TransLinked Vancouver's unofficial transit community blog

[Cross-posted from my personal blog]

The other day, Paul Hillsdon tantalized us combination transit geeks and web geeks with a graphic showing Google Transit and TransLink together, implying that Vancouver's transportation authority was going to have their routes and time schedule included in Google's maps. TransLink sent me an invitation (to an email address that I don't even use), and I posted an event listing on Urban Vancouver for the official launch, which happens tomorrow (Thursday, November 1st) at 10:30 AM at SFU's Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre. I'll be there along with my citizen journalism and transit fan buddies documenting the event.

The Simon Fraser Student Society's fall newsletter contains two transit-related items: Along with TransLink and SFU, your Student Society is working hard to bring increased bus service to campus. We need to hear your stories so that we can know what aspects of the transit system are working well, and which ones need improvement. Email transit@sfss.ca and tell us your transit story.

I'll be sure to give all the gory details about the circus that is getting to SFU from my house. Another item is about a pending vote on an increase to the price of the U-pass:

The U-Pass continues to be an incredible success at SFU. Thousands of students are leaving their cars at home and taking afford- able public transit to SFU and around the Lower Mainland. Your Student Society has negotiated a contract with Translink which will secure the lowest cost transit in the region into the next decade. We’ve also negotiated increased bus service that will be rolled out in stages over the coming years. On November 5 and 6, all SFU students will be able to vote on a proposed $2 per month fare increase to the U-Pass. If successful, the U-Pass will be secured for all SFU students until 2011 when another round of negotiations will take place. Be sure to come out and vote at the Surrey, Vancouver and Burnaby campuses on November 5 and 6. For a list of polling places, check www.sfss.ca/upass later in October. Want to know more? Email transit@sfss.ca.

Undoubtedly these two items are related. SFU's not going to stop growing; nor, I suspect, will the number of students using the U-pass. My question is, will the SFSS be able to hold Translink and whoever's giving them their money accountable for making sure the improvements actually happen and stick around, so that we won't get another RAV line sideswiping our services?

Transit and university students fascinates me, as a university student who's gotten very involved in transit issues. When you have that many smart (but not necessarily politically engaged) people putting up with a system that is clearly not working, can we leverage that collective frustration into something constructive? I look forward to seeing what comes out of the SFSS on this issue.

As some people know, I've been interested in the new fleet of Nova Buses purchased by TransLink, which have an unusual single seat behind the driver and seats in the back that face backwards. I like the wide entrance at the front, but most drivers seem to only open one of the doors, negating the advantage. I've read somewhere that drivers prefer how the Nova Bus handles compared to New Flyers (and I read in that same piece that it's especially true of icy conditions, but they've only recently come into service, and cold weather doesn't start for a few months). Today comes news that one of the wheels came loose and almost came off while near Broadway and Kensington in Burnaby. This was likely during the 134 route between Brentwood and Lougheed malls, as that's the only route that takes those streets. From the article: "Only one bolt remained on the wheel, he said. Had the bus been allowed to continue running, [Canadian Auto Workers Local 111 vice-president Jim] Houlihan added, the wheel would have certainly come off." Good work by the driver to stay alert and order his passengers off, and good work by Coast Mountain Bus company to inspect each of the new buses.

Going downtown to Richmond, the 98 B-Line's stop request indicator was going loco, rebooting every 5 minutes or so. Here's what it showed:

1. 1105-6004A 210C
2. 32K RAM
3. SUN 8:06 PM
4. ADDRESS = 03
5. Then whatever the message was supposed to be, in this case, "The next stop is Seymour and Davie."

I took more than one video of this, but the one that came out the best (i.e. the least blurry and shaky) after the jump.

