A bus on the move. Photo by Devlon Duthie
A quick reminder that September 2012 bus service changes start today, September 3!
Make sure you’ve checked out the transit service changes list on our website to see whether your journey is affected.
And feel free to reach out to TransLink on Twitter or give our info line a call at 604-953-3333 if you need help with your trip.
The September 2012 Buzzer is now out!
As always, you can find it free of charge on buses, SkyTrain, SeaBus, West Coast Express or as a .pdf here.
This month’s Buzzer is all about the upcoming September 3 service changes, which we talked about this week. Make sure you’re up to date on the changes!
There’s also a note about the increased penalties for fare evasion (those start September 4), recycling your newspapers, and the Buzzer’s handy community events form!
And as always, our illustration is by a local illustrator. Say hello to Stefan Tosheff and his terrific illustration of a bus driver!
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 Monday, Sept 24 at 9 a.m.. We’ll pick a winner from all the correct answers, and that person will be notified by phone shortly after the draw.
And we’d love to hear what you think about the print Buzzer. Your contributions help to make the Buzzer better!
One of our ads highlighting the increased penalties for fare evasion, starting September 4, 2012
Over the past few weeks, you might have seen ads and posters on our system letting people know we’re stepping up our fare enforcement activities. That’s because effective September 4, 2012, TransLink assumes new responsibility to issue and collect fare infraction tickets, as well as resolve fare infraction disputes.
Our goal with this new responsibility is to cut down on fare evasion, and getting people to pay their fair share. It’s not to give out tickets to collect fines—we just want to make sure that people who fail to pay the correct fare face consequences.
For most people, it just means you should be prepared to produce your proof of payment at any time while riding on the transit system.
But for people who don’t pay their fare, what’s changing are the consequences. Here’s what you need to know:
And if you want to know more about the new legislation, or how to dispute or pay a fine, you can visit the Fare Evasion section of the TransLink website.
Bus changes are coming September 3, 2012!
Bye-bye summer, hello fall! With September just around the corner, students are going back to school and businesses are getting busier as many people head back to work after vacation.
September also means our regular service changes, to reflect higher demand, and our ongoing efforts to find ways of doing our business better. As many of you know, four times a year—in September, December, April and June—we make changes to be more efficient and make our services more productive.
We’ve got lots of changes coming September 3, 2012, but some of the highlights include:
You can check out all the transit service changes on our website to see if any of your usual routes are affected—and please help us spread the word to anyone who might be affected!
Kind gestures from riders always give you a smile!
OK friends! Here’s a fun poll just in time for the weekend. While I was riding transit with my baby daughter, I’d was always warmly surprised at how kind my fellow riders were: people would always give up seats so we could sit down.
This got me thinking about the wide variety of kindnesses our fellow riders offer us day to day. So here’s our Friday fun poll question: what’s the nicest thing another rider has ever done for you?
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What's the nicest thing another rider has ever done for you?
Total Voters: 76 |
Of course, you’re only restricted to one choice to make the poll results more conclusive :) But feel free to elaborate in the comments below if you have more kind stories to share, especially if you picked “Other”!
An aerial view of Vancouver Transit Centre!
Angus McIntyre, dear Buzzer friend and retired trolley driver, sent in a few photos for us to share today. (He’s sent in vintage photos before!)
Angus is a member of the Transit Museum Society and drove trolleys for over 40 years in Vancouver. We’ve spoken to him before on the blog — see his terrific reminiscences of transit and more here, here, and here.
Here’s what Angus says about these photos:
I was on a trip back east for a month, and when I returned I made a point of paying an extra $10 to get a window seat on the right side of the ‘plane. I had tried before to get these shots but the ‘plane landed eastbound. This time the weather was perfect, and this is the result. Please feel free to use these images any way you wish.
I have included two shots of PNE Parade Day, August 1974, showing how things worked for the detour at Hastings and Commercial. I’m sure Worksafe BC would have issues with this now.
Switching wires at Hastings and Commercial in 1974 on PNE Parade Day.
The top 7 results from our transit service changes poll. Click for a slightly larger version.
Well! Results are in from our service change poll, and our web outlets have come out on top!
Specifically: we asked you to pick the top 3 places where you find out about changes to your regular transit service, and the top answers were translink.ca (46%), followed by the Buzzer blog (34%). Signage at the bus stop (31%) was the third-highest info source — which makes sense, as it’s right where you need it!
I only stuck the top 7 entries into the chart above, to keep the graph easy to look at, but the rest of our outlets garnered a modicum of votes. Here’s the full results:
- translink.ca (46%, 54 Votes)
- Buzzer blog (34%, 40 Votes)
- signage at bus stop(31%, 36 Votes)
- Buzzer newsletter(18%, 21 Votes)
- Twitter (14%, 17 Votes)
- I only find out when the transit service actually changes (14%, 16 Votes)
- printed time table(7%, 8 Votes)
- friends, family, colleagues or other students (4%, 5 Votes)
- bus operator (4%, 5 Votes)
- newspaper (3%, 4 Votes)
- TransLink customer service (3%, 4 Votes)
- other (3%, 4 Votes)
- printed leaflets (3%, 3 Votes)
- radio (2%, 2 Votes)
- TransLink staff providing in-person outreach about changes (1%, 1 Votes)
- TV (1%, 1 Votes)
- Facebook (1%, 1 Votes)
Of course, this is an unscientific poll with only 118 respondents, but it’s a great indicator of where people get their info, and helps inform how we might get the word out about changes. Thanks again for taking the poll!
The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
Here’s our semi-regular roundup of interesting tidbits and links about transportation from the last week or so. If you have links to contribute, put them in the comments or email us!
