Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Zassk

Metro Vancouver commuters go green by travelling less
Lower Mainland residents make one million fewer trips per day, surveys show


http://www.vancouversun.com/Metro+Vancouver+commuters+green+travelling+less/2781167/story.html

The trips are down in 2008 probably due to high cost of gas that year.

Overall interesting and going in good direction. I felt over the last 2-3 years that driving downtown is getting better (I only drive maybe once or twice a month downtown - the rest of the time I use SkyTrain) . It would be very interesting to see what is the impact on Canada Line on driving in Vancouver and Downtown.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by BCPhil

That's why they are Ikea couches, they can take off the covers and wash them.

Oh .... Swedish ingenuity ..... what a relief !!

[whatnext]

Surprised nobody posted about the bus that made a detour through the Newton Wave Pool yesterday:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/90626449.html

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Surprised nobody posted about the bus that made a detour through the Newton Wave Pool yesterday:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/90626449.html

I never knew that Translink had a Toyota bus in their fleet...

[SFUVancouver]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CMBCSurvey

Fill it out and let them know what you think.

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by tybuilding

IKEA in the Paris Metro http://www.urlesque.com/2010/03/15/ikea-subways/

this is interesting, can I place an order for the floor demo

[CLC]

Seattle light rail saw some substantial rise in ridership

Average weekday boardings in March were estimated at 18,094. The highest day of ridership was Friday, March 26, at 21,466. The average number of Saturday boardings was 13,640. On Sundays, it was 10,784.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportation/archives/201987.asp

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by CLC

Seattle light rail saw some substantial rise in ridership

http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportation/archives/201987.asp

Good to hear. I'm sure the airport extension in December helped the usage and visibility.

Also good to hear Seattle isn't stopping their overall transit plans after this somewhat lackluster bang for the buck.

Whereas in Vancouver it's like pulling teeth even after a new line comes up and blows away expectations (Canada Line).

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Good to hear. I'm sure the airport extension in December helped the usage and visibility.

Also good to hear Seattle isn't stopping their overall transit plans after this somewhat lackluster bang for the buck.

Whereas in Vancouver it's like pulling teeth even after a new line comes up and blows away expectations (Canada Line).

True, but remember that Seattle is a much wealthier city than Vancouver. Up here, we're always in overdraught for everything, and there are cutbacks happening all over the place. Money is harder to come by in Vancouver, even for successes like the Canada Line

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by CLC

Seattle light rail saw some substantial rise in ridership

http://blog.seattlepi.com/transportation/archives/201987.asp

How does Seattle's ridership compare with Vancouver's on a direct basis?
Day by day, week by week? (etc)

[nova9]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

How does Seattle's ridership compare with Vancouver's on a direct basis?
Day by day, week by week? (etc)

in short, it doesnt. haha.

[Gordon]

Those nunbers certainly don't seem good.

are there any up to date numbers for The Canada Line?

!8,094 as compared 94,000 (pre Olympics).

[CLC]

Originally Posted by Gordon

are there any up to date numbers for The Canada Line?
.

not exactly up-to-date, from last Translink news release it has been 104674 per weekday.

[metroXpress]

It seems like the bepartoftheplan Translink forum is back alive....check it out!

http://www.translink.ca/en/forum/default.aspx

now there is a forum dedicated to the UBC Line studies

[invisibleairwaves]

Ugh, I'm constantly amazed at how much of a disorganized, poorly-managed mess the bus system in Surrey is. Drivers fail to show up to run the route, out-of-service buses get parked blocking off active bus bays, two or three buses from the same route will all show up at once and cause havoc with the lines, drivers have no idea where they're supposed to terminate...and that's all just at Surrey Central! Never mind the beyond-ridiculous capacity issues. I'm all in favour of adding new buses all over the place, but some sense of order and discipline needs to be put in place first.

[nname]

Originally Posted by invisibleairwaves

Drivers fail to show up to run the route, out-of-service buses get parked blocking off active bus bays, two or three buses from the same route will all show up at once and cause havoc with the lines, drivers have no idea where they're supposed to terminate...

You should come to Coquitlam station at 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 6:00, or 6:50.. its fun watching all those buses blocking each other off, and they're actually scheduled to do that! Usually it takes about 6-10 minutes just to get out of the bus loop

[DKaz]

Originally Posted by invisibleairwaves

Ugh, I'm constantly amazed at how much of a disorganized, poorly-managed mess the bus system in Surrey is. Drivers fail to show up to run the route, out-of-service buses get parked blocking off active bus bays, two or three buses from the same route will all show up at once and cause havoc with the lines, drivers have no idea where they're supposed to terminate...and that's all just at Surrey Central! Never mind the beyond-ridiculous capacity issues. I'm all in favour of adding new buses all over the place, but some sense of order and discipline needs to be put in place first.

Sounds like ValleyMAX.

[mezzanine]

we should get a court of appeal judgement soon on the susan heyes case, i hope. once we have some sort of closure on this, IMO we can then begin work on evergreen.

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2010/04/15/pf-13605811.html

April 15, 2010

Lawyer defends Cambie project

By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS


The lawyer contesting a $600,000 nuisance judgement against TransLink, Canada Line Rapid Transit and inTransitBC told a B.C. Court of Appeal tribunal Thursday that the project was properly vetted.

George Macintosh said it was “no part of the judge’s mandate to be second-guessing the policy decision of TransLink, mayors and councilors or the three provincial ministers when they authorized the project.”

Macintosh is trying to overturn B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield’s May 27, 2009 verdict to compensate Hazel and Co. proprietor Susan Heyes. Pitfield found Heyes’ store was the victim of nuisance during the Canada Line cut-and-cover tunnel construction that strangled several blocks of Cambie Street.

SNC-Lavalin’s successful $1.4 billion bid was cheaper than the $2 billion Bombardier proposal that that would have closed Cambie Street from Broadway to 10th Avenue for two years during tunnel-boring.

“The city would not allow that,” Macintosh said.

Macintosh said there was “five months of rigorous public debate and analysis” during the environmental assessment process which considered the potential for harm against businesses. Approval was granted in June 2005.

The appeal hearing is scheduled to end Friday.

[GeeCee]

The outcome of that case is much more important to the UBC line rather than the the Evergreen line. The Evergreen line doesn't really go underground in retail corridors.

[usog]

I don't know if anyone else even goes as far as Surrey on the skytrain, but for those who do, has anyone else noticed that whenever a train is pulling into Columbia Station westbound, they've added a message on expo line trains something along the lines of 'this is an expo line train bound for king george station in surrey'. Must be recent because I never remember it being there before. Dunno if Millennium line trains have something similar since I never take them =\