Canada Line | Completed

[nname]

Originally Posted by arashi_1987

Lansdowne mall parking lot seemed to have more cars parked there than usual. This was today just after 5pm. The new park and ride?

I think they should just fence off the parking areas near to the station to make it a park and ride Monday to Friday between Jan. and Nov., and charge everyone $2 for using it. Extra revenue for an area that's under-utilized during weekdays.

[CLC]

Originally Posted by arashi_1987

The attendants were checking everyone's tickets but seemed to be having trouble stopping all the people going into the station.

same situation in Broadway-City Hall station fare paid zone entrance as I encountered today.

I got checked twice today, another time was inside the train, no one could escape being checked

[amor de cosmos]

bus connections along the canada line:
http://www.translink.ca/en/Rider-Info/Canada-Line/Transit-Services.aspx#map

changes to bus routes coming on sept 7 because of canada line:
http://www.translink.ca/en/Schedules-and-Maps/Transit-Service-Improvements.aspx

[deasine]

Due to undisclosed reasons, I'll be going to the Canada Line OMC next Tuesday; hopefully, they'll let me take photos.

[lightrail]

It shows how spoiled we are with Skytrain LIM system - the Skytrain expo and Millenium lines are very fast by world metro standards. The Canada Line runs about the same speed as most heavy rail metro systems - maybe a little fast on average. 36km/h average speed is the same as Toronto's subway. Skytrain is just a fast little bugger at 43km/h average.

[WBC]

Wooho for Canada line!!!

Canada Line riders fill coffers with cash

VANCOUVER - The Canada Line could reach its ridership goals sometime next year rather than in 2013 as forecast, TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Friday.

That would likely save TransLink — and taxpayers — millions in subsidies to the Canada Line’s private operator.

Hardie made the optimistic assessment after the line averaged 80,000 trips per day in its first five days of operations.

It had been forecast to reach 100,000 trips a day in 2013, and TransLink is required to subsidize the operator until that point is reached.

“The 100,000 ridership represents the point when the line generates enough revenue, with bus service savings to cover payment to the concessionaire,” Hardie said.

He said the steady passenger loads this week have been good news for the Canada Line.

Between 7 a.m. on Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday, the line recorded more than $45,000 in ticket sales, with $37,000 of that in cash and fare-saver tickets, $5,700 in credit and $2,900 in debit.

The number of cash sales, he said, likely means people are testing the system ahead of Sept. 7, when TransLink cancels or diverts several of its long-haul bus routes to Bridgeport Station to encourage passengers to ride the Canada Line.

“What that means is there’s a higher level of sampling going on now,” Hardie said, adding, “Things have got off to an excellent start on the Canada Line.”

The biggest peak in ridership has been in the afternoons, coinciding with the arrivals and departures of most international flights.

“There’s an incredibly steady flow of passengers,” said airport spokeswoman Rebecca Catley. “We’re seeing a lot more people coming off with bags. People have embraced it quickly.”

The airport has added extra staff on the floor to guide travellers to their departure lounges or help them find the train once they arrive in Vancouver.

August is typically the airport’s busiest month, with the third weekend usually recording the highest number of passengers coming through.

But Catley said it’s not just travellers using the Canada Line: More people are coming to the airport to watch planes land and take off from the airport’s new observation deck.

“It’s just surprising. That area has always been very quiet and now it’s teeming with people,” she said. “Everything has gone very smoothly; the people are very excited.”

Jason Chan, spokesman for Canada Line operator ProTrans BC, said other busy stations are Waterfront in downtown Vancouver and Richmond’s Bridgeport, the only station where TransLink has a park-and-ride facility at the nearby River Rock Casino.

Just before 4 p.m. Friday, swarms of people were pouring in and out of Waterfront as packed trains headed out toward Richmond-Brighouse and the airport.

Kathleen Lapointe, who lives in Richmond, took the train into Vancouver for a course and said she’s “planning to use it all the time now.”

“I’m very happy,” she said. “I’m so glad it’s here.”

[email protected]



Take that tram fans :-)

[deasine]

^Good news.

Guideway Intrusion System @ YVR-Airport
About 2 metres behind the No Entry gates in the service corridors, there are these laser sensors that will be activate the warning message if one is beyond the platform edge. For stations that are 40 metres (I believe YVR-Airport is actually 50 metres btw), the sensor is actually located so that when the platform extension comes in, they don't have to move the sensors.


