Canada Line | Completed

[mr.x]

^ the columns have a gothic shape.

[CLC]

I know several forumers here are very good at calculating capacity and ridership.
I wonder if there's opinion on the Richmond bus changes and how "bad" it will affect the Richmond-Brighouse station. Just looking at the highlight of the improvement, big frequency upgrades on some of these Richmond routes!
http://www.translink.ca/en/About-TransLi...Service-change-highlites-for-Sept-7.aspx

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by CLC

I know several forumers here are very good at calculating capacity and ridership.
I wonder if there's opinion on the Richmond bus changes and how "bad" it will affect the Richmond-Brighouse station. Just looking at the highlight of the improvement, big frequency upgrades on some of these Richmond routes!
http://www.translink.ca/en/About-TransLi...Service-change-highlites-for-Sept-7.aspx

Richmond Service change highlites for Sept 7

More frequent service for Richmond transit users

People living and working in Richmond will have new commuting options when TransLink and its family of companies make their annual major service lift on September 7.

One of the more significant changes is the closing of the 98 B-Line and the discontinuation of commuter bus routes between Richmond and downtown Vancouver. The impact of this will be alleviated, in part, by Canada Line itself, and also by significant service increases on other routes within the city of Richmond to connect to Canada Line. These increases include:

• The #401 One Road / Garden City, which has been running at 20-minute intervals in the morning and afternoon peak periods, will operate every 6 to 7 minutes during the morning and every 8 to 9 minutes in the afternoon.
• The #402 Two Road / Richmond-Brighouse will go from half-hour service to every 10 minutes
• The #403 Bridgeport Stn / Three Road will run every 7-10 minutes during rush hours, instead of every 15.
• The #404 Richmond-Brighouse Stn / Ladner Exchange will start service earlier to connect with the first northbound Canada Line train at 5:05am and also run more often.
• The #410 22nd St. Stn / Railway, connecting with the Canada Line at Aberdeen, Lansdowne and Richmond-Brighouse Stations, will run no more than 15 minutes apart, with 7-minute service during the afternoon rush hour.
• The #405 Cambie / Five Road bus will also increase service from hourly to half-hourly at most times of the day.

With the permanent closure of Airport Station on Sept. 7 the C92 Sea Island South / Bridgeport Station Community Shuttle, which currently runs only during peak periods, will run during middays and on Saturdays as well, lessening the impact on Burkeville residents of the discontinuation of the 98 B-Line. The C-92 will run every half hour and make stops on Cessna Ave. and Miller Road (replacing the stops at Airport Station), and take customers to Bridgeport Station to connect to the Canada Line. As resources come available, it’s proposed to introduce Sunday service in December.

A new route, the C94 Richmond Oval / Brighouse, will begin service on Sept. 8. With the opening of the Canada Line, the community shuttle between Richmond Centre and the River Road / Bridgeport area will no longer be needed, so the C95 will be discontinued and those buses used for the C94.

More information can be found on the TransLink website, www.translink.ca.

Sp, generally you're getting 2-3X the frequency compared to now. Once your buses are running at about 6-8 minute frequency, it should make it even more enticing to ride the bus/skytrain, rather than drive to work.

[deasine]

Interestingly, I heard new messages at YVR-Airport today (well they were looping) at the platform (notice not on the train).

Message #1 (Not by Laureen Regan):

Holding the doors will delay service. Please stand clear of the closing doors. We appreciate your cooperation.

It was looped with the message below, but they timed it so that when they completed both messages, the SkyTrain door chime followed, and then the doors closed.

Message #2 (Laureen Regan):

Please stand clear of the platform and let passengers off first.

During when this message was playing, the platform signs showed:

Stand clear of the platform and let passengers disembark.

Clearly, they have these messages already programmed in the computer system. I wouldn't mind hearing message #2 played prior to the train arrival and message #1 before the SkyTrain door chime at all stations.

[mr.x]

^ that's good to hear. Obviously, an efficient system also requires its passengers to be efficient.

They should take out "We appreciate your cooperation". Although polite, or rather too polite, it makes the message far too long for practical usage.

Is the second message played immediately following the platform announcements of the train arrivals? If so, that's so HK AWESOME!

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x

^ that's good to hear. Obviously, an efficient system also requires its passengers to be efficient.

They should take out "We appreciate your cooperation". Although polite, or rather too polite, it makes the message far too long for practical usage.

Is the second message played immediately following the platform announcements of the train arrivals? If so, that's so HK AWESOME!

The first one sounded something like you hear at the PNE rides... "Welcome to the Coaster. Blabalbablablaballba" But the second one sounded commanding and automated like the rest of the Canada Line announcements.

[mr.x]

^ lol...

So, the second one is right after the train announcements?

"The train arriving on the inbound platform is for Waterfront. Please stand clear of the platform and let passengers off first."

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x

^ lol...

So, the second one is right after the train announcements?

"The train arriving on the inbound platform is for Waterfront. Please stand clear of the platform and let passengers off first."

This was the weird part. They were playing Message 1 (and message 2 after message 1) even when there were no trains. So no, it wasn't after the train announcements, but I'm sure it can easily be programmed to be after the announcements. It would be nice to see this on the Canada Line (and of course, on the other SkyTrains)

1) "The next train arriving on Platform [number] is for [destination]. Please stand clear of the platform and let passengers off first."
2) Train arrives, doors open.
3) 5 seconds after when doors are open, announcement in station saying, "Please stand clear of the closing doors" along with the LED message display.
4) Train door chime, doors close.

