thing that he is a FAN of smart cards

I love your sign, desaine

[nname]

I think they are in the process of upgrading the signs in the existing skytrain station... from the CEO report:

In the next two months, a wayfinding/signage pilot project at the Burrard SkyTrain station will be implemented. The results will be evaluated to determine the most appropriate standards on the system for the future.

I wonder what they come up with..

And also..

The first four of the 48 new SkyTrain Mk2 vehicles have arrived and full testing and commissioning of these vehicles is occurring with the first vehicles expected to go into service in early April.

They should be out very soon now...

[metroXpress]

Demonstrators hit highway for light rail
Apr 7, 2009

Advocates of a light rail line to the Fraser Valley are planning a mass protest against the province’s pricey plan to build a new 10-lane Port Mann Bridge.

The “day of action” is set for Saturday, April 11 and organizers with the group Rail For The Valley intend to place banner-waving demonstrators on overpasses overlooking Highway 1 from West Vancouver to Chilliwack.

“We think the Port Mann Bridge project is a lot of money being spent on a bridge that’s not going to do anything for the light rail needs of the Fraser Valley,” said Rail For The Valley spokesman John Buker.

“People are asking for an alternative to driving their cars and we haven’t seen anything from the government.”

The cost of the combined Port Mann replacement and Highway 1 corridor widening has escalated from a previous $1.7 billion to $2.46 billion. Once financing and maintenance costs over the life of the project are included, the total bill is estimated at $3.1 billion.

“You could have an extensive light rail network for a fraction of the cost all the way out to Chilliwack,” Buker said. “You could build new light rail all through Surrey and Langley.”

He said the province shouldn’t try to spend its way out of the recession by tearing down the existing Port Mann Bridge.

Buker is hoping for hundreds of protesters lining the highway between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the protest day.

“South of the Fraser will be saying no to second-class transit and the government preoccupation with road building to the exclusion of light rail.”
The group is also concerned about what it sees as the province’s bias in favour of more expensive SkyTrain technology that runs either above or below traffic.

UBC professor Patrick Condon estimates a $3-billion-plus investment could instead produce an extensive 200-kilometre network of light rail trams south of the Fraser.

Condon has generated maps showing such a network could place tram lines within a 10-minute walk of 80 per cent of the residents in Surrey, White Rock, Langley and parts of North Delta.


[IMG]http://media.bclocalnews.com/images/320*339/19981aldergroveTramExpandValleyWEB.jpg[/IMG]



A deluxe light rail line running to Chilliwack could have been built for half the price of the new Canada Line, according to Rail For The Valley.

The group argues a service could be started quickly on the old Interurban rail line.

While a light rail line could eventually run over the new Port Mann Bridge, it’s not in the initial plan.

“If light rail is not on the bridge by 2013 when it opens I don’t think it will ever be added to the bridge,” Buker said, predicting the government will never take away lanes from regular traffic for transit service.

The provincial government has launched a detailed study of future transit needs in the Fraser Valley, but findings aren’t expected to be released before next month’s election.

Bog pilgrimage planned

A second anti-Gateway event is also in the works, this time targeted against the South Fraser Perimeter Road and its impacts on Burns Bog.

Described as a “pilgrimage,” churches and spiritual groups from across Metro Vancouver are expected to march to the bog on April 26.

The 40-kilometre truck freeway got environmental approval from the province despite persistent fears the bog’s drainage will be disrupted.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/aldergrovestar/news/42637837.html

[deasine]

People dont' seem to understand do they... Yes European countries have local trams all over their streets. But they also have a basic rapid transit system already in place.

[Whalleyboy]

“If light rail is not on the bridge by 2013 when it opens I don’t think it will ever be added to the bridge,” Buker said, predicting the government will never take away lanes from regular traffic for transit service.

This here proves these type of people are idiots. They've already said plans for light rail under the bridge are being added to the new bridge....i mean seriously if we make there light rail into Vancouver we'd still need a bridge.

[racc]

Originally Posted by Whalleyboy

This here proves these type of people are idiots. They've already said plans for light rail under the bridge are being added to the new bridge....i mean seriously if we make there light rail into Vancouver we'd still need a bridge.

A sure sign you don't have much of an argument is when you start calling names.

Anyway, you can build a light rail bridge for far less than a ten lane bridge. In addition a freeway right-of-way is not the best place for light rail.

[Metro-One]

I really hope that the Evergreen line is not simply branded the Millennium Line, because this again will lead to confusion. A perfect example is the Canada Line, which really should be 2 lines (seeing how one branch goes to the Airport and the other to Richmond).

99% of the time anywhere there is a branch (even if it is one station) it becomes a separate line on the maps. This makes it a lot easier for out of towners or novice travelers (and even those who frequent the train but are not paying close enough attention).

Again, the C- Line should be split into "Airport Line to YVR" and "Richmond Line to Brighouse."

We were complaining about this error only a few months ago and now we want it to happen to the Evergreen Line as well? (I still think that the best train operation decision for the Evergreen/M line is that every second train east bound goes to Columbia while the other goes to Coquitlam, splitting at Lougheed, similar to the current E/M line split at Columbia, instead of the stupid shuttle idea. This would also make the system more prepared for the eventual extension to UBC, which i imagine would end up becoming 1 train every 3 minutes UBC to Columbia and 1 train every 3 minutes UBC to Coquitlam, equaling 90 second frequencies from UBC to Lougheed.

[nname]

I think the Canada line issue shouldn't be a problem as it happens to a lot of places in the world.. There are lots of multiple routings that use the same color, number, and even the same name. It can just be treated as 1 line and 2 routes. Some examples around the world: Green line in Chicago, Green and Red line in Boston (although the branches of green line are numbered B-E), Orange line in Taipei (although the orange line is actually under 3 different names with 2 different routings, all with the same color), Line 3 in Guangzhou, Line 10 and 11 in Shanghai, etc.

And similar to Evergreen (and UBC) Line, there can be two or more lines and served by a single route. An example is the Taipei one I gave above (in fact, most lines in Taipei radiate out of downtown, but most of the train routes actually go from one end of the town to the other, thus running 2 lines in 1 route). A closer example would be Calgary, where there are actually 3 lines (Northwest, Northeast, and South) but 2 routes (201, 202). So this shouldn't be an issue, well, unless we want to keep the one-to-one mapping between line and routes.