Life on transit: fantastic tips and tricks for transit from riders like you!

For March/April 2013, we’re spotlighting Life on Transit—observing and illuminating the quirks and habits of daily transit rides around our region!

We asked you last week if you had any special tips or tools for taking transit—and after 51 votes, 76 per cent of poll takers said they did!

Now to the juicy stuff! We received some fantastic comments with some very hot tips and tricks for transit. One of my favourites came from Cliff:

During the PM peak, board an inbound SkyTrain, then stay on it as it becomes an outbound one. This allows you to secure a seat. Particularly useful if your trip is going to be a long one. For example, Commercial to VCC-Clark or even Stadium to Waterfront.

Crowded bus stop along a crowded route? Reduce your chances of being passed up by walking to the previous stop. Drivers are more likely to pick up a single person at a stop than if there were a crowd.

Picking up or dropping someone off at the airport? Use Templeton Station to do this. Canada Line between YVR and Templeton is free. You don’t have to pay for parking (you can’t park at the station) and you don’t have to worry about timing your arrival so you get there at the exact moment as the person you’re picking up.

Here is Allen with a tip for 49 riders:

Route 49 users: Use the Next Bus feature and Map View. Click on the bus icons. The ones with a bus number in the 8000s is an articulated bus. Time your trip so you get on to an articulated bus for a less cramped/more enjoyable ride.

And here’s JT with some great tips for the 620:

For those who take the 620 Tsawwassen Ferry, I always like to arrive 20-30 mins ahead of the printed departures in the schedule or website, because all too often (especially on Fridays, long and ordinary weekends, and holidays) RTC and Transit supervisors will dispatch an extra express bus that isn’t scheduled to help out with peak demands, especially with trips connecting to sailings for both Victoria and Nanaimo. An example is if you need to make the 3pm sailing to Victoria, or 3:15pm sailing to Nanaimo, the printed schedule says 2pm leaving Bridgeport, and an extra trip around 1:45pm on weekends. About 80-90% of the time, theres an unscheduled trip that leaves Bridgeport sometime just after 1:30pm, and it will be an express trip with no stops, arriving at the terminal sometime around 2:10pm, plenty of time at the terminal. However, if you don’t like a crowded bus, stick with the printed departures, those trips tend to be a much lighter load, arriving only 10 mins after the first trip, and still time to catch your ferry.

Carmen had a great tip for busy bus routes:

One particular bus stop I frequent *can* be pretty packed if arriving at certain times of the day (it’s near a couple schools). If this is the case, I’ve found that the bus takes SO long to load that it’s actually *faster* to wait for the next one, which usually ends up leapfrogging past the first bus (because it takes a long time to unload at each stop as well) and arriving at my final destination on time, if not early.

And to finish it up, Kerry had some fabulous advice for travelling with kids!

I have two young children, and transit is our usual method of getting around (we use a co-op car every now and again). My tips for easier transit riding with kids: allow plenty of time to travel so we’re not rushing around in a sweat, and instead can enjoy our day. Sit away from wires and buttons so we’re not constantly ringing the bell to stop the bus (I’ve seen this a few times!). The best seats on the bus for me are at the back, where my older son can sit by the window and look out, and the younger is away from the pull-wire and entertained by the view out the back window. In particular, keeping away from the wheelchair button at the front of the bus and the emergency button by the door seat on the older skytrains. I also use a carrier instead of a stroller; then my youngest son doesn’t take up any space, we can sit where we like, and I can even stand for seniors or wheelchair users.

Other tips: sing songs (not loudly!) – this has gotten me out of trouble on longer journeys soooo many times. And being polite and friendly to the bus driver/transit staff/other passengers is fun! We have made lots of friends on transit over the years. My boys have collected pins, pushed the button to sound the horn on the skytrain at Waterfront (so awesome!), gotten a free “ticket” on the bus (the driver prints a blank). I feel confident that in the years to come, my kids will be able to navigate transit in Vancouver safely and effectively on their own.

Now there are many, many more tips over at the original post—I highly encourage you to go over and have a read! Thanks to everyone who so kindly submitted their suggestions!