[argon007]

the announcement in the train do not say which line when it stop at station... like "expo line to king george" and "millenium line to vcc-clark".

but the announcement says which line when it is running... i am afraid that if someone get the wrong line.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by argon007

the announcement in the train do not say which line when it stop at station... like "expo line to king george" and "millenium line to vcc-clark".

but the announcement says which line when it is running... i am afraid that if someone get the wrong line.

The Canada Line ones don't need it because there is a message prior to when the train is arriving.

[zivan56]

I heard it when I took it today (announcing which line it was). Even after it split into the YVR section it still said the blurb about going to the airport.

[argon007]

Originally Posted by deasine

The Canada Line ones don't need it because there is a message prior to when the train is arriving.

then why expo line and millenium line need that???? i am confused with canada line don't need that when expo and millenium need that.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by argon007

then why expo line and millenium line need that???? i am confused with canada line don't need that when expo and millenium need that.

They don't need it... The Canada Line is new and therefore, can have automated NextTrain announcements. With some upgrades, TransLink can install them for the Expo and Millennium Lines, they just haven't. Instead, they have the destination announcements right when the doors open.

Canada Line Format:
NextTrain Announcements and destination announcements when the train is running

Expo & Millennium Line Format:
Destination announcements when the train is at the platform

From a tourist stand point, I think I like the Canada Line ones more and hope TransLink will eventually move to the Canada Line format.

In case you haven't heard it argon

Video Link

[deasine]

http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/20...ed-fare-what-is-it-will-translink-do-it/

Can someone enlighten me, or is it there's really no point in this post....

[CLC]

Originally Posted by deasine

http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/20...ed-fare-what-is-it-will-translink-do-it/

Can someone enlighten me, or is it there's really no point in this post....

is the author of this blog the same guy as MJ?
"Today the total cost of SkyTrain today (incl. Surrey extension, Millennium Line & debt servicing) exceeds $6 billion, Calgary’s costs for LRT is still under $1 billion" - any truth to this statement?


reading his older post:
http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/
what the h*ll he dares to use hong kong century-old tram "huge ridership" as example, but not look into the Hong Kong South Island subway line (which is not technically a spur line of heavy rail MTR) to be built in more $$$ per km than any rapid transit line in Vancouver, but will never attain daily ridership above 400,000 (his magic number for justification of building subway/metro)

[nname]

Originally Posted by CLC

is the author of this blog the same guy as MJ?
"Today the total cost of SkyTrain today (incl. Surrey extension, Millennium Line & debt servicing) exceeds $6 billion, Calgary’s costs for LRT is still under $1 billion" - any truth to this statement?

Yeah, it is true, for a figure measured in 198x dollars and include only the initial lines (29km) without expansion and debt servicing. This is exactly where his number is from. The actual cost is more than 2 billions for today's 44km (source: here), and will be around 3 billions once all the extensions are done (56km?). They even said clearly in the presentation, the reason for the low cost of the initial segment is due to reserved right-of-way. With only limited reserved ROW, the cost will be close to 88M/km. Now how about putting an LRT on a busy corridor with no reserved ROW? Way over 100M/km I suppose...

Now the cost for SkyTrain in 2008 dollars:
Expo Line = 1.65B
Millennium Line = 1.36B
Canada Line = 2.19B
Total = 5.20B for 69km

so does this mean SkyTrain is only 40% more expensive than Calgary's LRT?

[g35]

Has anyone else noticed that some (all?) stations do not say which platform is for which direction, for the split-platform stations? At Lansdowne, on the fence separating the two train directions, there was no sign saying "Northbound" or "Southbound" like how the Skytrain has "Eastbound" and "Westbound". Do they expect the LED signs to serve this purpose?

Only noticed this for Lansdowne but seems weird considering they have all the yellow electrocution/prosecution signs up.

Also, while I love most aspects of this line, I wonder purpose the LED signs in the stations actually serve? Is somebody going to say, "Oh no! The skytrain is going to take 7 more minutes! I'm taking the bus instead." I don't get it.

Example of missing sign: photo from KWYC at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwyc/3844366303/

[mr.x]

^ the platform LED signs are a new standard for many, many rapid transit rail systems around the world. You need to travel more.

Most people would like to know when their train is arriving, rather than wondering when it'll arrive.

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Most people would like to know when their train is arriving, rather than wondering when it'll arrive.

Meaning lost in translation?

And I'd figure it is pretty obvious that with split-platforms that the trains direction of travel will always be to your right, and that with a single middle platform the direction of travel is always to the left. Can't believe people would need signs to understand that.

[TZTag]

Agree on the arrival time notices for sure- Nothing worse than not knowing if you are waiting 5 min or 20.

The omission of train direction signage should be fixed. I use San Fran's Muni Metro most days, and the signage used to be poor enough that even as an experienced rider I have hopped on a train going the wrong direction. Even simple Inbound and Outbound signage would work for the C line and alleviate a little traveler anxienty.

Originally Posted by mr.x

^ the platform LED signs are a new standard for many, many rapid transit rail systems around the world. You need to travel more.

Most people would like to know when their train is arriving, rather than wondering when it'll arrive.