It’s Labour Day on Monday, September 6, 2010, so buses, SeaBus, and SkyTrain will be operating on a Sunday/Holiday schedule. West Coast Express operates no trains or TrainBus on Monday.
Remember that the whole transit system is a single zone on Labour Day, so zone fares are not in effect! That means if you buy a one zone ticket, you can use it to ride through all three zones.
Also, don’t forget our group ride offer: on Sundays and statutory holidays, you can use your FareCard to take five other riders with you for free. That means you can take either a) one more adult and up to four children with you, or b) up to five children. The offer applies to the Adult FareCard, West Coast Express 28-day Pass, or Annual Employer Transit Pass. (It doesn’t apply to Concession Passes, sadly.)
Happy September! Let’s kick off the month with some useful travel advice.
Check out the video of the fall 2009 transit crowd above — we’re barrelling into that time again! So I’ve dug up some travel tips from the archives as the rush begins in the first few weeks of September.
Have a look these posts for some useful info about travel times, routes to UBC, and more. If it’s old hat to you, please share it with someone who might find it useful!
You’re invited to learn more about the bus-only lane on Marine Drive in West Vancouver!
As you may know, an eastbound bus-only lane is being built on Marine Drive, starting just west of the Village at Park Royal to Taylor Way. The reason: no more traffic lanes can be added to the bridge, and taking transit is the only way to move more people over the bridge. (Buses make up two per cent of bridge traffic, but move 28 per cent of travellers, and increasing transit’s share of the road will help increase capacity.)
Info sessions about the lane are planned at Park Royal Shopping Centre from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following dates:
Thursday Sept. 2 @ North Mall centre court near Aveda Saturday Sept. 4 @ South Mall in front of Latitude
The West Vancouver Bus Lane is part of the $40 million Marine Drive Transit Priority Improvement Project, which also includes replacing the old Capilano River Bridge with a new three-lane bridge, adding a bus lane in North Vancouver and improving Marine Drive.
For more information, contact Vincent Gonsalves, Community Relations Coordinator at TransLink, at vincent.gonsalves@translink.ca or 604-453-3043. You can also check out the info session page on the main website for more.
With the school year fast approaching, I thought I’d put up some more info about the new U-Pass BC program that comes into effect on September 1.
In June 2010, the Province of British Columbia announced its new U-Pass BC program, offering a universal bus pass to students at all publicly funded post-secondary institutions.
However, be aware that this doesn’t mean all students will be handed a U-Pass the minute they step on campus. It’s not mandatory for schools to take part, and schools without a U-Pass need to first follow their own process (usually a referendum) to get their student body to approve of joining the program.
Check out our U-Pass BC page for all the details — I’ve also copied up some of the key information here.
So where’s my U-Pass?
Students and schools now eligible to join the new U-Pass BC will need to do a few things before they get their transit passes:
Students have indicated they want to hold a referendum (or follow the proper process according to their student society’s constitution) to approve their entry into the U-Pass BC program at the monthly rate of $30, which will rise to $35 per month on April 1st, 2013.
If approved, Schools will need to set up their processes to administer the program
Students, their schools and TransLink will all sign a standard contract that includes each signatory’s rights and responsibilities for the program.
Student societies and schools that are ready to start this process now could have their new U-Pass BC programs up and running as early as this coming January. Students already participating in the current program will have their U-Pass as usual in time for the fall session.
Students at Langara College and Capilano University will see their monthly U-Pass rate drop to $30 per month effective September 1. Students at UBC and SFU will keep their current program and their U-Pass rates until this time next year.
By September 1, 2011, all participating students and schools will need to be on the new U-Pass BC program. This means UBC, SFU, Langara College and Capilano University students will need to hold a referendum and approve the new program so that their student societies can sign the standard contract along with their schools and TransLink.
Just a note to say I will be away on holiday for the next two weeks! A few posts are scheduled go up while I’m away, and I’ll be back to answer your comments and e-mails on Monday, September 13.
