Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[zivan56]

Yeah I noticed the same today on Grandview Hwy merging onto HWY 1. My usually commute takes 15 mins longer than it took today...hardly any wait at Grandview/Boundary intersection to get onto the #1.

[Zassk]

I drove to the Aquarium on Saturday, and it was the easiest drive I have done in more than 5 years. At 10 a.m. downtown was completely quiet. At 2 p.m. the area centered around Robson Square and the downtown SkyTrain stations was jam-packed with pedestrians, like a scene out of New York... but still almost devoid of car traffic. The Aquarium itself was very quiet and almost 100% tourists, the locals have stayed away.

[BCPhil]

On Satruday evening, around 6pm, the Canada Line, in both directions was packed, limited standing room only by the time the train reached Broadway heading downtown. And all stations had dozens of people waiting for trains Northbound, even King Edward platform had at least 50 people on it.

There seemed to be a lot of people heading downtown for various events, as well as a large number of RCMP members with luggage. They all got off at Waterfront and were probably all from out of town heading to the cruise ship, as they all rode up near the front and seemed to enjoy the ride (probably a lot of them were from small towns). It was kind of funny seeing police officers get giddy and excited by riding a subway.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Zassk

I drove to the Aquarium on Saturday, and it was the easiest drive I have done in more than 5 years. At 10 a.m. downtown was completely quiet. At 2 p.m. the area centered around Robson Square and the downtown SkyTrain stations was jam-packed with pedestrians, like a scene out of New York... but still almost devoid of car traffic. The Aquarium itself was very quiet and almost 100% tourists, the locals have stayed away.

Some have hunkered down & will watch everything on their new 100" HD flatscreens & comfortable Barcoloungers (cheaper than buying event tickets);
Others just want to stay away from tourist areas & crowds;
Others are watching the Olympics from the comfort of their vacation suites in Hawaii, Mexico, or Florida.

And Sunday was SuperBowl - a High Holy Sports Day only comparable to Christmas for some people.

Lets not forget almost 50% of Vancouverites voted against the Olympics in the referendum, so many of us unable to leave town are avoiding anything Olympics -related.

[Yume-sama]

Ya mean locals actually go to the Aquarium? I've been there and heard about every language other than English.

Like, more than usual

Though I contributed to that and went with my Japanese friend and his young kids when they were visiting lol

Is there some magic local-dar you use to figure out if someone is from Vancouver? Assuming you don't hear them complaining about everything they can...

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by BCPhil

On Satruday evening, around 6pm, the Canada Line, in both directions was packed, limited standing room only by the time the train reached Broadway heading downtown. And all stations had dozens of people waiting for trains Northbound, even King Edward platform had at least 50 people on it.

There seemed to be a lot of people heading downtown for various events, as well as a large number of RCMP members with luggage. They all got off at Waterfront and were probably all from out of town heading to the cruise ship, as they all rode up near the front and seemed to enjoy the ride (probably a lot of them were from small towns). It was kind of funny seeing police officers get giddy and excited by riding a subway.

Haha...well, most of the out-of-town officers being sent here are the officers with a good performance and are being rewarded with their trip to guard the city.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Haha...well, most of the out-of-town officers being sent here are the officers with a good performance and are being rewarded with their trip to guard the city.

Expect crime to rise across Canada with all the good ones gone.

[djh]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I was coming home from the west side (to East van) yesterday afternoon and Broadway was about as empty as I'd ever seen it on a weekend. The Olympic Lanes were bare of course, but even the 2 remaining lanes were light traffic and free flowing.

I'm sure the #9 and #99 must be flying down the road these days. Have any regular riders noticed a much faster trip? Is the #99 delaying to keep up with it's "schedule", or does that even matter with service being so frequent.

I really believe Vancouver should make those inner lanes permanent No Stopping Except Transit (during Rush Hour) lanes. The roads have flowed so much better with the buses being able to get through instead of having to swerve in and out of the 2 main lanes.
May big cities do this. The system I'm familiar with in London has a combination of Red Routes (no stopping lanes demarcated by using red lane markers) and Bus Lanes (lanes where the tarmac is painted red and they have huge No Stopping diamonds painted in them - see http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/finesandregulations/963.aspx). I really can't see how it could affect any business if it's customers can't park directly in front of them but instead have to use the side-streets or the alley way. Most shops only have space for 1 car at a time in front of them, so if losing that 1 customer is enough to screw them up, they're teetering on the edge anyway - tell them to park for free out back and they'll have free parking!

[cabotp]

Originally Posted by djh

I really believe Vancouver should make those inner lanes permanent No Stopping Except Transit (during Rush Hour) lanes. The roads have flowed so much better with the buses being able to get through instead of having to swerve in and out of the 2 main lanes.
May big cities do this. The system I'm familiar with in London has a combination of Red Routes (no stopping lanes demarcated by using red lane markers) and Bus Lanes (lanes where the tarmac is painted red and they have huge No Stopping diamonds painted in them - see http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/finesandregulations/963.aspx). I really can't see how it could affect any business if it's customers can't park directly in front of them but instead have to use the side-streets or the alley way. Most shops only have space for 1 car at a time in front of them, so if losing that 1 customer is enough to screw them up, they're teetering on the edge anyway - tell them to park for free out back and they'll have free parking!

I believe you mean the outer lanes (curb lanes). And I would actually make it to be no stopping from 6AM till 8 or 9PM Mon-Sat. Sunday you could have parking.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by The_Henry_Man

^I bet most people don't even bother to go out the past few days.