Swings at the PNE! Photo by luckyfish.
The Fair at the PNE kicks off Saturday, August 18, 2012, and public transit can get you there and back!
Check out the details of our transit service to the PNE: there’s PNE special buses coming in from North and West Vancouver, as well as PNE specials picking up at Renfrew and 29th Avenue Stations.
And for more help with your journey, use our trip planner or call 604-953-3333.
Have fun!
The Pattullo will be getting a little TLC this weekend.
As you may have heard through the media already, this weekend there will be a planned closure on the Pattullo Bridge for some roadwork.
The bridge will be closed to all traffic (including bicycles and pedestrians) from 9 p.m. Friday, August 17, 2012 until 3 a.m. Monday, August 20, 2012 weather permitting (If there is rain this weekend – heavier than showers – the work will be postponed until August 24-27).
The bridge is closed so a portion of the asphalt at the south end of the 75-year-old bridge can be re-paved. Keeping the bridge in safe, working condition is extremely important. During this time, some corroded pedestrian guard rails will also be looked at and possibly repaired.
The City of Surrey will also be doing work on King George Boulevard, which will take place within the limits of the Pattullo Bridge Closure. From the Surrey side of the bridge, there will also be a full closure west of 128 Street and only local traffic, buses and emergency vehicles will be permitted.
If you were planning on using the Pattullo, please note that the N19 NightBus will be re-routed between New Westminster and Scott Road Stations, as will the #321, which makes two trips from Surrey to New Westminster Station on Sunday mornings before SkyTrain begins service. Both routes will have longer travel times due to the reroutes. Check the Alerts page for full details.
It’s an inconvenience for sure, but a necessary one to make sure the bridge is safe!
Join in the Bus Stop Hop!
Get on board the Bus Stop Hop on Saturday, August 18, 2012!
The Bus Stop Hop is an annual Amazing-Race-style event to showcase accessible public transport in Metro Vancouver. Spinal Cord Injury BC organizes it every year and here’s how they describe it:
Inspired by the Amazing Race, the BSH is a one-day, team-based event that has participants racing across the city, using accessible transportation, completing fun activities and collecting points. What makes BSH unique is its focus on accessible transit and its team structure: four teammates consisting of two able-bodied people and two people using wheelchairs or mobility aids. Teams race around the city, answering trivia questions and scoring points as they hit all the hot spots using everything Translink has to offer. Teams are going green for 2012 with sustainable transportation tips and eco-friendly finds along the way!
BSH is a free event and a great way to get to know Vancouver’s transit system. Challenge yourself, beat your peers and discover your amazing, accessible city on August 18th.
To register, contact Kelly at 604-326-1221 or kwittig@sci-bc.ca. You can still sign up if you’re interested in participating but don’t have a team—you can be matched up!
Visit SCI BC’s website for all the details, including how to register and more.
The first faregate was installed at Marine Drive Station this afternoon.
We installed the first faregate at Marine Drive Station today, Monday August 13, 2012!
Check it out if you’re going by the station: the faregate is permanently installed, though it won’t be operational until sometime in 2013 when all the gates are ready.
Blair Lekstrom, BC's Minister of Transportation, speaks at the event.
Three key folks were on hand to put the faregate in the ground today:
You can see a few more pictures from the event in this Flickr set.
CAW and Coast Mountain Bus Company took a bus out to the Pride Parade in 2011! Photo by John Bollwitt from Flickr.
We’ve got a long weekend filled with events ahead of us, and with great events come great transit reroutes. All the specifics can be found on our Alerts page, but I’ve got some highlights below that you might want to look out for.
As you certainly may have heard already, Vancouver Pride Week is on, and this upcoming weekend has a few events that will affect transit service.
Buses on the 9 and the 99 routes battling traffic.
This post is part of a series about Managing the Transit Network: all about how TransLink plans transit service in our region. See all the past blog posts in the series here.
This post covers pages 12-21 in the Managing the Transit Network primer.
So far in our series, we’ve talked about the overall goals and challenges for transit planning. And we’ve looked at the broad themes we keep in mind when we design a transit network. (We also did an interview with the planning team behind this project!)
But in this post, we’re going to take a look at transit planning on the street level. That is, how do we design a good bus route or transit line? (And by “good,” we mean “a transit line that serves lots of people for as much of the day as possible.”)
Well, there IS an actual answer. Generally, we try to design a transit line with nine specific elements to make it likely to serve lots of people almost all the time. They are:
We’ll talk about each of these elements in more detail below. But eagle eyes will already note that locations and land use of the existing environment play a big role in making a transit line a success!
The warning shot: one of the pre-show fireworks set off to warn audiences that the show would start soon. Photo by Eyesplash on Flickr.
People of Vancouver! A quick reminder that the Celebration of Light fireworks display is on again tomorrow, Wednesday August 1, and on Saturday August 4, 2012. And yes, transit is a great way to get there!
Find out all the details on bus and train service at our Celebration of Light page, as well as our earlier Buzzer blog post.
And of course, for more help, feel free to call our Customer Information line at 604-953-3333, or reach out via Twitter to @translink.
Enjoy the show!
In April and May, you can Ask TransLink! We’ll have four staff members on the blog and you're invited to ask questions about their work.
Here’s our schedule:
Week 1 (April 15-19)
Peggy Gibbs, roads engineer
Week 2 (April 22-26)
Brian Revel, bus operator
Week 3 (April 29-May 3)
Jason D and Candace K from TransLink’s Twitter team
Week 4 (May 6-10)
Mary Riemer, transit planner
Find out more about Ask TransLink, or check out our past series: Life on Transit and TransLink 101.
