Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Cool link but oh god. What's with the awful instagram filter?

It's not an instagram filter as far as I can tell? These are pictures of physical posters hanging somewhere.. (probably some Translink office or BCRTC)

[MIPS]

I've heard rumors of some really amazing posters, pictures and trinkets hiding at the OMC so they could be there.. I once saw white storage boxes with the blue and red stripes painted on them, then there's this which seems to show up from time to time.


Original Photographer Unknown

[ninjakafi_81]

I guess this should be allowed in this thread, but here's a picture of P9201 on the 160 Vancouver this afternoon at Coquitlam Stn. This is the very first time an Orion V is seen on the 160 and this bus actually came off the 143 Coquitlam Stn prior running on the 160. Sadly around 19:00 this bus was pulled from service and replaced with P8037.

[jozero]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Cool link but oh god. What's with the awful instagram filter?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵 it is happening. The virtual simulation is taking over our understanding of reality .....

[dandor31]

I'm not sure if people on this forum are aware of the ridiculous routing of the "3-Main-Marine Dr Stn", but I messaged Translink about it and they essentially have it this way to maintain "route legibility". Currently the "3-Main" has its last stop on E 65th Ave after turning left off of Main St (Stop #50265). It then loops around Sophia, Marine Dr and is then ready to go up Main as the "3-Downtown".

This is fine, but I don't see why the "3-Main-Marine Dr Stn" needs to service this stop on E 65th. Instead of continuing south on Main St and making a simple right turn on Marine Dr (where there is Stop #52212), the bus does the loop around E 65th, Sophia and Marine Dr before crossing Main St to head along Marine Dr to Marine Dr Stn. All this is just to service the aforementioned Stop # 50265, which in my mind should be dedicated as "unloading only".

And the majority of trips do continue on to Marine Dr Stn (only between 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, and from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm do 50% of the trips short-turn). So this loop around E 65th/Sophia impacts a lot of trips!

The type of routing where the bus doesn't service the terminating stop of the short-turn route is typical with many routes. Particularly the 41-Crown/UBC. The 41-Crown unloads on Crown St at SW Marine Dr, but the 41-UBC doesn't detour to pick up passengers at the stop.

I've created an image to fully explain the absurdity, but I can't seem to figure out how to attach images . I'm curious if forumers have any thoughts. I'm confused why Translink won't adjust this. The routing adds unnecessary delays to an already congested route.

[officedweller]

Is it a trolley bus?
The right turn corner at Main & Marine is sharper than 90 degrees, so maybe trolley poles would be more prone to disconnect?

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Is it a trolley bus?
The right turn corner at Main & Marine is sharper than 90 degrees, so maybe trolley poles would be more prone to disconnect?

The trolley overhead at that intersection allows the turn, so it shouldn't be an issue. The new trolleys seem to have a lot less dewirements than their predecessors. I don't believe I've ever seen the poles come off on one of them (except where there was some overhead issue such as a broken insulator), whereas with the original Flyer trolleys and the Brills it was a common occurrence.

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by ninjakafi_81

I guess this should be allowed in this thread, but here's a picture of P9201 on the 160 Vancouver this afternoon at Coquitlam Stn. This is the very first time an Orion V is seen on the 160 and this bus actually came off the 143 Coquitlam Stn prior running on the 160. Sadly around 19:00 this bus was pulled from service and replaced with P8037.

what's with the terrible colours?

[CoastMeridian]

Originally Posted by dandor31

I'm not sure if people on this forum are aware of the ridiculous routing of the "3-Main-Marine Dr Stn", but I messaged Translink about it and they essentially have it this way to maintain "route legibility". Currently the "3-Main" has its last stop on E 65th Ave after turning left off of Main St (Stop #50265). It then loops around Sophia, Marine Dr and is then ready to go up Main as the "3-Downtown".

This is fine, but I don't see why the "3-Main-Marine Dr Stn" needs to service this stop on E 65th. Instead of continuing south on Main St and making a simple right turn on Marine Dr (where there is Stop #52212), the bus does the loop around E 65th, Sophia and Marine Dr before crossing Main St to head along Marine Dr to Marine Dr Stn. All this is just to service the aforementioned Stop # 50265, which in my mind should be dedicated as "unloading only".