I was thinking the same thing. Anywhere I've driven in the last few days traffic has been noticeably lighter. Even in Burnaby and Surrey. I think people are starting to heed the warnings, and are just not going out as much anymore.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by cabotp

I believe you mean the outer lanes (curb lanes). And I would actually make it to be no stopping from 6AM till 8 or 9PM Mon-Sat. Sunday you could have parking.

Yes this is a reasonable idea. I really don't understand the business community's total freakout when street parking is taken away.

The city would also lose the meter revenue.

[deasine]

I can confirm someone's comment about Olympic messages on the SkyTrain. Essentially, there's another voice that follows the next station announcement, listing out the nearby venues. For instance, at Stadium Chinatown, the voice will say: "The Next Station is Stadium-Chinatown. BC Place and Canada Hockey Place."

On the Canada Line, new looping messages about bomb warnings, missing party members. Okay not really bomb warnings, but messages about unattended baggages, preparing for meeting places in advance if you get lost, etc. Also, it seems that the Canada Line has installed signs for nearby venues, like LiveCity Yaletown.

By the way, not that I think it will be THAT busy, but it seems that ProTransBC, TransLink, and VANOC have preparred additional signs that indicate the time to wait `till train boarding (they do have one hour warning signs). Not that it will be that busy on the Expo and Millennium Lines except in the dowtown core, but long waits can be expected at least on the downtown Canada Line ones, especially if ProTrans only runs 14 trains.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Yes this is a reasonable idea. I really don't understand the business community's total freakout when street parking is taken away.

The city would also lose the meter revenue.

No problem -- just raise the rates again on the remaining meters.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I was coming home from the west side (to East van) yesterday afternoon and Broadway was about as empty as I'd ever seen it on a weekend. The Olympic Lanes were bare of course, but even the 2 remaining lanes were light traffic and free flowing.

I'm sure the #9 and #99 must be flying down the road these days. Have any regular riders noticed a much faster trip? Is the #99 delaying to keep up with it's "schedule", or does that even matter with service being so frequent.

With kids having their Olympic Spring School Break right now, how many parents are taking their own "Stay-cations" to do the Olympics with their kids, or how many dual-income families need one of the parents to be home with the kids during their school break.

Either way, that's one less commuter in a car or on transit.

[BCPhil]

Well, there is also that lack of knowledge of what there is to do. Most people probably aren't that aware of the cultural Olympiad or are unaware there are things to do already. The Citycaucuse free things to do list is just starting to gain real momentum just this past week. Heck there are new events, pavilions, and houses added every single day, or even seem to be created on the spot, and we are just days from the games. It's like no one thought about informing the masses about the free stuff they can do.

It's the calm before the storm. Everyone who is going to do anything is waiting for the event to actually start. It's like Whistler right now, the place is deserted. And the reason is everyone I've talked to assumes Whistler is 100% closed to the public, not just during the games, but already too. That's just not true. And there are a lot of non-true assumptions made about coming downtown too. I've been downtown the past few weekends and it has been amazing!

But once the media in this city is 100% focused on what is actually happening people will be like, "Oh, maybe I CAN go and there are things to do." We're so bad at getting the word out before hand and believing all the negatives instead of the positives.

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by deasine

especially if ProTrans only runs 14 trains.

Ken Hardie stated that the Canada Line capacity would be increased by 30% this week for the Olympics, which I interpret to mean they will run 18 trains (which is 29% more than 14 trains).

Originally Posted by jsbertram

With kids having their Olympic Spring School Break right now

Only the private schools have spring break during the Olympics. Almost all of the public school districts have their break during the Paralympics in March. The rest of the school districts still have their break in March, but are 1 week off from the Paralympics.

[WarrenC12]

I agree with BCPhil, the lack of promotion around the free events in the city is a little sad.

That being said, I'm sure they will be jam packed. Ideally they should have opened at the beginning of this week and encouraged locals to come down early and enjoy.

The Vancouver 2010 iPhone app is great though... check it out if you have one.

[Pinion]

Public transit is noticeably more busy for the first seabus/buses of the day. Usually I'm one of maybe five people on the bus and one of 20 on the Seabus. But it looked more like rush hour this morning.

Lots of light blue jackets.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Zassk

Only the private schools have spring break during the Olympics. Almost all of the public school districts have their break during the Paralympics in March. The rest of the school districts still have their break in March, but are 1 week off from the Paralympics.

Kinda retarded...just because the VSB wanted to "stick-it-to-the-man"....

[cabotp]

Originally Posted by deasine

I can confirm someone's comment about Olympic messages on the SkyTrain. Essentially, there's another voice that follows the next station announcement, listing out the nearby venues. For instance, at Stadium Chinatown, the voice will say: "The Next Station is Stadium-Chinatown. BC Place and Canada Hockey Place."

On the Canada Line, new looping messages about bomb warnings, missing party members. Okay not really bomb warnings, but messages about unattended baggages, preparing for meeting places in advance if you get lost, etc. Also, it seems that the Canada Line has installed signs for nearby venues, like LiveCity Yaletown.

By the way, not that I think it will be THAT busy, but it seems that ProTransBC, TransLink, and VANOC have preparred additional signs that indicate the time to wait `till train boarding (they do have one hour warning signs). Not that it will be that busy on the Expo and Millennium Lines except in the dowtown core, but long waits can be expected at least on the downtown Canada Line ones, especially if ProTrans only runs 14 trains.

Renfrew had some kind of announcement about being a transfer point. I had my ipod on so did get the whole message. I'm guessing it would be for the Colosseum. It also said to go to a certain bus bay and catch a certain bus.