SkyTrain Station Renovations

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Well the disabled person in this article uses a mouth stick to push elevator button. I literally can't wait to read these articles about the elevators.

http://www.straight.com/news/592016/tran...it-accessibility-passengers-disabilities

From that article

Tran explained that asking a stranger for help makes her more vulnerable, because once she asks them to help with the Compass card, they may recognize that she is an easy target for theft or assault. “It scares me,” she said.

You mean no one would notice she's "an easy target" until she asks for help???

“About 98 percent of the time I depend upon people—and the other two percent is getting on and off of the SkyTrain and going places,” she said.

Oh yeah you're really independent...

[Transiteer]

An important distinction between getting help using a fare gate and an elevator is that one involves trusting a stranger with a card preloaded with your money (increasing the opportunity for theft). The other does not.
Another thing about using an elevator on the skytrain system is that they are well used, and it's likely someone else is there waiting for the cab, and has already pressed the button. They do not require all the users of an elevator to push the button. They also usually serve the floor your on, and the other stop, so asking 'which floor?' is not even required.
As someone else has pointed out, those with limited mobility are also more likely to have a solution to pushing a button (such as the example of the mouth stick) but getting out a compass card and positioning it at the reader on the fare gate is a far more challenging action and a more specialized of a task. This is not to say however that in an ideal set-up, no button pushing would be required - I agree that would be great. It's just that, the issue of using gates (a new element in the stations, that are only found on the SkyTrain) has been raised whereas elevators (invented 1852 by Mr. Otis that are everywhere) have not. RFID upgrades for all existing elevators on all floors nationwide?

[Vin]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Well the disabled person in this article uses a mouth stick to push elevator button. I literally can't wait to read these articles about the elevators.

http://www.straight.com/news/592016/tran...it-accessibility-passengers-disabilities

Can't they have another stick with the Compass card attached at the end of it?

There are, perhaps, only 10 to, maximum 20 such individuals? Isn't it a way cheaper alternative to issue 20 sticks than to install a multi-million dollar system?

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Vin

Can't they have another stick with the Compass card attached at the end of it?

There are, perhaps, only 10 to, maximum 20 such individuals? Isn't it a way cheaper alternative to issue 20 sticks than to install a multi-million dollar system?

Hey get with the times - this is the new age in which no expense is too great to accommodate every last person on the planet to reach their "full potential"...

[Reecemartin]

[Deleted]

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by WBC

Hey get with the times - this is the new age in which no expense is too great to accommodate every last person on the planet to reach their "full potential"...

I haven't been able reach my "full potential" as they won't provide me with a mansion and servants to tend to my every whim

Seriously though, for that few people is it really worth it? We're already 99.99% accessible, which is more than elsewhere. Why is it unreasonable to ask people who are clearly not independent to travel with someone or phone ahead.

[Mac Write]

HandyDart needs to accept compass cards instead of FareSavers. This will drastically make things easer for the users of HandyDart.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Vin

Can't they have another stick with the Compass card attached at the end of it?

There are, perhaps, only 10 to, maximum 20 such individuals? Isn't it a way cheaper alternative to issue 20 sticks than to install a multi-million dollar system?

Well someone did that in some article about the problem, they just cut up their Compass card and stuck it on the end. They said a range from around 10-50 people with this specific disability (hopefully assume that take SkyTrain or the SeaBus)

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I haven't been able reach my "full potential" as they won't provide me with a mansion and servants to tend to my every whim

Seriously though, for that few people is it really worth it? We're already 99.99% accessible, which is more than elsewhere. Why is it unreasonable to ask people who are clearly not independent to travel with someone or phone ahead.

You guys clearly do not understand in what time we live in. For example, we are very close to obesity being declared a disability. I know of a building in Burnaby where morbidly obese dude is making a complaint to Human Rights Tribunal asking for a strata to enlarge a door so he and his giant scooter can pass through comfortably. The building meets all the BC accessibility standards, but his once a week trip to whatever he is doing is made uncomfortable by the door frame touching him.