Here’s some handy links in case you need info/help while I’m off:
The September 2010 Buzzer is now on board all buses, SeaBus, SkyTrain, and West Coast Express!
This issue focuses on the fall service changes that start September 6. Trolley bus service is back on Granville Street, and we’ve managed to get the whole map of changes into the issue, on top of the entire list of service changes.
There’s also back-to-school info about the U-Pass BC program and Go Card photo sessions.
Again, we are happy to have a cover from a local illustrator: this time it’s Joan Gurney. Great work, Joan!
And if you can’t get the Buzzer on the system, you can always read it in PDF form on our website. Visit our Buzzer PDF archives. (Here’s the direct link to the September issue PDF!)
Remember to enter the FareCard contest too! You can win a free FareCard in every issue of the Buzzer: read the issue, then email in your info and the answer to the trivia question by Friday, September 24 at 9 a.m. — we’ll pick a winner from all the correct answers.
Enjoy the latest Buzzer as always! Comments are welcome below.
Two of our new West Coast Express (WCE) train cars are now here!
We have seven of these train cars on order for 2010, thanks to investment from the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia, as well as our own funding. The two new cars are the first to arrive, and were unveiled to the media today at the VIA Rail station near Main Street. (WCE cars are maintained at VIA Rail—we’re also currently investing in upgrades to their maintenance facilities.)
The new arrivals bump the West Coast Express fleet to 44 passenger cars, up from the current 37. That’s room for 2,000 riders a day, which translates into a 20 per cent increase in capacity—West Coast Express currently carries a daily average of 10,500 today, more than double its initial ridership of 5,000 a day.
The two cars here are currently undergoing testing, and we expect to put them into service in early September. The rest of the cars are still being made by Bombardier in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and are slated to arrive by the end of October and start service by the end of the year.
The new cars have some new improvements, including a new paint scheme (it’s blue instead of purple now), a revised bike area that provides more seating, and automatic doors to let you pass between train cars!
Check out this press release for more information, and see the rest of this post for more photos and video!
Tidbits and links! If you have any to suggest, or a photo to showcase on these posts, e-mail me at thebuzzer@translink.ca. I’m especially in need of good photos to showcase.
The video above is from Transport for London in the UK, kicking off a new video series to encourage cycling. The backing track is a new one from Mark Ronson called The Bike Song! Oh London, so hip.
Frequent transit network (FTN) news: in Montreal, STM has launched a branded FTN network, with 31 routes operating every 10 min or better, from 6am to 9pm daily. (Of those 31 routes, only 11 are truly at this service level. The other 20 have 10min service in the peak direction only.) Toronto is also proposing a branded FTN network.
The C3, C4, and C8 reroute maps. Click to see a much larger version.
As part of our September 2010 service changes, there will be changes to the routes for the C3, C4, and C8 shuttles in New Westminster. As such, we’ll be hosting antwo open houses to show people the three changed routes and answer any questions! Here’s the blurb I’ve been given:
In consideration of ridership demand, land use changes and in response to customer requests, improvements are planned for the New Westminster Community Shuttle Service which will optimize resources to enhance peak frequencies, clarify destination and trip patterns and extend service to the Victoria Hill area. To learn more about the service improvements and changes please join us at one of the open houses.
Learn about the changes at our Open Houses on Tuesday August 31:
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
New Westminster City Hall
511 Royal Avenue
5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Fraser River Discovery Centre
788 Quayside Drive New West City Hall
511 Royal Ave
For more information, please contact:
Vincent Gonsalves
TransLink Community Service Coordinator
Tel: 604-453-3043
I’m told we’re doing this open house for these specific routes because the C3, C4, and C8 have some of the larger route changes during this service adjustment.
Also, remember to look at our full list of transit service changes to see if your route has any changes!
A lineup for the 99 B-Line when school is in session.
