Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[deasine]

Having using the Canada Line a lot, I haven't really experienced "overcrowding," with the exception for opening day. It was far worst back in the day when we had the 98 B-Line.

[Yume-sama]

I've never HAD to wait, I chose to once at the airport as it was too busy for me, but I have been crammed in downtown.

Can't imagine how busy YVR station will be for Olympics. I arrive Feb. 10th... I may not get home till Feb. 11th

I imagine the government would have been CRUCIFIED by the opposition, who didn't think the line was even necessary or should have even been built, if they had made it bigger and thus more expensive.

Of course, now the opposition will say the government was shortsighted and underestimated public enthusiasm for the project....

[The_Henry_Man]

Just to give you guys an idea of the overall passenger loads on the C-Line, here's some pics I've taken during Christmas while I was back in Van during my winter break from school (all the following pics from me):

1) Richmond-Brighouse: Taken on Jan 5th, 2010, during the afternoon rush hour. Passengers leaving the train....









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2) Inside the C-Line train on Jan 5th, 2010 during rush hour on my way back to Richmond:



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3) Broadway-City Hall, around 1640h, on Jan 5th, 2010:



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4) Bridgeport, on Dec 20th, 2009, at 1711h:

[zivan56]

Someone told me today that the Canada Line was running on one side only and that none of the onboard signage worked (displaying wrong station info)...this was between Broadway and City Centre. What happened?

[NetMapel]

I'm all for enlarging the stations so we can have bigger cars in the future. However, we should start by buying more cars first before we go back to construction-mode again. Higher car frequency should be enough for our current demand. Wait a couple of years and then work on the expansion... maybe we can add the two new stations they have planned while they're at it.

[vansky]

richmond has finally emerged...

look at surrey, look at the chaos,

a dream, a blind vision...

as i reside in the iconic vancouver west, the center of everything, i think it is true that others are lacking...but have no excuse, this city cannot even decide what to build on broadway, stupidity still remains in its central planning...

[Zassk]

Thanks for the pics...

What is the usual turnaround time for ordering new conventional cars such as the ROTEMs? Presumably a little different (quicker?) than ordering Bombardier MKII's.... Are we talking years, or months?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Zassk

Thanks for the pics...

What is the usual turnaround time for ordering new conventional cars such as the ROTEMs? Presumably a little different (quicker?) than ordering Bombardier MKII's.... Are we talking years, or months?

Years. 3-4 years.

[nickinacan]

Originally Posted by vansky

richmond has finally emerged...

look at surrey, look at the chaos,

a dream, a blind vision...

as i reside in the iconic vancouver west, the center of everything, i think it is true that others are lacking...but have no excuse, this city cannot even decide what to build on broadway, stupidity still remains in its central planning...

Well if you look at big ticket infrastructure/architecture in BC, we always tend to go the conservative route and not spend the extra to make things bigger and better. There also seems to be a lack of willingness to use transit to shape population growth where then actually EXPECT it to be. But I guess it is basically just a case of chicken and the egg.

[usog]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Seriously, why complain about the cost before construction, causing it to be under-built to be built at all, and then pan its effects after the fact? Things like these prevent me from taking them seriously.

[SpongeG]

because the money comes from tax payers and its all about re-election

[nname]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

I'm all for enlarging the stations so we can have bigger cars in the future. However, we should start by buying more cars first before we go back to construction-mode again. Higher car frequency should be enough for our current demand. Wait a couple of years and then work on the expansion... maybe we can add the two new stations they have planned while they're at it.

Actually, we should start putting more trains in service first.. with the 20 trains we have now, I'm sure they're able to do 3/6/6 or 3/4/8 schedule (25% increase in capacity)

[vansky]

well, slower progress is bette rthan no progress..at least there r 5 yr, 10 yr plans...i could imagine how boring life was for the suburbs, richmond, burnaby etc...and richmond has really become successful

i dont think it needs skyscrapers, it has so much street stuff, that's the main pt...on the other hand, look at brentwood or lougheed, no atmosphere at all...

[NetMapel]

Originally Posted by nname

Actually, we should start putting more trains in service first.. with the 20 trains we have now, I'm sure they're able to do 3/6/6 or 3/4/8 schedule (25% increase in capacity)

Exactly, that's what I said before. We should get more cars and run more frequency before expanding the stations.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

Exactly, that's what I said before. We should get more cars and run more frequency before expanding the stations.

The question is, how difficult will it be to run trains more frequently, buy more cars, expand all stations to 50-metres, and then eventually perhaps beyond 50-metres?


It is quite evident that the Canada Line could use a higher frequency, both during peak and non-peak. Yet still, only 14 of 20 trains are being used during peak. Getting them (InTransitBC and/or Translink) to increase frequency is like pulling teeth...it's as if they're reluctant to do so.

[nname]

Speaking of platform length.. San Jose LRT built their station to accommodate 3 or 4-car trains, but is running mostly 1 car train. Instead of placing the train in the middle, they align the train to one end of the platform. I was waiting at wrong end of the platform, and when a train come, I dash to the other side of the station, only to see the train door closed before I got there... I guess this is the side-effect of long station

ps. The next train won't come for another 30 minutes!

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by vansky

well, slower progress is bette rthan no progress..at least there r 5 yr, 10 yr plans...i could imagine how boring life was for the suburbs, richmond, burnaby etc...and richmond has really become successful

i dont think it needs skyscrapers, it has so much street stuff, that's the main pt...on the other hand, look at brentwood or lougheed, no atmosphere at all...

lougheed is not that bad - korea town keeps it hopping - and the street kids at the corners

but neither brentwood or lougheed are "downtowns" so i wouldn't expect anyting from them like I would of richmond which was quite dead tonight - lots of car traffic no pedestrian action

[deasine]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

lougheed is not that bad - korea town keeps it hopping - and the street kids at the corners

but neither brentwood or lougheed are "downtowns" so i wouldn't expect anyting from them like I would of richmond which was quite dead tonight - lots of car traffic no pedestrian action

I would say Metrotown doesn't have a lot of street activity either. Everything's really at the mall.

[Mac Write]

How many 2-car train sets can the current line handle running at max frequency?

[Metro-One]

For a suburb Metrotown was not that bad for street activity. living there for a year, Kingsway could actually be relatively busy with pedestrians during the day, especially around Crystal Mall.

Originally Posted by NetMapel

I'm all for enlarging the stations so we can have bigger cars in the future. However, we should start by buying more cars first before we go back to construction-mode again. Higher car frequency should be enough for our current demand. Wait a couple of years and then work on the expansion... maybe we can add the two new stations they have planned while they're at it.

Actually we could more than double the capacity of the system with simply ordering more trains.

Current max frequency now is once every 4 minutes on the main line, every 8 minutes on the branch lines.

This frequency can be theoretically increased to once every 90 seconds on the main line, every 3 minutes on the branch lines.