Canada Line | Completed

[deasine]

Originally Posted by GoogalieBear

I did phrase my response as a question and happy to be corrected. However, the substance of my rationale for suggesting a off-peak pass still stands, smart card is still just a debit card as a whole, it provides convinience for not having to carry cash, but it is not going to add more riders who will use it only for recreational purpose at a time when the train is likely to be half empty anyway. Would that not be a win-win situation ?

Well that really all depends on how the card is programmed. First of all, smart card users should first be able to take advantage of cheaper fares than cash fares, like the Oyster card. Of course, there can be cheaper fares offered during off peak periods. It all depends on how it is all programmed.

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by cjohnny4

So I've been in Japan for the past couple of months, and I will be returning to Vancouver in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to use the Canada line and I am considering using it when I fly back. I have a just-barely-manageable amount of luggage so I am thinking that I could use CL to get downtown where I live. However, my place is about a 15-minute walk from Waterfront station. Do you think I'd be able to easily get a cab from there? I've tried hailing cabs downtown before, and it ain't easy, especially if it's raining. Does anyone know if the taxis have or will set up specific cueing areas outside of CL stations? I hate to think that after a pleasant trip downtown on the CL I would arrive at Waterfront and not be able to get a cab home. Walking for 15 minutes with this luggage would not be fun...especially in the rain.

There are always a few cabs waiting on W. Corodova at the easternmost part of Waterfront station.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by deasine

Well that really all depends on how the card is programmed. First of all, smart card users should first be able to take advantage of cheaper fares than cash fares, like the Oyster card. Of course, there can be cheaper fares offered during off peak periods. It all depends on how it is all programmed.

I have my doubts about smart card technology coming to our transit in near future. This thing has been postponed and postponed again by Translink since late 90s / early 00. I had a chance to work with smart cards (as developer) in early 00s and they are not the easiest thing for an average person to use or comprehend (why, I have no idea). And frankly I have been astonished again and again at average person's level of ignorance / stupidity on our transit lines (I have witnessed people not being able to tell Canada line and Expo line apart, not being able to use machines, getting confused over what direction the trains go, the Broadway/Commercial station is just baffling to most users to this date, and even local geography to some local residents is a big deal, etc). Frankly and sadly, God help us if we ever introduce distance traveled type of system.

[mezzanine]

took the train today from yaletown to landsdowne with my bike:

-the yaletown elevator is smallish. the biggest elevator, and the best place to transit with bikes or luggage would be waterfront. There is only one elevator to take, with up and down escalators, versus 2 elevators at city centre and yaletown, and a lack of down escalators.

-the hardest part is boarding and leaving the train, they always have people and it's always a mad rush to board. We waited for people to board before taking our bikes in-everyone was polite and made way for us in the bike space, hopefully, this nice manner will last! leaving the train, we timed it to leave with the outgoing crowd.

-remember to board at the centre of the train where the bike spaces are. the little chrome loop for the bike wheel looks useless, but in real-life works well.

thinking about it, bringing your bike works well if you are going terminus to terminus, but IMO would be a lot more difficult mid-line, like at city hall, trying to fight for space, and trying to board...

[cabotp]

^ I would hate to imagine what those people are like in London on the Underground. Where some stations have more that 2 lines at the one station. But sadly enough some people are really bad at spatial orientation.

[mr.x]

I got off at Waterfront today at around 4.30 pm, and I was surprised that staff were holding back people from entering the platform from the CPR building. There had to be 60-people in the line, while there were only maybe 70 people waiting on the platform. Again, longer platforms = more room for people to wait for the train.

It was the oddest thing to say the least. The platform was hardly packed (far from the crushes we could see on the Broadway-Commercial platforms) yet they were holding people back.

Buy more trains!

[CLC]

Maybe Protransbc staffs were given instructions to control the number of people board at Waterfront per train, so that passengers at next station VCC can have a chance for some seats?

[mr.x]

^ lol, that's just unheard of for a metro system.

[CLC]

Originally Posted by nname

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?

What is Calgary's LRT cost in 2008 dollars?

and any good estimate for Calgary West LRT extension?

[WaxItYourself]

There are also no pay phones and many of the stations. I was going to be picked up at King Edward and I was running around trying to find a payphone to call the person who was going to pick me up. I finally asked ones of the workers there where one was and she said there wasn't any. I went out and asked people on the street and they said that there weren't any on the street either. They don't have any payphones at all around that station. Luckily I called them at Waterfront so when I got there all I had to do was wait about 20 minutes and they came. Unfortunately we were 30 minutes late to where we were going and we ended up missing our movie.

[mr.x]

^ pay phones have become increasingly obsolete over the last decade with cell phone usage every increasing.

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by CLC

What is Calgary's LRT cost in 2008 dollars?

and any good estimate for Calgary West LRT extension?

$566 million was the budget although word is that the cost skyrocketted to over $800 million for the approximately 8km long line.

