Canada Line | Completed

[agrant]

Originally Posted by Vancity

Thanks for that video. I thought that the trains would come in a bit faster than they did. I was thinking about HK's MTR trains, and how fast they come in. Over there, they really do need those platform doors, but it doesn't really seem like it's necessary here, with the speed in which the trains come into each station.

A HK station is way way longer... the train maintains speed much later before slowing down.

For example, notice the last two cars for this HK train... imagine them as a Canada Line train. Pretty much similar speeds.

• Video Link

[deasine]

More than 80,000 take a free ride on Vancouver's new Canada Line
Kelly Sinoski , Vancouver Sun: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:47 AM

METRO VANCOUVER — Tens of thousands of Metro Vancouver residents waited more than two hours Monday for a free ride on the new $2-billion Canada Line, backing up several stations and clogging pockets of Vancouver’s downtown core.

The lineups started forming hours before the new rapid transit line opened at 1 p.m. and by early afternoon, the crowds snaked around Vancouver’s Waterfront Station, filled up Granville Square and spilled over onto Hastings Street in the downtown, and into the departure lounge at the airport.

By 3 p.m., TransLink was urging passengers to get off at Waterfront, YVR and Richmond-Brighouse stations and wait in line for the return trip to let others have a chance to ride the train.

Five extra trains were added during the evening rush hour — bringing the total to 19 — to help ease the crush, while 11 extra buses were brought in to help reduce the overflow crowds waiting for the 98 B-Line between Vancouver and Richmond as well as the No. 41 and No. 99 B-Line along Broadway.

“We had just about every bus pushed into service,” TransLink spokesman Drew Snider said.

The lines were capped at certain stations at 7 p.m. although TransLink said no passengers would be left stranded.

“It’s a good test for the system in terms of carrying this many people,” TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said. “The crowds have been big, but they’ve been patient.”

Close to 10,000 people an hour were riding the line and TransLink had counted 80,000 passengers by the time the service stopped at 9 p.m.

The service was free on opening day to celebrate the opening of the transit line linking Vancouver, Richmond and the airport.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Stockwell Day, the federal minister of international trade, cut a ribbon this morning at Vancouver International Airport to officially open the new line. Then they joined other dignitaries and media for a ride into downtown Vancouver.

The opening day drew everyone from seniors to families and disabled people. At least half a dozen wheelchairs and a man with a seeing-eye dog were among those on the first train.

At Waterfront, passengers were unfazed by the long wait for the train and remained in line despite warnings they would have to get off at the airport and wait another two hours to get back on again.

It was the same at Vancouver City Centre, where some trains were terminated to ease the crush at Waterfront. At the airport, crowds stretched from the platform, down the stairs to Level 3 and out onto the departures level.

“We don’t mind waiting,” said Vancouver resident Loro Cadman, as she stood in line at Granville Square. “We’re retired and it’s an historic thing.”

Cadman said the new rapid transit line should reduce the time it takes to make her frequent trips to Steveston. Now, rather than take a bus to Richmond Centre, she can hop on the train.

Several travellers, including Shea Ferguson of Fernie, were among the first to use the new line from the airport to downtown, while Niels Goverse got to the airport using the new line.

“It’s amazing,” Goverse said. “Otherwise I would have to use the 98 B-Line and it’s really packed so this is really good. It’s definitely a better system.”

Shauna Stanyer and her two children travelled from Port Coquitlam for “an adventure” on the new line. The trio had to wait two hours at Waterfront, but Stanyer said the trip was worth it and the family would definitely take the line to the airport whenever they travelled.

Hardie said that overall, the day went fairly smoothly. There were a few glitches, including things falling on the guideway, a cranky elevator and a few problems with the doors.

Several passengers inadvertently hit the emergency stop buttons, which forced the trains to halt on the bridge over the Fraser River or at stations, and required emergency personnel to rush to the scene.

The Canada Line, which is touted as the equivalent of a 10-lane highway, is expected to take 200,000 one-way automobile trips off the road when it reaches its forecast ridership. It will start up again Tuesday with the first train leaving Waterfront at 4:50 a.m. Fares are $3.75 one way.