Life on transit poll: what are your best tips, tricks, and tools for transit?

For March/April 2013, we’re spotlighting Life on Transit—observing and illuminating the quirks and habits of daily transit rides around our region!

What are your best tips and tools for transit? Do you have a great mobile app that helps you get around?

When you ride transit a lot, you just start figuring out ways to make your ride better. Maybe you begin aiming for a certain seat on the bus, or you use a certain transit app to buzz you when your bus is almost there. Or you start to rely on a great podcast to help pass the time!

And this is where we ask you to SPILL THE BEANS! If you’ve got any tips, tricks, or tools that help you have a better transit ride — do your fellow transit riders a solid and let us know!

I’ll go first: for me, apps on my mobile phone are a lifesaver. To wit:

• I use TransLink’s mobile site to help me quickly see where the next bus is. And sometimes, I’ll use it for a list of a route’s bus stops when I’m not sure which stop I need to exit at.
• I zoom into Google Maps to figure out the best walking route to the nearest bus stop in an unfamiliar part of town.
• I use the Kindle app to read books on longer journeys!

I also take the 99 a lot, and I always board in the back: faster rider flow!

Now it’s your turn! Take the poll and tell us in the comments: what helps you out on transit?

Life on transit: 70% have a secret friend on transit

For March/April 2013, we’re spotlighting Life on Transit—observing and illuminating the quirks and habits of daily transit rides around our region!

We asked you last week if you had a secret friend on transit—someone who you see all the time on transit, but have never spoken to.

And after 119 votes, 70 per cent of our poll takers say they do have a secret friend!

There was also a little bit of discussion on the subject. Wendy shared the story of her morning commute:

I take the first 345 every day. My stop has several regulars. There’s myself, the older white woman, the older aboriginal woman, the two male construction workers and myself. We don’t spend a lot of time on the bus as it’s only 10-15 minutes but we do spend a lot of time waiting for the bus together. The first to arrive is always myself or he older white woman. We are always at the stop by 5:10-5:20. I do not know a thing about her. I often wonder what she does as I can only assume that’s she’s going to work that early on a regular basis. She looks so statuesque and never says a word. The other woman looks like she does labour based on her workboots. The two men know each other and talk to each other. Other than that we make a silent group. When he bus is running late we all keep checking by leaning out into the street but we never say “I see it” or “hey, did we miss it?” We get on the bus in our order (my only words being “good morning” to our bus driver) and even if we sit next to each other we don’t say a word. These are my transit friends.

We posted this over on Facebook too, where Spencer noted:

I always enjoy the “missed connections” in the Straight right around the start of every new school year. Dozens of “I saw you on the 99, you looked at me for 1 second” posts.

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who took the poll! Hopefully it helped you notice something new about your transit ride :)

Fun poll results: 87% prefer a quiet ride on transit

Inspired by a Vancouver Sun article, we asked you on Tuesday whether you liked a quiet transit ride, or wanted more interaction.

And after 167 votes, the winning answer was clear: 87% said they preferred a quiet ride!

Unlike the lament we heard in the Vancouver Sun, just 8% of you said you wanted more interaction, and 7% said “Other.”

The comments, as always, gave us insight into why quiet is preferred. Here’s Nick:

I enjoy having a quiet ride in the mornings because I’m pretty much half-asleep on my way to school (I’m sure others may feel like this, too).

I find that transit is more live with conversations with people going places in the midday and I like that chatter. I sometimes engage in some small talk with fellow passengers and that seems to brighten my day!

We also posted this question on Facebook and responses there shared the same sentiment. Here’s Angela Elizabeth:

Quiet time~~ I don’t even want to talk to my friends when I’m on transit. I need my personal time with my music to de-stress.

I’m shy in public and open places like transit, so I prefer to meet people in specific social settings like at events or a pub.

Don’t assume people are cold or rude just because they don’t want to talk to you. They are probably shy, or may even have social anxiety. Or they are just not interested in being your friend. Sometimes (often) random people who come up to you are creepy, or give off a creepy vibe.

