February 15, 2010, 9:00 am
Links and tidbits about the Olympics and transit so far
Crowds wait for Millennium Line trains at Commercial-Broadway Station on Friday, February 12.
We’re four days into the Olympics and of course I have some assorted tidbits and links to share.
- Good morning, Vancouver! If you’re heading to work and you’re near an Olympic venue, look out for busier-than-normal transit and traffic as people head to events. Travelsmart2010.ca has some travel tips to maybe make your trip easier.
- If you’re a spectator heading to events, Rebecca at Miss 604 has some tips for you.
- Elim at the Lululemon blog posts about how to become a super transit rider. Nice! (Here’s the etiquette list I posted earlier too!)
- Here’s a really great set of Olympic photos by Duncan Rawlinson.
- A Chicago writer has some thoughts on our SkyTrain system.
- The Seattle Times recommends riding the SeaBus for spectacular views of Vancouver. I like how they call them “foot ferries”!
- John Stark at the Bellingham Herald has a nice article about our transit system.
- Jarrett Walker, transportation consultant, is writing on his blog Human Transit about Vancouver’s transit and city plans. Related: Gordon Price has a list of interesting links on what international writers are discovering about Vancouver.
- Frances Bula is wondering if Vancouver has enough to do for a city full of visitors.
- GigaOm has some suggestions about where to catch the Olympics online.
- Not Olympics related but still very interesting: Owen researches the never-built Woodlands SkyTrain Station.
- Fun tidbit! Our Customer Information line had its busiest day ever on Friday, February 12 — that’s 7,400 calls! They’re open 20 hours a day, 7 days a week through the Games, so people with questions are able to get their questions answered (604-953-3333
- Another fun tidbit: on Friday, February 12, travelsmart2010.ca received 15,477 visits and the Traffic and Transit Conditions map was viewed 3,578 times on that site. translink.ca received 58,071 visits and 5,888 views of the traffic map. Keep on using those tools!
- Remember, follow the TransLink Twitter account for real-time transit info updates! Or try any one of our web and mobile resources for real-time info during the Olympic period. There’s also a number of iPhone apps to help you navigate our system.
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By ericmk, February 15, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
I find it very interesting how other people highly rate our transit system. We vancouverites should take the time to see how wonderful it really is. Oh, Jhen, I have a question: In the picture of Commercial-Broadway, there is barbed wire surrounding the skytrain track. Why cant there just be normal fencing, like they have for the washington dc metro (where I grew up)?
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By Jhenifer Pabillano, February 15, 2010 @ 6:03 pm
Where’s the barbed wire? I’m not sure I see it — maybe I’m going blind!
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By ericmk, February 15, 2010 @ 6:50 pm
The barbed wire is at the bottom of the station, close to the train (not skytrain) tracks. It also follows the length of the track through the grandview cut separating the skytrain with the other (not skytrain) tracks.
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By Duncan, February 16, 2010 @ 9:12 am
Thanks for the link!
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By Jhenifer Pabillano, February 16, 2010 @ 9:44 am
ericmk: Hmmm… well, those are CP tracks. Tentatively I’d guess that it’s to prevent people from climbing over into the track area and getting hit by the freight trains. When I’m out there I’ll have a look and see who I might ask about it!
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By Jhenifer Pabillano, February 16, 2010 @ 9:47 am
Oh wait, I see it!
It is likely to stop people from getting into electrical/train stuff under the station. Not sure why barbed wire is needed but perhaps there are some rather sensitive things in there?
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By Anonymous, February 16, 2010 @ 10:34 am
Those tracks are actually BNSF, not CP
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By Jhenifer Pabillano, February 16, 2010 @ 10:40 am
Oops. OK, BNSF tracks!
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By Cliff, February 16, 2010 @ 2:47 pm
Think of the people local to the area around the station. That’s why barbed wire was used ;)
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