The Canada Line will surpass 200 million passengers this month! We’re sharing stories about the Canada Line on the Buzzer blog leading up to this month’s celebratory event.

Donald McDonald is one of those what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guys. When I started to ask the knowledgeable electrician about his experience using the Canada Line, his beaming smile gave me a good indication of what he was going to say.

“I take the train because it’s convenient. I don’t have to pay too much attention. It means I don’t have to rush because I know when a train will be there.”

Donald has been taking the Canada Line for past four years. He’s an Electrician and Baggage Supervisor at YVR Airport. He basically helps to make sure that the journey a passenger’s bags make between when they are checking in their bag and when they are loaded onto a plane is successful. As he says, “There’s a lot that goes on behind that curtain your bag goes behind.”

Growing up in South Vancouver, Donald has recently returned to the area and lives a few blocks from the Marine Drive Canada Line station. He takes the first train of the day at 5:05 am, which gets him to work before he starts his day at six a.m.

While on the train, he enjoys a hot tea and reads his emails in preparation of his day ahead.

Donald occasionally needs to drive to work if he’s on an earlier morning shift. “Driving is actually more expensive than taking the train,” says Donald. “I need to pay for parking and for maintenance of the vehicle.”

Before the Canada Line was open, Donald was traveling from Mission an hour and a half one way to YVR. Now living in Vancouver and using the Canada Line, Donald says, “I can park my truck [at home] five days a week and save some money.”

Living so close to the Canada Line, Donald uses the train outside of work hours as well. “I take the Canada Line downtown all the time or to the Cambie corridor,” says Donald. He continues to tell me that his time on the train lets him catch up with texts from his daughter.

Donald is just one of nearly 200 million people to have taken Canada Line since it opened in 2009. Do you have a story about Canada Line? Please leave it in the comments section below!