But some did enjoy more interactions. Here’s Donald:

I typically like quiet, but someone started a game of catch with a little foam ball on the 160 bus one time and that was so fun. A dozen people were participating, myself included. :)

And ??? raised an interesting point: haven’t we always been this way?

With regards to interaction. What does it upset people when we read electronic screens, but we don’t criticize people who read books in transit? 10 years ago reading was celebrated, but today it’s a fault?

Too true! Anyway, check out our past poll post and our Facebook post for more discussion on this topic! And feel free to keep chiming in below :)

Fun poll: do you prefer quiet on transit?

Many riders turn to their phones on transit!

Do you keep to yourself on transit? Or would you rather be interacting with others?

I thought we’d tackle the subject today, as Pete McMartin has a Vancouver Sun article this morning called “Alone in a crowd on transit.” From the article, Pete seems to say that we withdraw on transit, and it’s something he laments. A quote from the end:

No one talks. The train jounces along, screeching on the long curves. We settle glumly into the rhythm of the train — the deceleration before stations, the disembarking passengers shouldering through the crush, the closing doors and the rising hum of the quickening train. Langara. City Hall. Yaletown. Downtown. The train gradually empties out. It slows to a stop at the Waterfront station, and a man, already laden with a vague weight, allows the cabin to clear before he steps out on to the platform. He has not uttered a word the entire 20-minute trip, and has never looked into the face of another passenger or said a kind word to anyone, even though he has thought it would be nice if he or someone did. As he watches the last of the passengers hurry out of the station toward the day’s work, he thinks:

When did we become so afraid of one another?

But I’ve also seen quite a response to the article around the web, saying just the opposite. Here’s a few comments from a much longer Reddit discussion:

Yes! There’s nothing better then a nice quiet bus ride in the morning the slowly wake up. The AM is me time. (link)

Completely agreed. Nothing wrong with a bit of human noise, but also nothing wrong with people just being themselves.

Hell, I’d rather a chill time on the train than having to deal with people trying to chat me up while I’m reading with headphones in. (link)

Fun poll time!

So here is where I turn it over to you! Take our fun poll, and tell us what you think in the comments. I’ll report back with the results on Friday!

And before I set you loose for discussion, I should also highlight that retreating into privacy on transit isn’t a Vancouver phenomenon, or something that happens in only this time period. For example, here’s a quote from a Slate article about subway psychology:

By 1971, Erving Goffman, in his book Relations in Public, was noting that a ritual of what he called “civil inattention” had taken hold on the subway as in other spheres of city life: We acknowledge another person’s presence, but not enough to make them “a target of special curiosity or design.” Or, as the authors of the essay “Subway Behavior,” (in the book People and Places: Sociology of the Familiar) put it, “subway behavior is regulated by certain societal rules and regulations that serve to protect personal rights and to sustain proper social distance between unacquainted people who are temporarily placed together in unfocused and focused interaction.”

OK! Have at it!

Q & A with Bob Paddon, Executive Vice President, TransLink Strategic Planning and Public Affairs

The complete answer to today’s draft 2013 Base Plan poll is found by watching this video. In short, the answer to the poll question, True or false: TransLink can afford to provide all the transit service that people want?, is false.

It’s probably not the answer that most transit users want to hear, but it’s a realistic one considering the current financial challenge TransLink is currently facing.

Besides providing feedback about the draft 2013 Base Plan on the blog, there’s also our questionnaire or the PlaceSpeak 2013 Base Plan and Outlook survey.

Please feel free to share these videos. Our aim is to have more people informed and involved in the decisions that will shape the future of transit in our region.

True or false: TransLink can afford to provide all the transit service that people want

Help us plan the future of transit in the region!

For this fourth poll regarding the draft 2013 Base Plan, we’re asking a very sobering but important question. True or false: TransLink can afford to provide all the transit service that people want?