Photography by Deasine - Hosted on Picasa Web Albums - Creative Commons Protected

Thoes three black sensors at the end on the left.

Photography by Deasine - Hosted on Picasa Web Albums - Creative Commons Protected

Lasers are also located on the tracks, similar to the ones used on the Millennium Line.

Photography by Deasine - Hosted on Picasa Web Albums - Creative Commons Protected


Photography by Deasine - Hosted on Picasa Web Albums - Creative Commons Protected

I just noticed that if one falls onto the guideway, it's not going to be as easy to roll on the side underneath the platform on the Canada Line than compared to the SkyTrain as you'll have to roll over a concrete stub and a rail along with a few pipes. The Expo and Millennium Lines stns have level trackbeds at stations.

[deasine]

On another note:

Photography by Deasine - Hosted on Picasa Web Albums - Creative Commons Protected

[mr.x]

This is how they determined the 100,000/day ridership would come from years ago:


1) Bus Transfers (from north-south trolley routes in Vancouver and especially from short-turning south of Fraser buses at Bridgeport)
- 40,000 riders

2) 98 B-Line bus transfer
- 30,000 riders

3) New Ridership
- 30,000 riders

TOTAL
- 100,000 riders


Obviously, bus transfers from existing bus services including the 98 B-Line have already occurred. But it's absolutely amazing that there's already 80,000/day....I'm beginning to think they really underestimated new ridership. Even I had thought that they would start with 60,000-70,000 riders AFTER bus integration.

I think they will have to start planning to buy more Canada Line trains in 2010. The twenty trains we have aren't going to cut it for very much longer at this rate. But the question is, who pays for the trains which cost $6-million each ($3-million each car)? And how many more trains? An order for more trains next year would mean the trains would be delivered here in early-2013 at the very latest.

[SFUVancouver]

Mr.X, I've been asking those same questions for some time without an adequate answer. I have asked who determines when new cars are required, who buys them, who owns them, who decides which trains are run and which are on stand-by as reserves. The standardized answer is that there is 400 page contract and it has a line item for every imaginable scenario. When the FOI-requested documents, presumably that 400 page contract, comes to light I think we will have our answers.

As an interesting aside, when I got my sneak peak tour of the line one of the guides mentioned that the hardest test in the commissioning process involved a dummy being thrown fully beneath a train as it pulled into a station during the peak level of service. The staff was given no warning of when this test would occur during the 2 weeks of full service operation, nor in which station it would occur. They not only had to determine in which station the trackway intrusion had occured but execute an emergency manoeuvre where they lifted the train using jacks to reach the stranded person and then evacuate them from the station to a hypothetical awaiting ambulance/hearse.

Also, I rode the train a fair bit today to finish getting the stamps for the passport and remarked that it was consistently busy. From noon to three the trains were running maybe 1/2 to 3/4 full, with the trains to and from YVR having a very healthy volume of luggage on board. The lines for each of the ticket machines at the airport were six to eight people deep and none were out of order. I think they misjudged the number of TVMs for the YVR station. I would say they should easily triple or even quadruple the number. Put half a dozen on the ground floor, middle floor, and another dozen on the platform level. Without turnstiles and all of the C-Line attendants assisting people at the TVMs I have a hunch that there is a fair risk for fare evasion. I would also love it if Waterfront station maps and the transit connection maps throughout the system would actually show a red dot and a 'You are here' notation.

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

They not only had to determine in which station the trackway intrusion had occured

I'd imagine that part would be pretty easy.. I mean, wouldn't they be able to tell in the control room which intrusion sensors are tripped?

[CLC]

Originally Posted by mr.x

But it's absolutely amazing that there's already 80,000/day....I'm beginning to think they really underestimated new ridership. Even I had thought that they would start with 60,000-70,000 riders AFTER bus integration.

