Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[CLC]

Originally Posted by nname

Maybe I should post the data for all stations...

Please post them, thanks in advance!

The Canada Line traffic by station figures seems very accurate, though my observation would put Langara-49th ever higher (probably because I often used Langara station during its busy times). Zwei and some people who claimed south-of-fraser buses transfer at Bridgeport contribute to 25% (or more) of C-Line traffic finally proved completely wrong

[Whalleyboy]

Originally Posted by tybuilding

http://www.whatthehelvetica.ca/2010/07/15/vancouver-transit-map-from-1958/

So there was no transit to Surrey then! I guess the population was too small?

At the time Surrey hads its own bus system that wasn't run by bc transit. It wasnt till around the 1974 BC transit came in and took over some bus routes in surrey

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by nname

(great graphs)

I really wonder if the extrapolated numbers are that accurate... Canada Line Waterfront handles 50% more people than Expo Waterfront? Really?

And OMG at the bad showing by Millennium Line stations.. Evergreen can't come soon enough.

[jlousa]

Is it really possible that Richmond in only 1 yr with a fraction of the population has more ridership then Surrey who has had it's stations established for years?

New West is right there with Surrey as well. I know transit sof might be lacking but I think this really points to the built environment of Surrey as it's not like Richmonds bus service is that much better.

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Is it really possible that Richmond in only 1 yr with a fraction of the population has more ridership then Surrey who has had it's stations established for years?

New West is right there with Surrey as well. I know transit sof might be lacking but I think this really points to the built environment of Surrey as it's not like Richmonds bus service is that much better.

In this context, "Richmond" includes all SoF buses that terminate in Richmond. So it is really Richmond + South Delta + part of White Rock (although those other places are all quite small). That said, yes, it's fairly impressive, but we knew transit was well-used in this area from the 98 B-line.

[CLC]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Is it really possible that Richmond in only 1 yr with a fraction of the population has more ridership then Surrey who has had it's stations established for years?

If you subtract Bridgeport station, Richmond does have lower # than Surrey. I don't see any abnormality

[nname]

Originally Posted by Zassk

In this context, "Richmond" includes all SoF buses that terminate in Richmond. So it is really Richmond + South Delta + part of White Rock (although those other places are all quite small). That said, yes, it's fairly impressive, but we knew transit was well-used in this area from the 98 B-line.

Plus YVR.. which is more than 1/4 of the total...

Originally Posted by Zassk

I really wonder if the extrapolated numbers are that accurate... Canada Line Waterfront handles 50% more people than Expo Waterfront? Really?

The distance from Burrard to Waterfront is actually pretty much the same as the distance to Van City Centre... I think most would prefer boarding at Waterfront...

[red-paladin]

Originally Posted by Zassk

I really wonder if the extrapolated numbers are that accurate... Canada Line Waterfront handles 50% more people than Expo Waterfront? Really?

And OMG at the bad showing by Millennium Line stations.. Evergreen can't come soon enough.

Well, I get on the Expo Line at Waterfront every night, and it seems like a lot more people usually get on at Burrard and Granville than Waterfront.
On the Canada Line, I think it's another story.

However, I think the Canada Line would have less people using proper stats.

[nname]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

Well, I get on the Expo Line at Waterfront every night, and it seems like a lot more people usually get on at Burrard and Granville than Waterfront.
On the Canada Line, I think it's another story.

However, I think the Canada Line would have less people using proper stats.

Should be really close. The average daily ridership (including weekends) with my figure is about 83,000 - sound pretty familiar, eh? I think this was the ridership in November last year (and yes, the figure does include weekends too).

[aberdeen5698]

Found this link to an interesting comparison of transit in Auckland and Vancouver on Gordon Price's Blog.

I particularly liked this:

So how on earth has Vancouver got such excellent public transport statistics out of what seems to be such little investment in expensive infrastructure like underground railway lines? And how come it seems to emerge near the top of every “quality of life” survey when logic tells us it should be choking in traffic congestion due to there being so few major transport corridors – roads or rail?

[red-paladin]

Metrotown and Burrard should really have two entrances. At least Metrotown will be improved at some point. It's too bad there is no entrance on the east side of Burrard that goes down to the inbound level. I know there was the potential of a connection to park place. Do you guys think the wall opposite of where the currently main escalators are is a knock out panel for a future connection? Could a connection still be built there?

[SpikePhanta]

Wow M-Line is pretty weak....

I dunno why I think the numbers for Canada Line are overestimated or something...

Theres no way Waterfront Expo has less then Waterfront Canada

[Zassk]

If those estimates give a ridership of 83,000, then Canada Line stations are already 20% higher today than what's shown on that table. I believe the post-Olympics figure of 105,000 was also including weekends.

Regarding Waterfront, I guess Expo + Seabus + WCE traffic gets all sort of co-mingled at Waterfront and makes it seem like there are more people going to Expo Line than there really are.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Zassk

If those estimates give a ridership of 83,000, then Canada Line stations are already 20% higher today than what's shown on that table. I believe the post-Olympics figure of 105,000 was also including weekends.