[degnaw]

Originally Posted by WaxItYourself

There are also no pay phones and many of the stations. I was going to be picked up at King Edward and I was running around trying to find a payphone to call the person who was going to pick me up. I finally asked ones of the workers there where one was and she said there wasn't any. I went out and asked people on the street and they said that there weren't any on the street either. They don't have any payphones at all around that station. Luckily I called them at Waterfront so when I got there all I had to do was wait about 20 minutes and they came. Unfortunately we were 30 minutes late to where we were going and we ended up missing our movie.

As I rarely have enough change to use a pay phone, I would've borrowed someone's cell phone.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by degnaw

As I rarely have enough change to use a pay phone, I would've borrowed someone's cell phone.

Most payphones accept plastic.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by GoogalieBear

We are lucky enough to be living very near one of the CanadaLine stations, yesterday one of my neighbors mentioned how he wished one could get an off-peak transit pass. He can't really use public transportation for commuting to work but would have loved to use the line for things like running errands, go downtown, go to Richmond just for the heck of it. I, myself, had jumped on the train just to go down to Wholefood to pick up a BBQ chicken for a quick dinner last weekend on my pass. Today we cycled down and did the full false creek circuit with our child, a toddler and took the train back up the hill, almost make me feel like I am living downtown again.

I know it only cost $2.50 each trip, but it's just human nature that you are that much less likely to actually do it unless you already have a pass in your pocket burning a hole waiting to be used. Besides, that will get more people onto the train without overloading the system at rush hour !!

It's $1.90 if you buy faresaver books. They're really the best way to do things for occasional users and I'm sure smart cards would along the same principles of faresaver books.

Off peak it's all 1-zone remember.

However, unlike faresavers, you can use it for 2 zone or 3 zone tickets if you need to without buying a separate book or paying a cash upgrade fee. If your usual trip is a 1-zone occasional fare, but one day your car is in the shop, then you can use the card to make the 2-zone trip to work.

As an option, if we're still using the zone system, you can buy a multi-zone month-pass instead. We have an off-peak pass. It's called a 1-zone month pass. All Zones become 1 after 6:30. Lots of people who work afternoon shifts or nighshifts use it and pay an add-fare.

Right now, faresavers give you a 25% discount, which translates to ~30% bonus. They could be sold in increments of 10,

• $20 gets you $26
• $30 gets you $39
• $40 gets you $52

[metroXpress]

I wonder how the acess-controlled washrooms work? Haven't tried them yet.

Originally Posted by mr.X

I got off at Waterfront today at around 4.30 pm, and I was surprised that staff were holding back people from entering the platform from the CPR building. There had to be 60-people in the line, while there were only maybe 70 people waiting on the platform. Again, longer platforms = more room for people to wait for the train.

It was like that the other day too...there is simply not enough space on the platform...

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Nice looking trains, how about that, the 3 largest cities in the PNW all open a new metro line this year!

I was lucky enough to ride the new trains....they were surprisingly spacious and larger than Seattle's LINK. Great system!!

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by GoogalieBear

We are lucky enough to be living very near one of the CanadaLine stations, yesterday one of my neighbors mentioned how he wished one could get an off-peak transit pass. He can't really use public transportation for commuting to work but would have loved to use the line for things like running errands, go downtown, go to Richmond just for the heck of it. I, myself, had jumped on the train just to go down to Wholefood to pick up a BBQ chicken for a quick dinner last weekend on my pass. Today we cycled down and did the full false creek circuit with our child, a toddler and took the train back up the hill, almost make me feel like I am living downtown again.

I know it only cost $2.50 each trip, but it's just human nature that you are that much less likely to actually do it unless you already have a pass in your pocket burning a hole waiting to be used. Besides, that will get more people onto the train without overloading the system at rush hour !!

I survived college on Faresaver tickets to get to work twice a week or to go up to Metrotown to do grocery shopping or whatever once a week. Spent $36/mo on transit (would be $38/mo today). BCIT was a 15 minute walk away. Faresavers are absolutely the way to go, it's like paying for 7.6 trips and getting a bonus 2.4 trips free. Of course a U-Pass would've been heaps cheaper but I'm not sure what the status on the U-Pass in BCIT is to this day.

Last year I went without a car for a few months and just got a buspass for the Fraser Valley ($42/mo, yea you heard me), and when I needed to go into Burnaby to play hockey I have a West Coast Express Card where I reload it with $20 and it'll top up my account with an additional 20% (So I get $24 in total) so combined with my transit pass I was able to purchase a round trip to Coquitlam and back for about $8.50, then complete my trip using Translink buses and skytrain on the same pass. And a round trip pass acts as an all day transit pass for $8.50 to get from Mission to Vancouver ride transit as much as I want and go back home, wow!!!

There are deals out there for infrequent transit users, the trick is to just prepay for your fares via Faresaver tickets or the Express Card (soon to be replaced by the GO2 smart card).

[deasine]

Some pics of YVR-Airport


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


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


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


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


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


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

They finally added Canada Line signs for the Canada Line elevators (they didn't previously).

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


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

Why do the fares have to look different? That being said, I like these ones more since it isn't paper =P

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

Train Not In Service

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

[WaxItYourself]

Originally Posted by degnaw

As I rarely have enough change to use a pay phone, I would've borrowed someone's cell phone.

Tried that. None of the people I asked had a cell phone. Either that or they just refused to let me use theirs.