Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[nname]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Can't really blame Engineering. The temperature only dropped sometime around 2AM - practically everybody said "Alright, nothing to worry about!" and went to bed long before that.

When the forecast call for early transition from snow to rain, chances are that the snow are staying longer than expected, especially the temperature is already more than a degree cooler than forecasted by early evening. One degree can make a whole lot of difference when temperature is around freezing.

Guess they haven't learned from 2008, when the weather call for snow changing to rain on 5 or 6 separate storms and none materialized...

[ilikeredheads]

Originally Posted by Gordon

West fourth between McDonald and Vine was a mess this morning 6:30 trolleys were not making it up the hill. major arterial s & bus routes should be the 1st order of business. The Dunsmuir bike land was plowed but it didn't loolk like the street had been.

morning commute was a mess. Lots of buses were stuck and many major intersections were NOT plowed. Sure, let's plow the bike lanes first, cuz that's more important.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

morning commute was a mess. Lots of buses were stuck and many major intersections were NOT plowed. Sure, let's plow the bike lanes first, cuz that's more important.

To be fair, there are a lot fewer kilometres of bike lanes than streets so the one or two bike lane plows/salters they have can cover them all faster than the regular plows. It's not like they took people off the street plows in order to clear the bike lanes.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

the one or two bike lane plows/salters they have can cover them all faster than the regular plows.

screw the bike lanes, they should be using those on sidewalks, they were a mess downtown...

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

screw the bike lanes, they should be using those on sidewalks, they were a mess downtown...

I'm no expert on this subject, but I suspect the City doesn't want to set a precedent of being responsible for sidewalks. They're supposed to be cleared by the property owner - there's a bylaw that requires this to be done by 10AM following a snowfall.

However, there are numerous sidewalks next to parks where the City is essentially the property owner, and they don't seem to get cleared either. And that, I agree, is a problem.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

I'm no expert on this subject, but I suspect the City doesn't want to set a precedent of being responsible for sidewalks. They're supposed to be cleared by the property owner - there's a bylaw that requires this to be done by 10AM following a snowfall.

However, there are numerous sidewalks next to parks where the City is essentially the property owner, and they don't seem to get cleared either. And that, I agree, is a problem.

true, that could be a problem. i think that the better idea would be to clean the sidewalks, at least downtown, and then bill the property owner for the work+ the fine amount for not doing it themselves. at least it gets done that way. either send them the bill, or better yet, just tack it onto the property tax bill. that way it can be treated as unpaid taxes, and after 3yrs the city can seize the property.

people aren't going to clear sidewalks unless there is some kind of penalty involved, and I'm doubtful all those business/homes were fined. although it would be easy for bylaw officers to just drive around and write them.

even the City of Richmond was using a bobcat on the parks sidewalks the other day. can't say i saw the City of Vancouver doing that.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

people aren't going to clear sidewalks unless there is some kind of penalty involved, and I'm doubtful all those business/homes were fined. although it would be easy for bylaw officers to just drive around and write them.

You can get sued if somebody slips and falls on "your" sidewalk. I'd say that's penalty enough.

[Waders]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

You can get sued if somebody slips and falls on "your" sidewalk. I'd say that's penalty enough.

I was at Metrotown station this morning around 7:30am. A guy must have fell on the slippery icy ground near the compass card reader area at the bottom of the temporary stair. He seemed to be unconscious on the stretcher when paramedic was examining him. A staff/contractor was trying to clear the snow from the ground. That obviously was too late for the injured person.
I guess Translink could be sued?

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by Waders

I was at Metrotown station this morning around 7:30am. A guy must have fell on the slippery icy ground near the compass card reader area at the bottom of the temporary stair. He seemed to be unconscious on the stretcher when paramedic was examining him. A staff/contractor was trying to clear the snow from the ground. That obviously was too late for the injured person.
I guess Translink could be sued?

Yes, they could (and probably will be). The strata I live in was sued a few years ago for not adequately clearing the sidewalk, and now we have to write down who did what and when. We've got the clearest sidewalks around!