This year, I've been travelling to Toronto often, to visit my girlfriend, and I noticed what Hirosan pointed out with his three photos on Flickr: when going from (or even to) the airport on public transit you don't have anywhere to put your bags. From the airport, the regular bus does not have any space for baggage, nor does the 98 B-line as you can see in an overhead shot. This is in contrast to the much more expensive Airporter (which does not stop between downtown and the airport) and the express bus from downtown Vancouver to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, which has shelves where people can put their suitcases and other heavy things they don't want clogging the aisles. I'll be interested to see how the Canada Line, which goes directly to the airport from downtown, handles this problem, as this will likely replace both the Airport-to-Airport Station bus as well as the Richmond-to-Vancouver express bus.

[Cross-posted from Urban Vancouver and my personal weblog.]

On Wednesday, I attended an open house at the Confederation Centre for Retired People, located on Albert St. in Burnaby. I saw the announcement the night of the open house on the outside of the cheerful corner store near my appartment complex. I talked with Ken from Translink/Coast Mountain Bus Company, and here are the details I remember:

• the company has proposed to remove the #137 Capitol Hill bus from service and replace it with a community shuttle. That makes a lot of sense, since the bus is one of the shortest routes in the entire system, travelling from behind the Safeway on Willingdon and Hastings to Grosvenor and Cambridge. Each one-way trip takes about 12 minutes, and turns into the 130 going to Metrotown down Willingdon when heading back (the "To Hasting" #130 turns into the 137 then the former goes north).
• there are plans to change the #135 which runs East/West along Hastings from SFU to Burrard Station into a B-line, tentatively numbered the #95. They say they haven't figured out which intersections they will stop at. To me the no-brainer is to stop at the same intersections as the #160, but the challenge is to figure out how to deliver the local service that the #135 currently delivers.
• rumours about a West Coast Express train station in North Burnaby are premature: they tested out some locations—including even one near the Chevron refinery but decided that it would only save commuters going from North Burnaby about 2 minutes from a #135 trip (or its proposed B-line alternative).

We talked about other things, like the Canada Line, which has the same gauge as the current SkyTrain but will be using different train technology. Ken also talked about how the design for the Mark II trains for the current Millenium Line had to be modified for the tunnels downtown. I picked up a couple of fold-it-yourself cutouts that make a community shuttle and a New Flyer bus (not articulated, unfortunately). The guy I talked to was definitely in "talking shop" mode, as he was very knowledgeable about transit systems worldwide, often using transit lingo such as OTC and "artic" where I would use "rail yard" (I had asked him where the Canada Line yards would be, but forgot to make a note of it) and not the abbreviation for "articulated" (i.e. double-length buses that often seen on the #135 and B-Line routes).

A producer from the CBC contacted me asking me to post about the series about Vancouver transit culture, looking for stories from people and asking people to come the show on Friday. If you're interested, contact Dave Jones at David_R_Jones AT cbc DOT ca.

The CBC will broadcast from a new electric trolley like the one in the photo you see (that Travis Smith took; see also my blurry photo from 6 months later). Vancouver doesn't have even near the culture and enthusiasm for transit as do Toronto's, who were profiled in in a Toronto Star article about "transit lovers".

The details for the radio series, which has already started, which David Jones emailed to me, follow.

I just saw a 135 bus go by with the bus sign flashing "AMBER ALERT | LISTEN TO RADIO | 135 SFU". Walking briskly home to turn on the radio to CKWX, I hear my first ever British Columbia Amber Alert, and it sounds like a 3-month-old girl was abducted by her father (and possibly non-custodial mother) and they are in the Lower Mainland area.

Time passes and apparently some (all?) TransLink drivers announced it to their riders.

I note, however, that there appears to be no mention of Amber Alerts on the TranLink website, nor does there appear to be any reference to TransLink on the BC Amber Alerts website. Whoever thought of having Amber Alert flash on TransLink buses, though, give that person a promotion (if they didn't already get one), as this strikes me as an innovative use of digital traffic signs, which aren't prevalent in the Greater Vancouver area.

Do other areas have their Amber Alerts on transit vehicles?