As many of you know, we’re going through some significant financial challenges these days. If the Mayors’ Council asks TransLink to remove the previously-approved temporary property tax, then they could ask TransLink to prepare a Supplemental Plan that would account for this lack of funding. The draft 2013 Base Plan depends on the funds produced by the temporary property tax. If the property tax is removed, then we may have to reduce the amount we planned on spending on transit in the future.

We’ll post the video answer to this poll question this afternoon. Remember, you can find all the info you need on the plan here or on the blog.

Q & A with Sarah Ross, Senior Manager, TransLink Strategy and Plan Development

Here’s the video answer to the poll question we asked earlier today, True or false: Most of TransLink’s revenue comes from fares. The answer, as Sarah Ross, Senior Manager of TransLink Strategy and Plan Development explains, is false.

Fares make up roughly a third of our revenues. I’ll let Sarah and the video speak for themselves in respect to what makes up the rest of our revenue. This infograghic found on the draft 2013 Base Plan page provides some more perspective on our current financial challenge (remember, figures are rounded). Read more »

True or false: Most of TransLink’s revenue comes from fares

TransLink ticket vending machine

We’ve got another poll for Buzzer blog readers to take today. True or false: Most of TransLink’s revenue comes from fares

These polls and their accompanying video answers are all part of our consultation process for the draft 2013 Base Plan. If you haven’t seen our previous polls or conversation on this latest three-year plan, go here and you’ll be up to date.

I’ll be posting the video answer to this poll on the blog this afternoon. We’d also like to remind everyone to take the draft Base Plan questionnaire, available to fill out until October 12, 2012 on the TransLink website, or the PlaceSpeak 2013 Base Plan and Outlook survey.

Everyone did so well with the last poll, let’s see if you can do it again! Update: The answer is false. Click here for the full answer.

True or false: TransLink hasn’t cut any costs in the last three years

There's always a lot of number crunching going on at TransLink

We thought we’d run a quick poll as a fun way to talk about our draft 2013 Base Plan and test your knowledge of TransLink.

The subject of the poll relates to what TransLink has been doing fiscally as an organization in the recent past. The answer to the question will be in our second instalment of our draft 2013 Base Plan videos… later today! Haven’t seen the first video yet? Check it out here.

So, spend a few seconds, and take the poll. If you have more than a few seconds and have looked through the draft Base Plan, there’s also a questionnaire available to fill out until October 12, 2012 on the TransLink website.

If you feel you’d like to provide us with your feedback about our three-year plan in another way, our friends at PlaceSpeak are also running a survey about the draft 2013 Base Plan. We wrote about PlaceSpeak, the location-based public consultation platform, in a past post.

I’m curious to see the results of this poll considering you have a 50% chance of being right! Check the blog this afternoon for the video answer! Update: The answer is false. Thanks everyone for taking the poll!

TransLink’s draft 2013 Base Plan

The draft 2013 Base Plan

Today, TransLink has released a very important document that lays out our plan for the next three years of transit in Metro Vancouver. Our draft 2013 Base Plan is a blueprint for transit planning, funding and servicing.

We’ve talked about the financial challenges TransLink is facing of late on the blog. The 2013 draft Base Plan provides specifics on how,

“Translink’s Board of Directors remain focused on delivering the best possible transportation system to the public, while making the most of every dollar we have.” – Nancy Olewiler, Chair of TransLink’s Board of Directors. Read more »

Fun poll results: There’s a lot of nice things people do for each other on transit

Buzzer readers never cease to surprise me. When Jhen posted the last fun poll: what’s the nicest thing another rider has ever done for you?, I expected that one of the non “other” options would garner the largest number of votes.

Well, it turns out there’s a lot of nice stuff fellow transit riders do for each other that we didn’t think of. Here’s a break down of the votes: Other (24 votes), Given up their seat for me when I needed it (18 votes), Stepped off the bus to let me out first (15 votes), Helped me figure out where I was going (10 votes),  Asked the driver to hold the vehicle for me (9 votes).

Here’s some of the “other” niceness Buzzer readers mentioned:

TM had a bunch of nice things to share.