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

I'm no expert on this subject, but I suspect the City doesn't want to set a precedent of being responsible for sidewalks. They're supposed to be cleared by the property owner - there's a bylaw that requires this to be done by 10AM following a snowfall.

However, there are numerous sidewalks next to parks where the City is essentially the property owner, and they don't seem to get cleared either. And that, I agree, is a problem.

Well the city needs to wake up an realize that isn't working. And in high pedestrian traffic areas its either going to have to step up enforcement or start doing it themselves to avoid injuries. Laughably they did a great job of clearing the Granville Bridge sidewalk, but apparently weren't able to clear the ramps leading on or off them!

It's obvious the CoV was caught flatfooted yesterday, major arterial routes leaving downtown that are crucial to transit were allowed to ice up - Granville, Cambie, Main etc There is no excuse for a bike lane getting plowed before those streets are bare and clear.

[gillty]

It is laughable that even the sidewalk outside VPD headquarters along Cambie St. by yesterday evening hadn't been cleared, or salted, and was a huge hazard to pedestrians.

Likewise stations like Nanaimo with sizeable traffic due bus loop were major icy hazards for days following the first snow fall this month. I recall 2 days following seeing a sole transit supervisor at Nanaimo clearing a path with a shovel and no salt. Transit stations and bus loops should be cleared completely.

[SpongeG]

That's pretty normal for Vancouver.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by tGill

It is laughable that even the sidewalk outside VPD headquarters along Cambie St. by yesterday evening hadn't been cleared, or salted, and was a huge hazard to pedestrians.

Likewise stations like Nanaimo with sizeable traffic due bus loop were major icy hazards for days following the first snow fall this month. I recall 2 days following seeing a sole transit supervisor at Nanaimo clearing a path with a shovel and no salt. Transit stations and bus loops should be cleared completely.

http://www.cknw.com/2016/12/20/thousands...s-vancouver-to-those-with-icy-sidewalks/

The city says as of last night it inspected nearly 3,100 properties and issued more than 1,200 first warnings, and 43 second warnings.

[MIPS]

So now that the first big dump of snow has come and started to go, how well did the new version of the laser track intrusion system work on the Evergreen Line?

[dpogue]

Originally Posted by MIPS

So now that the first big dump of snow has come and started to go, how well did the new version of the laser track intrusion system work on the Evergreen Line?

The first time it snowed, they said the Evergreen stations were holding their own and trains were only attended between Lougheed and VCC on the M-Line.

The next time they had the entire system attended.

Monday they had all trains attended, Tuesday they only had trains attended between Production Way and Gilmore.

I was a bit surprised that the TIDS (trackway intrusion detection system) held up as well as they did with the snow, seeing as they've previously been triggered by both heavy rain and thick fog.

[splashflash]

Yesterday I caught the Millennium Line to Lougheed Stn from VCC at about 4:30 PM. The two-car train just handled the people, as at each station except Commercial, the people alighting was about equal to the people disembarking. During university session the Production/University Stn to Lougheed train would be pretty full.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i have a question about fare tickets, I still have a book with 9 tickets, can i still use them somehow?

I had the clerk load a bunch of Faresavers onto my Compass Card today at Stadium Station service centre.

Then I asked to replace the blue Compass Card with a green Evergreen Commemorative Compass Card, which they did (no additional charge since the deposit from the old card was applied to the deposit on the new card).

[SpongeG]

i will try that out thanks.

[MIPS]

I've always joked that ICTS sounded and looked like one of those things that would of been casually mentioned in an an issue of Popular Science next to some new car engine technology and the latest in automatic camera flashes but was just another train tech that was all glitz and that's it.

Turns out I was actually right. It was featured in the December 1980 issue on page 75.

This is ooooold. This goes way the hell back before Vancouver was an option and they were still working on a demonstration line in Hamilton and a full-scale line in Los Angeles. It does also cover in an inset on page 76 that even back then the system was able to couple train sets while in active service.


Image courtesy of Google Books/Popular Science

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by MIPS

the system was able to couple train sets while in active service.

I've always wondered what the system could do that we just don't use. one of the examples was when the system had to restart they had to manually enter all the trains in, where as now they finally got the option that does it automatically. i wonder what else there is.