With September comes the start of the school year and a ramp-up for many businesses—so starting Monday, September 6, we’re making our quarterly bus service adjustments to reflect these changed travel patterns.
The Capilano University Exchange on Monashee Drive is closed for construction. There will be temporary changes to bus pick-up and drop-off locations — check out this map.
We’ve reorganized the bus bays at New Westminster Station bus loop — here’s a map of the changes.
The C21 peak hour extension to Burrard Station is being discontinued, with service now terminating at Davie and Pacific. Customers travelling to or from Burrard Station should use the Canada Line or Burrard Street buses. Here’s a map of the changes! Edit: Btw, I’m told that resources saved from the discontinuation of the C21 peak extension to Burrard Station will be re-invested to help reduce peak period crowding on the Davie Street portion of the C23 Main Street Stn/Davie Community Shuttle. In case you were wondering!
We adjust bus service like this four times a year, reflecting major passenger ebbs and flows in April, June, September, and December. Look out for the next set of changes in December! And please pass this along to anyone who might find this useful!
And after 173 votes, 92% said “Thumbs up” to the Canada Line service! 6% said “Thumbs down,” and 2% hadn’t had a chance to ride it yet.
In the comments, lots of people said they liked the line, but had a few qualms. Here’s Ed:
Overall, it is a winner in my books. Before the Canada Line was even thought of, I could not have imagined going from Richmond to downtown Vancouver in under half an hour. It is extremely convenient, especially for a student like myself. I do agree that the station layouts is a bit questionable, a 3rd car would have been nice. It can be a bit frustrating during peak hours, and 7 min waits in Richmond (14 mins at night!) is kind of irritating. Hopefully that can be solved in the near future.
And many had questions about future expansion, and wanted more investment in projects like these. Here’s Chris:
The trains are great. I like the smooth ride and the extra space for luggage and bikes. It’s amazing how quickly you can get from downtown to the airport.
I wish more money would have went into the planning and construction of the stations – the platforms are way too short and the architecture is very grey, concrete, bland. I know the government wanted to save money, but it was short-sighted.
Fair enough: this is something we do hear, and it’s definitely useful advice for future projects. Check out all the comments here!
The Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) Fair opens this weekend! The PNE is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, and they’re kicking things off with a parade along Beach Avenue on Friday, August 20th. Read on below to see what transit service is offered to the fair, reroutes for the parade, and reroute info for the Ladner Village Market on Sunday.
So far, the bridge seems to be humming along nicely. Counters installed on the bridge in January 2010 have tracked 73,469 bike trips across the bridge, as of August 12, 2010. The counters also show that 52% of the trips are into Vancouver and 48% are into Richmond.
Happy birthday, Canada Line bike and pedestrian bridge—here’s to another year of bike and walking traffic!
People in the lineup wave while waiting at Lansdowne Station. Taken August 17, 2009.
As mentioned, in honour of Canada Line’s one-year anniversary on August 17, I’ve dug up some little-seen photos from opening day. It turns out we have a lot of photos, so I’ve posted them in four installments over the week!
This is part four, with pictures from the Lansdowne, Richmond-Brighouse, and YVR Airport Stations. (Here’s part 1, part 2, and part 3 in this series.)
Again, this is just a small sample of many: see the full gallery of photos in this Flickr set!
The lineup for the Canada Line at about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17.
Well, the Olympics have been a huge part of Canada Line’s history so far, so I thought I’d put together a few photos that capture the Canada Line Olympic experience.
For the 17-day Games period, the Canada Line carried over 3,881,986 passengers, with the most ever riding on Friday, February 19: 287,000 riders! Towards the end of the Olympics, the full set of 20 trains was deployed to handle the huge crowds, and most everyone seemed to have a good time, despite the close quarters on the cars. (For some more detail and stats about the Canada Line, check out this post from the APTA Rail conference. For more Olympic transit stats, see this press release.)
