About this blog

About the Buzzer blog

The Buzzer blog is the online place where TransLink shares news, commentary, and behind-the-scenes stories directly with customers. It’s the web companion to the Buzzer newsletter, the free publication found on all Metro Vancouver transit vehicles since 1916. We consider the blog to be an frank, fun, ongoing conversation about TransLink and its work, and we invite you to join in with your own comments and stories.

Feel free to use the comments on each post, or if you’d like to send an e-mail, please write to: . You can also follow the Buzzer on Twitter.

For those wishing to leave a commendation or complaint, please use this Customer Feedback Link.

We’ll respond to comments regularly during normal business hours (around 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday).

Note: due to a ridiculous amount of comment spam, we have to approve any comments that have at least one URL in them. So if you put a link in your comment and it doesn’t show up on the blog right away, it hasn’t disappeared into the ether. We’ll approve it during office hours.

Who’s behind the Buzzer blog?

Jhenifer Pabillano is the main blogger on the Buzzer blog.

She’s been writing and designing the Buzzer newsletter since January 2008, and is responsible for bringing FareCard contests, the Back Issues history feature, and bright new colours to the publication. And as of March 2009, Jhenifer is more the editor-in-chief of the Buzzer, working with colleague Carol Evans to put the Buzzer together.

Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Jhenifer moved to Vancouver to pursue a master’s degree in journalism at UBC in 2004. Her U-Pass got her hooked on Metro Vancouver transit, and she’s been a huge fan of the TransLink system ever since! She travels every day on the system and hasn’t driven a car in ages.

The Buzzer’s history

The Buzzer was first published on June 2, 1916, distributed on the streetcars that made up public transportation in Metro Vancouver at the time.

Originally, the Buzzer was designed as a strategic weapon in a long-forgotten war between streetcars and ‘jitney’ operators—private citizens who patrolled streetcar routes and offered rides for five cents.

George Kidd, general manager of B.C. Electric—the private electric company that ran public transit at the time—thought the Buzzer would keep people informed about service and foster rider loyalty to the streetcars.

As it turned out, jitney service was abolished in July 1918, but the Buzzer kept going for another 90 years (and counting!).

And today, the Buzzer has become a mainstay of public transit in the Lower Mainland, remaining a constant no matter how much transit itself has changed.