Regarding Waterfront, I guess Expo + Seabus + WCE traffic gets all sort of co-mingled at Waterfront and makes it seem like there are more people going to Expo Line than there really are.

I was thinking the same thing about the Commercial/Broadway figures.

Wouldn't it would be more accurate if the traffic using the 'old' Expo/Millennium elevated platforms and the 'new' Millennium platform in the cut were separate numbers - if they were still treated as separate Broadway (Expo/Millennium) and Commercial (Millennium) stations that happen to have a common 'hub mezzanine' to connect to the buses.

It's too bad the traffic figures for the 99 BLine aren't included in the data, as these might give us some idea how heavily-used the 99 BLine is compared to SkyTrain.

[nname]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Wouldn't it would be more accurate if the traffic using the 'old' Expo/Millennium elevated platforms and the 'new' Millennium platform in the cut were separate numbers - if they were still treated as separate Broadway (Expo/Millennium) and Commercial (Millennium) stations that happen to have a common 'hub mezzanine' to connect to the buses.

Expo and Millennium boarding count for Broadway-Commercial are actually reported separately in the data:

Expo Line: 1566k
Millennium Line: 3607k

If you look at those numbers, obviously something is very wrong.

To validate the data, I sum up all boarding counts on the E&M stations, and it ended up exactly the same as the total boarding for skytrain in 2009. So the data is valid.

Now compare with fall 2007 weekday figure:

Expo Line: 17700 boarding, 17600 alighting, 17400 transfers
Millennium Line: 5600 boarding, 5300 alighting, 17400 transfers

The Expo B+A figure (35300) would put it less than downtown stations, but above Waterfront and Main Street.

The Millennium Line figure (10900) is about the same as the numbers for Nanaimo, Joyce, and Brentwood.

The total would be around the same league as the downtown stations. But consider weekend and summer (where the usage for BWCM drops considerably - just look at Production), the annual total should be slightly less.

Based on this, I suspect that the data for the total are correct, and either the Van Sun, or even TL, has the data for Expo and Millennium part swapped (but I'm not really sure about this part, as the number for Expo is still a bit low and Millennium a bit high). Also, if the stations are reported separately, I think the transfers should be counted as well. So as a result, I only put the total up on the graph.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

..... It's too bad there is no entrance on the east side of Burrard that goes down to the inbound level. I know there was the potential of a connection to park place. Do you guys think the wall opposite of where the currently main escalators are is a knock out panel for a future connection? Could a connection still be built there?

Yeah, it's just a question of whether Park Place (GWL Realty) would pony up the cash.
Maybe it should be a condition of their current DPB request fo 60,000 sq ft of heritage density being transferred to the 666 Burrard site?

*****

WRT Waterfront Expo vs Canada Line - - like others have said -
On the Expo Line, the main CBD station is Burrard.
On Canada Line the main CBD station is Waterfront (Hastings entrance).

[tybuilding]

Originally Posted by Zassk

In this context, "Richmond" includes all SoF buses that terminate in Richmond. So it is really Richmond + South Delta + part of White Rock (although those other places are all quite small). That said, yes, it's fairly impressive, but we knew transit was well-used in this area from the 98 B-line.

And Newton/North Delta as well. The 301 goes from Newton -> Scottsdale to Brighouse.

[Whalleyboy]

Originally Posted by tybuilding

And Newton/North Delta as well. The 301 goes from Newton -> Scottsdale to Brighouse.

I really wish they connected it to central. Would be nice to do one seamless route to richmond. Its sad when it actually suggest for people in surrey to ride all the way out to waterfront and transfer. Over and hour ride just to get to richmond and 5 dollars just to get there one way.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Whalleyboy

I really wish they connected it to central. Would be nice to do one seamless route to richmond. Its sad when it actually suggest for people in surrey to ride all the way out to waterfront and transfer. Over and hour ride just to get to richmond and 5 dollars just to get there one way.

Actually, they suggest taking the 410 from 22nd Street, for which the whole trip takes 48min to 1hr6min depends on the time of day.

[CLC]

A $200,000 cheque on SkyTrain

Cheque was on the floor, under another piece of paper

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - It wasn't your typical 'lost and found' call for SkyTrain staff. A man used an emergency phone to call for help, after losing a $200,000 cheque, yesterday afternoon.

He called from Sapperton Station. Jennifer Siddon with B.C. Rapid Transit says SkyTrain employees began searching right away." Some of the SkyTrain attendants who were at Gilmore Station boarded a train, one of the trains they thought would be where the cheque was. They did a quick search and they located the cheque."

Turns out it was on the floor, under another piece of paper. Siddon says the man was calm during the 20-minute ordeal. It was a certified cheque, so it's not like anybody could have cashed it.