that's what I was thinking deasine.
we could increase capacity by dedicating/adding a few trains as express as well as speed up travel for commuting pax. Like I said, the X trains would just go past 'local' stations, and stop only at the major ones; Surrey Central, Metrotown, Broadway, YVR, Bridgeport, Marine Dr., Broadway/City Hall, Main Street, Stadium/Chinatown, Yaletown, Granville, Robson, Burrard, Waterfront.
People taking these xpress trains would only stop at the above stations, bypassing the others. It would be very attractive to those who still believe that SkyTrain is slower/less convenient than driving and certainly would appeal to the office commuters into downtown (since they wouldn't have to stop at EVERY station.
And, if they need to get to a local station, they could just get off at an express stop, wait for a local/normal SkyTrain, and voila.
Anyways, there must be a way we could we could implement this now by timing the current/existing network. Maybe later we could build-in bypass tracks once ridership reaches the next critical level.
Perhaps also, these express trains could operate during rush hour periods and these express trains could be long (8-car Mark I, 6-car Mark II, 4-car Canada Line). Rush hour timing could be 6am-9am, 11am-1pm, 4pm-7pm; and during special events downtown.
Like I said, in my idea - we'd still have the "normal" SkyTrain service, its just that we'd have the longer Xpress variety timed such to be 'inserted' between existing runs and not stop at every station (except the major ones I listed).
For the Millennium Line extension, we could/should actually go ahead and build the bypass track. It could be as simple as inserting a track in the middle of the normal twin track at stations (starting several metres prior and after each station) so that a train can 'hop' onto the bypass and keep going. Eventually, we could implement the express bypass at all stations except those in downtown, Main Street, Broadway and City Hall, YVR, and certain other ones that are busy. We could also extend the platforms of YVR, Bridgeport, Marine, CityHall, and the downtown Canada Line stations later to accommodate the Longer express trains.
I dunno, I think this is a GREAT idea, how we could expand capacity without totally redoing the SkyTrain network and certainly would be more cost savvy.
but for start, we should be able to just put together long SkyTrain cars NOW, and insert them into the current runs during rush, letting them just bypass certain local stops, ala Montreal Metro seen here,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eUVc-qUf3Rg (see how it uses the SAME track, no bypass track - it just keeps going since the stop is a 'local' stop but the train is Express).
Why couldn't we start now with something ala the Montreal Metro clip, were LONG express trains use existing track, timed between existing 'normal' skytrains, in which these xpress trains bypass local stops. Then later, we can add in bypass tracks in the middle. The idea is - Add capacity, increase convenience for commuters, minimal cost - hopefully all translates into more usage of the network and MORE Rapid Transit NETWORK!!!!!
Am I on to something!!!>???