We as a society now cater and band backwards to satisfy literally everybody's needs no matter whether that makes any sense. If you do not, then you have activists running around and suing everybody and making fuss. And politicians race around taking every opportunity to look more liberal and more sympathetic regardless of the cost. In the meantime every western liberal democracy is running bigger and bigger deficits with the cost of social programs, infrastructure and healthcare ever increasing with no end in sight.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by WBC

Hey get with the times - this is the new age in which no expense is too great to accommodate every last person on the planet to reach their "full potential"...

If money is no issue, I would be using the Campass Card on planet Mars' transit by now.

Originally Posted by WBC

You guys clearly do not understand in what time we live in. For example, we are very close to obesity being declared a disability. I know of a building in Burnaby where morbidly obese dude is making a complaint to Human Rights Tribunal asking for a strata to enlarge a door so he and his giant scooter can pass through comfortably. The building meets all the BC accessibility standards, but his once a week trip to whatever he is doing is made uncomfortable by the door frame touching him.

We as a society now cater and band backwards to satisfy literally everybody's needs no matter whether that makes any sense. If you do not, then you have activists running around and suing everybody and making fuss. And politicians race around taking every opportunity to look more liberal and more sympathetic regardless of the cost. In the meantime every western liberal democracy is running bigger and bigger deficits with the cost of social programs, infrastructure and healthcare ever increasing with no end in site.

That doesn't mean what the obese guy did was right, or that we have to lap up whatever is proposed by authorities. There is something called logic and priority.

You do the math: $100 for a couple of sticks with cards attached VS say, $15 mil to install an automated system: one that can still fail and need maintenance.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Mac Write

HandyDart needs to accept compass cards instead of FareSavers. This will drastically make things easer for the users of HandyDart.

Why don't they accept Compass cards? HandyDart is a (obviously specialized) part of the transit system so they really should.

Originally Posted by WBC

You guys clearly do not understand in what time we live in.


We as a society now cater and band backwards to satisfy literally everybody's needs no matter whether that makes any sense. If you do not, then you have activists running around and suing everybody and making fuss. And politicians race around taking every opportunity to look more liberal and more sympathetic regardless of the cost. In the meantime every western liberal democracy is running bigger and bigger deficits with the cost of social programs, infrastructure and healthcare ever increasing with no end in sight.

Oh I understand - I just don't necessarily like it.

Originally Posted by Vin

That doesn't mean what the obese guy did was right, or that we have to lap up whatever is proposed by authorities. There is something called logic and priority.

You do the math: $100 for a couple of sticks with cards attached VS say, $15 mil to install an automated system: one that can still fail and need maintenance.

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Why don't they accept Compass cards? HandyDart is a (obviously specialized) part of the transit system so they really should.

They've probably wanted to avoid installing the equipment on all the vans. And there's also the issue of how to read the cards, since in many cases wheelchairs are loaded into the back area. Perhaps they'd need some sort of hand-held device that the driver could offer to the passengers.

[Transiteer]

New photo of the Metrotown Station Entry from VIA Architecture twitter:

https://twitter.com/viaarchitecture/status/850125390387400704

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

They've probably wanted to avoid installing the equipment on all the vans. And there's also the issue of how to read the cards, since in many cases wheelchairs are loaded into the back area. Perhaps they'd need some sort of hand-held device that the driver could offer to the passengers.

If only tech companies could invent handheld computer devices wirelessly connected to the internet and with the capability of reading NFC card.

[Jebby]

Do those escalators go all the way up to platform level? They look really steep, but it's probably just the angle.

[Transiteer]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Do those escalators go all the way up to platform level? They look really steep, but it's probably just the angle.

They go all the way to platform - you can see them from the skytrain when leaving the station. They do look steep in that photo but they look no steeper than an average escalator when viewed from the train.

[officedweller]

Nice!
Looks impressive.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Nice!
Looks impressive.

Well that looks grand and impressive...Nice work...

[Express691]

Does anyone know how much longer the ones at Granville Station are?

[Meraki]

Is it just the angle, or do the outer two escalators look narrow compared to the middle ones?