I’ve been helped out quite a few times. I’ve had riders tap me on the shoulder to wake me up at a terminus, or elderly people refusing to take the seat I’ve offered because I’m carrying lots of things. I’ve had my wallet returned to the bus driver before too. Lots of honest and kind people on transit.

Alex Stormhall had a comment about niceness that I can relate to since I can be a tad forgetful.

I never met this person in person, but there was one time where I was on the 321 headed to Newton Exchange, and I was rushing to make my connection with the 301 back to Richmond. In my haste, I had inadvertently left my laptop on the bus! Thankfully, I made it on the next 394 Express to take me to White Rock Centre, as the bus I had gotten off of was a White Rock bus. When I got there, the driver told me that there was a lady who was kind enough to turn in the laptop to him! The drivers on both buses were also very courteous, and helpful, and made an otherwise nerve-wracking experience more bearable.

Marvin B was helped out by a very nice and attentive bus operator.

I once fell asleep on a late night 8 Fraser bus after a particularly long, awful shift. The driver noticed and woke me up somewhere around Kingsway. The driver asked where I wanted to be in case I fell asleep again. I told him 41st Ave. Before we arrived, sure enough I fell asleep again. The driver made sure I got off and didn’t go all the way to Marine Drive. I was extremely thankful!

Holly sounds like one of those friendly people who met some like minded bakers on board the B-Line.

I have a fond memory of exchanging cookie recipes with another passenger and the driver on the B-line. While traveling with my children, I often sit up front and end up in friendly conversations!

Andrew met someone who clearly went above and beyond what many riders who do when they see someone in need.

I was returning some equipment to long & mcquade and someone helped “reload” everything onto me so i could actually make it out the door of the bus.

A.R. had an unexpected experience that was made a lot easier thanks to the kindness and strength of her fellow riders.

My boyfriend and I were on the 99 during rush hour, packed in the area near one of the doors. He complained he wasn’t feeling well and before too long, he fainted. The other guys standing near us grabbed him so he didn’t fall too the ground, while other people shouted to the bus driver to pull over and let us off the bus. He thankfully came to within seconds, but I don’t think I would have been able to catch him on my own! Even on a crowded 99 people are pretty helpful.

Nick commented on something I hear a lot on the bus.

I’ve had people shout (very loudly, I might add) “BACK DOOR!” to the driver when the green light wasn’t lit so that I could exit a bus a couple times. I am quite soft-spoken, so thanks to those folks and the drivers who often apologize for forgetting!

Zack also mentions the “Back Door” phenomenon and kindly worries about the people who make themselves horse to help others alight the bus.

That is the grossest post I’ve ever seen on the Buzzer Blog and should be removed immediately. In terms of the generosity exhibited by fellow passengers, I remember trying desperately exit the rear doors (which were locked) of the 320 bus on front of the superstore on 104th & 146 ave. I tried shouting BACK DOOR! but the driver didn’t listen what’s he sped off, that’s when on man shouted BAAAACK DOOOOOR!!! His voice was loud enough for an immediate reaction by the driver, I thanked the fellow passenger, although at the same time I was worried how all that shouting might have affected his vocal cords.

As always, we really appreciate all of you who took the time to take the poll and share the kindness that others shared you while on transit. Keep that outpouring of kindness flowing everyone! We transit riders need to look out for one another.

Friday fun poll: what’s the nicest thing another rider has ever done for you?

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?

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”!

Poll results: 46% find out about transit changes at translink.ca

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!

Results of the Friday Poll: Do you eat on transit?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned while I’ve been at TransLink, it’s that people have their opinions about food and transit.

Half of the readers who took the poll eat on transit.

The most striking example of this was when we invited people to join the Transit Pet Peeve Battle last year. The Hungry Hippo (OK it’s actually Hungry Hamster) character generated a lot of comments. So it’s not surprising that when I asked Buzzer readers a month ago if they eat on transit, we received some great feedback and over 350 votes. Here’s the breakdown of the results:

• Yes, I sometimes eat on transit. (50%, 179 Votes)
• No, I never eat on transit. (46%, 166 Votes)
• Yes, I eat every time I’m on transit. (4%, 12 Votes)

Read more »