Though the press are now admiring good ridership to YVR, I am more admired about how the train seats are basically occupied after Lansdowne in the northbound train from Richmond through 8am-8pm

I wonder if demographics pay a huge factor. I read somewhere that 90% of population lives in the Brighouse region (that covers Lansdowne and Richmond-Brighouse stations) are ethic minorities, and obviously all Asians are so familiar with subway/metro type of transit, and would use it even if means up to 15-minutes walk

[Metro-One]

are ethic minorities, and obviously all Asians are so familiar with subway/metro type of transit, and would use it even if means up to 15-minutes walk

Since when is "Asian" an ethnic minority in the Vancouver region, especially Richmond!

[nname]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Mr.X, I've been asking those same questions for some time without an adequate answer. I have asked who determines when new cars are required, who buys them, who owns them, who decides which trains are run and which are on stand-by as reserves. The standardized answer is that there is 400 page contract and it has a line item for every imaginable scenario. When the FOI-requested documents, presumably that 400 page contract, comes to light I think we will have our answers.

I think it should be written somewhere in the document at the bottom of this page.

Check section 2.4 (page 6) of Schedule 3, I think its in there.

PS. Its specified that the capacity is calculated with 4 standees per square meter during peak and 1 during off-peak.

[argon007]

Originally Posted by nname

I think it should be written somewhere in the document at the bottom of this page.

Check section 2.4 (page 6) of Schedule 3, I think its in there.

PS. Its specified that the capacity is calculated with 4 standees per square meter during peak and 1 during off-peak.

was the official website of canada line completely closed? if so, why can i see the documents link when i click this link?

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Since when is "Asian" an ethnic minority in the Vancouver region, especially Richmond!

Yes, as a white person I would prefer if you didn't steal my minority status. Thank you very much.

[whatnext]

For various reasons I've end up on the Canada Line on each of the last theee days, at different times and different routes. A couple thoughts:

- Translink may have seriously underestimated ridership. At 5:00 pm today 90% of seats were filled as the NB train left Brighouse. By Aberdeen the train was very full. Given the time of day I doubt these were "transit tourists". I hate to think what it will be like September 7 when the bus changes are made.
- The South of Fraser folks are going to have reason to complain if the trains are as busy as noted above, and they're shoehorned into a packed Canada Line. Making like sardines is not a good way to attract new riders to transit.
- Lots of flyers are taking it to the airport. Too bad the seats aren't well-arranged so you can keep an eye on your luggage. As a result people are using seats for their bags.
- Merchants at YVR should be lobbying hard to keep the extra fare off. There was a notable presence at YVR of people visiting the airport, who weren't taking a flight, thanks to the Canada Line.
- Did you know that if your Faresaver expires while you're enroute, they expect you to get off at the next station and buy another fare!? That doesn't happen on a bus.

[Yume-sama]

I hate to think of what it will be like during the Olympics.

Is it a bad thing to declare the line possibly too successful?

When will the NDP start claiming they would have built the Canada Line bigger, instead of not at all?

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by whatnext

For various reasons I've end up on the Canada Line on each of the last theee days, at different times and different routes. A couple thoughts:

- Translink may have seriously underestimated ridership. At 5:00 pm today 90% of seats were filled as the NB train left Brighouse. By Aberdeen the train was very full. Given the time of day I doubt these were "transit tourists". I hate to think what it will be like September 7 when the bus changes are made.
- The South of Fraser folks are going to have reason to complain if the trains are as busy as noted above, and they're shoehorned into a packed Canada Line. Making like sardines is not a good way to attract new riders to transit.
- Lots of flyers are taking it to the airport. Too bad the seats aren't well-arranged so you can keep an eye on your luggage. As a result people are using seats for their bags.
- Merchants at YVR should be lobbying hard to keep the extra fare off. There was a notable presence at YVR of people visiting the airport, who weren't taking a flight, thanks to the Canada Line.
- Did you know that if you're Tripsaver expires while you're enroute, they expect you to get off at the next station and buy another fare!? That doesn't happen on a bus.

how do they know about the ticket time? on wednesday our ticket expired at 8:23 and we got to the platform at 8:15 and they didn't say anything when they checked our tickets - and we had wait until about 8:30 before the train came - it was a long friggin wait - lol

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

I hate to think of what it will be like during the Olympics.

Is it a bad thing to declare the line possibly too successful?

lol, unfortunately what I have feared for the past 6 years or so seems to be happening.

Hate to say I told you so.


I'm hoping I will be able to ride the line again sometime this weekend, I've only been on it once.