And the majority of trips do continue on to Marine Dr Stn (only between 10:00 am to 2:30 pm, and from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm do 50% of the trips short-turn). So this loop around E 65th/Sophia impacts a lot of trips!

The type of routing where the bus doesn't service the terminating stop of the short-turn route is typical with many routes. Particularly the 41-Crown/UBC. The 41-Crown unloads on Crown St at SW Marine Dr, but the 41-UBC doesn't detour to pick up passengers at the stop.

I've created an image to fully explain the absurdity, but I can't seem to figure out how to attach images . I'm curious if forumers have any thoughts. I'm confused why Translink won't adjust this. The routing adds unnecessary delays to an already congested route.

I recall reading somewhere, when they started doing this around the end of 2012, that mentioned the reroute was due to the very sharp turn on Main & Marine causing damage to the articulated joints of the 60' trolley buses that are used on that route. It seems to be true, because there's been a few times since then where I've been on the #3 when 40' diesel buses were used instead, and the driver would turn on Marine directly instead of turning left on 65th and making the detour.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by fp252

I recall reading somewhere, when they started doing this around the end of 2012, that mentioned the reroute was due to the very sharp turn on Main & Marine causing damage to the articulated joints of the 60' trolley buses that are used on that route.

It is an acute angle. Still, you'd think that some of the tighter bus loops like the Harrison Loop near Victoria and Marine Drives would pose a similar issue.

[Millennium2002]

Technically it's an acute angle on a downward-facing slope, which I assume amplifies the stress and resulting damage to the joints.

I don't think there are many other places in the system where this can be a particular issue... Or if there is, TransLink has not put any long buses on those routes.

[quobobo]

Originally Posted by dandor31

I've created an image to fully explain the absurdity, but I can't seem to figure out how to attach images .

The easiest way I've found is uploading the image to imgur.com, they provide BBCode that you can copy/paste to embed the image in a forum post.

[Stanford85]

So i noticed that the 129 Metrotown bus has changed to the 129 Patterson now, supposedly because of the metrotown station renovations. i can't really see how the renovations are actually affecting any part of the old 129 route along central boulevard or the old stop at the Metrotown loop though, is there something i'm maybe not seeing here?

Or is it maybe a temporary measure to prepare for a permanent change to the route to terminate at Patterson, maybe to reduce redundancy and make riders transfer to the skytrain for the rest of the way to metrotown?

[Sheba]

Yeah I don't see any construction related reason why they've shortened the 129 to end at Patterson instead of Metrotown. I hope they keep it at Patterson (I suggested they move the C7 from Metrotown to Patterson and have it take over the Expo to Millennium Line section of the 129 too).

[WarrenC12]

Some big changes.

2 high level Exec's are out, Doug Allen is stepping down in Aug, and the total number of VPs is being reduced by 1.

https://twitter.com/CKNW/status/621013774242197504

I'm not sure this means much.

Maybe they'll pay the new execs $50k and see what happens...

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Doug Allen is stepping down in Aug

I checked and he was hired for 6 months in mid Feb - and that 6 months ends mid Aug. His last day is Aug 10th. Much ado about nothing

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I checked and he was hired for 6 months in mid Feb - and that 6 months ends mid Aug. His last day is Aug 10th. Much ado about nothing

True but no permanent replacement has been found. They could have extended him, but it's cheaper to have the CFO fill in. We'll see how that goes...

[WBC]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Some big changes.

2 high level Exec's are out, Doug Allen is stepping down in Aug, and the total number of VPs is being reduced by 1.

https://twitter.com/CKNW/status/621013774242197504

I'm not sure this means much.

Maybe they'll pay the new execs $50k and see what happens...

Oh no, one VP less...Expect lengthy transit delays around Lower Mainland...

This thing is going to be hilarious when they come to 2016 and discover there is no new money coming for union raises (as in, not all the referendum money was going towards transit improvements)...A nice transit strike is in the wings next year...Stocking on popcorn to watch the show...

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by WBC

Oh no, one VP less...Expect lengthy transit delays around Lower Mainland...

I thought one less VP would lead to massive cashflow, enough to fund a new Patullo Bridge and a Skytrain line.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I thought one less VP would lead to massive cashflow, enough to fund a new Patullo Bridge and a Skytrain line.

Nope, but instead of needing 250 mil per year we only need 249.6 mil per year.