Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by deasine

Photography by ds8789 of Flickr.

Also prevents people from climbing onto the roof of the train.

[metroXpress]

The original article in the Surrey Now has been removed.

Surrey day camp leaves young girls on SkyTrain
Girls fell asleep, got left behind when group disembarked
Shane Bigham SURREY (NEWS1130) | Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 9:35 am


SURREY (NEWS1130) - A Surrey day camp briefly lost two girls in its care last week. The group had been on an outing to Playland that day and took SkyTrain home. The Surrey Now newspaper says two girls fell asleep on the ride home and didn't get off the train at Scott Road station with the rest of their group.

Only one track was operating that day because of technical issues and the cars were very crowded. Supervisors with the Bridgeview Community Centre day camp quickly realized two girls were missing and contacted SkyTrain security right away.

The girls were found within five minutes, at Surrey Central station, and were reunited with the group.

The Surrey article described that the day camp leaders, hired through the hire-a-student program, tried to hold the doors to let all kids come out of the SkyTrain car. The SkyTrain transit staff said they couldn't do so because it would slow down the already delayed system. And they let go of the doors.

The mother of the girl was very unhappy with their actions and demands an apology.
She said that in the future, no day camp trips should be made using SkyTrain.

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/more.jsp?content=20090804_123343_7580

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Allen

The Surrey article described that the day camp leaders, hired through the hire-a-student program, tried to hold the doors to let all kids come out of the SkyTrain car. The SkyTrain transit staff said they couldn't do so because it would slow down the already delayed system. And they let go of the doors.

Assuming your details are correct, what the F--- are these skytrain idiots paid for if not to ensure passenger safety. We're talking about kids here. Maybe they could be fired if they weren't union...

[David]

If people hold on to the doors for too long (something like three attempts to close), the train's computer will stop the train at the station, which causes the rest of the line's trains to stop as well, until an attendant comes on to fix it. Would definitely be a mess for the whole system if the line is being single tracked.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by David

If people hold on to the doors for too long (something like three attempts to close), the train's computer will stop the train at the station, which causes the rest of the line's trains to stop as well, until an attendant comes on to fix it. Would definitely be a mess for the whole system if the line is being single tracked.

Sure, but you can bet if one of those kids was abducted or whatnot, there would be holy hell to pay. Just because things "worked out ok" doesn't mean the system is ok.

[DKaz]

Maybe they should get rid of the automatic doors and have onboard attendants check the platforms to makesure all is clear before closing doors or during rush hour announce the trains are full, doors are closing, please stand clear. The attendants can double as surveillance.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Sure, but you can bet if one of those kids was abducted or whatnot, there would be holy hell to pay. Just because things "worked out ok" doesn't mean the system is ok.

With more organization and supervision, it could be easily avoided. One adult should be able to watch four kids and make sure those four get off. This includes waking them up before they get to the stop.

If they were THAT concerned about the kids, they'd have either rented a school bus or made sure they had enough supervision to get everyone safely home. This is NOT the fault of Skytrain attendants, who were doing their job. That's just a poor excuse for the day camp workers who didn't do their job properly.

It doesn't sound like it was a matter of enough time to get off. They didn't realize there were still girls on the train (otherwise, why not get an adult to jump back on?)

[argon007]

Originally Posted by deasine

Joy... I just can't wait until the new SeaBus comes in service so that the older ones can be retrofitted again.

i think they need to order more seabuses... 2 more is enough.

then there is 3 is in operational... 2 is a backup.

however, where is the maintenance centre for seabus? in north vancouver?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

With more organization and supervision, it could be easily avoided. One adult should be able to watch four kids and make sure those four get off. This includes waking them up before they get to the stop.

If they were THAT concerned about the kids, they'd have either rented a school bus or made sure they had enough supervision to get everyone safely home. This is NOT the fault of Skytrain attendants, who were doing their job. That's just a poor excuse for the day camp workers who didn't do their job properly.

It doesn't sound like it was a matter of enough time to get off. They didn't realize there were still girls on the train (otherwise, why not get an adult to jump back on?)

Sorry I just can't agree with you. Now clearly this was an exceptional situation, there were skytrain issues so it was single tracked, and it was during a busy rush time. I'm sure the station was a bit of a gong show. But we're talking about a camp supervisor trying to herd kids off the train, a skytrain attendant telling them to let go of the door, and the supervisor saying "hey there's still 2 kids on there"... and the train should still close and take off?

I'm not sure how things actually went, but to me the blame is still on the attendant. Hell, the blame is on the system that wasn't functioning properly. Maybe people on the train were being jerks and not moving to help the kids get off.. whatever the case, you can't just send 2 kids alone on the train.