Hardie expects the passenger load to be lighter Tuesday, which will help TransLink ramp up slowly toward Sept. 7 and the Labour Day rush when several express buses, including those from White Rock and Delta, will no longer go downtown but will be rerouted to Bridgeport Station. The 98 B-Line will also stop running at that time, in an attempt to funnel more people onto the new line.

[email protected]

From Global BC, originally from the Vancouver Sun

http://www.globaltvbc.com/More+than+take+free+ride+Vancouver+Canada+Line/1899494/story.html

[Metro-One]

Do you think if they count the ridership today on the Canada line this will be the skytrain network's busiest day ever? Also, who didn't expect a few glitches on opening day? While waiting, there would be no north bound trains for 15 minutes at times, but then 4 would arrive within a 10 minute window. If one was smart they would let the jam packed 1st one go by and then get on the 2nd or 3rd train in the pack. I was even able to get on one of the northbound trains at Broadway and get a seat just by doing so!

[Vancity]

Does anyone think there'll be problems with regards to the Canada Line system handling all the people coming from all over the world?

[Vancity]

Originally Posted by agrant

A HK station is way way longer... the train maintains speed much later before slowing down.

For example, notice the last two cars for this HK train... imagine them as a Canada Line train. Pretty much similar speeds.

• Video Link

Thanks for that video, agrant.

Next up: Evergreen Line

[mr.x]

ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.


I was actually one of the supervisors for a event company that YVR contracted to help deal with the events going on at the airport and to help deal with crowds. I was suppose to take a place for one of the 40 workers we hired, she went for her lunch break....but after more than a hour, I realized something was very wrong...she never came back. Apparently, she threw a tantrum earlier about hating to stand there for her job. So she quit and left without telling anyone. I ended up having to take her place for hours as we were short on people.


It certainly was a gong show at YVR between 2-3 pm. We had a lineup about 2-kms long, the line made several winds outside of the domestic building. We estimated about 3,000 people were waiting to get on.

At that time, I also heard there were 5,000 people waiting to get on Waterfront.

It was a huge mess, both how the opening was carried out and how the Canada Line was built.

At 6 pm, for some reason they decided to lower the frequency of the trains. There was a train at YVR every 15-minutes despite 1,000 people still waiting in line! It was bull.

I knew today would be a disaster, but this is beyond my imagination.

[NetMapel]

Canada Line is a HUGE HIT !!! I rode the line today and it was packed all the way from the beginning to 8pm where me and my friend left off. So I can only assume all the stations were packed till 9pm for the last train :O

I got half of my passport stamped

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

EVERYONE was talking about how the trains were fantastic and wide, but how the platform is only 40m and how they can't have two trainsets like the other skytrain lines. I heard alot of people talk about how small the platforms are and how if it is this busy today, the line might be like this every day in a few years.

Those are some wise people. It's almost as if they read my mind.

It was absolutely disgusting.

[Yume-sama]

So... if *only* 80,000 people were on the train today... how on Earth do they expect to handle the 100,000 that is "expected by 2010" and 142,000 by "2021"

[Metro-One]

Again, it is amazing how you people hear this stuff! yet somehow deasine and I heard not a whisper about it!

Also, anyone notice that Hong Kong, a city that is probably 10 times the size of Vancouver is running 8 car trains, I am sure we will be fine with 2 car trains with the ability to become 3 car trains in the future. (not to mention automated and 90 second frequencies are doable on the Waterfront to bridgeport stretch).

So... if *only* 80,000 people were on the train today... how on Earth do they expect to handle the 100,000 that is "expected by 2010" and 142,000 by "2021"

First of all, today was nothing like a normal commuter day. First, it was a much shorter day (only 8 hours). Second, thousands of people will not be lining up for the Canada line at 5am like today, anticipating the opening (think of skytrain during fireworks, it is also crowded for hours after) Essentially, everyone came at once today and that causes huge problems. Think of the freeways when they tried to evacuate Houstan, thats what happens when everyone tries to use something at the same time. Third, the commuting patter was essentially everyone only using a handful of stations. For example, massive waits at YVR, but if you walked to the next station, there was no wait at all. And again, remember there will be a third car by those times with higher frequencies.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x

ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.