[DKaz]

Kids go on field trips using skytrain all the time, this is the first incident ever. But of course the parents are going to overreact like holy hell.

Kids love taking the skytrain and for a lot of them, school trips is the only time they get to because their parents think that the private automobile is the only acceptable way to transport kids.

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Assuming your details are correct, what the F--- are these skytrain idiots paid for if not to ensure passenger safety. We're talking about kids here. Maybe they could be fired if they weren't union...

The parents want the students to be fired. Transit staff called the next station right away and they found the kids at Central City. I am glad that everyone is safe.

[lightrail]

Originally Posted by David

If people hold on to the doors for too long (something like three attempts to close), the train's computer will stop the train at the station, which causes the rest of the line's trains to stop as well, until an attendant comes on to fix it. Would definitely be a mess for the whole system if the line is being single tracked.

If the line is running single track, the SOP should be to have an attendant on each train or at least in each station.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Allen

The parents want the students to be fired. Transit staff called the next station right away and they found the kids at Central City. I am glad that everyone is safe.

Hey it all depends who's story you believe. From what was posted here, it wasn't the students leaving kids behind, it was Skytrain staff saying "the train must go on" or whatever.

Parents blaming "young, inexperienced students" doesn't surprise me though.

[DKaz]

I'm on 307 right now and I have to say the A/C is loud. It's probably compressor noisebut somehow I have a feeling that it could also be a really loud fan.

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Hey it all depends who's story you believe. From what was posted here, it wasn't the students leaving kids behind, it was Skytrain staff saying "the train must go on" or whatever.

Parents blaming "young, inexperienced students" doesn't surprise me though.

Not really taking a side here but you are right...the transit staff told the students to let go of the doors because "the train must go on"!!

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by DKaz

I'm on 307 right now and I have to say the A/C is loud. It's probably compressor noisebut somehow I have a feeling that it could also be a really loud fan.

I can't believe that someone told me there is absolutely no A/C on all buses/skytrains across Metro Vancouver

It's not like I've never taken the transit...

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Sorry I just can't agree with you. Now clearly this was an exceptional situation, there were skytrain issues so it was single tracked, and it was during a busy rush time. I'm sure the station was a bit of a gong show. But we're talking about a camp supervisor trying to herd kids off the train, a skytrain attendant telling them to let go of the door, and the supervisor saying "hey there's still 2 kids on there"... and the train should still close and take off?

I'm not sure how things actually went, but to me the blame is still on the attendant. Hell, the blame is on the system that wasn't functioning properly. Maybe people on the train were being jerks and not moving to help the kids get off.. whatever the case, you can't just send 2 kids alone on the train.

That's okay. I think we disagree because there isn't much detail in the report.

From the wording in the article, it would appear that they didn't immediately realize there were two kids left on there... that the two girls were sleeping.

Perhaps waking them up in New Westminster was something they should've thought about doing?

They were holding the doors to let the children off the train. Likely wanting to do a double check head-count, they held the doors open to check. The attendants told them the train must go on.

They release the doors, then do a head count, find two missing (because they were sleeping).

However, even if the attendants were being jerks, a few questions need to be answered.

Assuming each adult was in charge of a set of children:

• Why weren't they accounted for while ON the train?
• Why weren't all children prepared while crossing the SkyBridge?
• Why weren't they awoken earlier?
• Why on earth didn't the adult holding the door jump back on the train? ( I assume there was more than one )

Ultimately the kids were the charge of the adults. Accidentally leaving them on the train without one adult in supervision is irresponsible.

However, Knowingly leaving them on the train is absolutely unacceptable.

Without knowing the details of the story, it's hard to say either way, but there were many ways to avoid this totally, and in all the scenarios I can think of, the children's supervisors could've done a better job.

[DKaz]

Give that person a proverbial smack on the head. lol. There's A/C on all MKIIs, the yellow suburban buses, and the West Coast Express trains and trainbuses. Does the Seabus have A/C?

It's a shame that the new buses don't come with A/C. What's another say $5,000 at the most on top of $400,000+ for the buses?

[usog]

Just wondering if it's just me or are they running more 4-car MKII trainsets now? Especially on off-hours, like on Sunday morning at least every other MKII set I saw was a 4-car train =\

[go_leafs_go02]

Originally Posted by usog

Just wondering if it's just me or are they running more 4-car MKII trainsets now? Especially on off-hours, like on Sunday morning at least every other MKII set I saw was a 4-car train =\

they were doing so because they have AC in them while the older ones do not.