I was actually one of the supervisors for a event company that YVR contracted to help deal with the events going on at the airport and to help deal with crowds. I was suppose to take a place for one of the 40 workers we hired, she went for her lunch break....but after more than a hour, I realized something was very wrong...she never came back. Apparently, she threw a tantrum earlier about hating to stand there for her job. So she quite without telling anyone. I ended up having to take her place for hours as we were short on people.


It certainly was a gong show at YVR between 2-3 pm. We had a lineup about 2-kms long, the line made several winds outside of the domestic building. We estimated about 3,000 people were waiting to get on.

At that time, I also heard there were 5,000 people waiting to get on Waterfront.

It was a huge mess, both how it was carried out and how the Canada Line was built.

At 6 pm, for some reason they decided to lower the frequency of the trains. There was a train at YVR every 15-minutes despite 1,000 people still waiting in line! It was bull.

I knew today would be a disaster, but this is beyond my imagination.

Quite on the contrary, I thought things were handled pretty well. There was certainly way more people than they have expected, nearly double their expected number of 6000 passengers per hour. While yes, the line ups were long, they were handled well, especially at Waterfront. It would've been nice, however, to redirect passengers to the stations via transit buses, but otherwise, the thing was quite efficient.

YVR-Airport is another story, especially since it is not part of the combined service portion. There were many delays throughout the system I know for sure, since trains for Richmond-Brighouse weren't arriving until 17 minutes later while on the other platform, you have trains arriving every two minutes practically. I know there were a few empty shuttles needed to be sent to YVR-Airport just to move the many passengers. They actually didn't lower the frequency, rather, the trains were all on one side because:

1) People some how pressed the emergency stop button
2) Doors were having problems closing, and opening even when the trains were running
3) Trains stalled for a long time at stations because of the backlog

[Kwik-E-Mart]

Just came back from the crush in August. I couldn't imagine when school starts in a three weeks.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

So... if *only* 80,000 people were on the train today... how on Earth do they expect to handle the 100,000 that is "expected by 2010" and 142,000 by "2021"

Well this is the first time they opened it for the public so there were a few problems that weren't ironed out.

[Yume-sama]

Well, I look forward to riding it tomorrow.

Hope you people didn't get it all dirty!

[Metro-One]

First of all, today was nothing like a normal commuter day. First, it was a much shorter day (only 8 hours). Second, thousands of people will not be lining up for the Canada line at 5am like today, anticipating the opening (think of skytrain during fireworks, it is also crowded for hours after) Essentially, everyone came at once today and that causes huge problems. Think of the freeways when they tried to evacuate Houstan, thats what happens when everyone tries to use something at the same time. Third, the commuting patter was essentially everyone only using a handful of stations. For example, massive waits at YVR, but if you walked to the next station, there was no wait at all. And again, remember there will be a third car by those times with higher frequencies.

Sorry, needs to be said twice, and this time in bold!

[jlousa]

If they had 80K over 8 hrs that bodes very well for the ability of hitting 100K over 21hrs. Don't forgot that most of those 80K were riding end to end and back not like a normal commuter would.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Third, the commuting patter was essentially everyone only using a handful of stations. For example, massive waits at YVR, but if you walked to the next station, there was no wait at all. And again, remember there will be a third car by those times with higher frequencies.

Well that's why I think TransLink should've had buses ready to shuttle passengers to the less busier stns:

1) Shuttle from Waterfront to Yaletown-Roundhouse
2) Shuttle from Broadway to Olympic Village
3) Shuttle from Oakridge to 41st Avenue
4) Shuttle from YVR-Airport to Sea Island Centre

Exactly my thoughts jlousa.

[yogiderek]

tomorrow is going to be the first true test. Most of these people just wanted to ride the train to the farthest point in the system then come back. Not getting off at the termination caused the problems. I think that on tuesday things will run alot smoother. Also, will there be less traffic on the Oak and Arthur Lang bridges. Personally, I think that a lot of people will ride the train over the next few weekends to just try it out.. Then it should ease back to levels where it moves people without massive lineups of people trying to get on the train. Everyone needs to chill.

[mr.x]

• Video Link

[Yume-sama]

Wow, for once I agree with Youtube comments. Her glasses, WTF?