Vancouver Technical School students showing their appreciation for bus operators.
Starting in the early hours this morning, students at Vancouver Technical School handed out hot chocolate to bus drivers as part of their 15th annual Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Every year on the last day of school before Christmas holidays, the students make hot chocolate and serve it to bus operators as they pull up at their stop on Broadway outside the school. Read more »
You may have noticed the ReindeerBus over the last few weeks, making its rounds of the Lower Mainland. After paying special visits to Canuck Place and Ronald McDonald House (along with Mr. and Mrs. Claus of course), it’s been stopping by TransLink operations, collecting toys donated by employees for our Toys for Tots program. All the toys go to the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau to distribute.
The ReindeerBus popped by TransLink head office yesterday to pick up donations from staff here and, as you can see in the photo below, it was already well on its way to being packed with toys.
John Strachan, Head Elf during the holiday season (and a CMBC operator instructor the rest of the year), says that the bus has collected more than 2,700 toys this year.
You can read more about the origins of the ReindeerBus in this 2008 post, and see some amazing photos of the bus and its community shuttle sibling in this post from last year.
I remember the first time I took my bike on the bus. It was years ago. I was on the 99 B-Line, and a lot of people were watching me and waiting for me to load the bike so we could get on with the journey.
I could see the general concept of how it worked, but the bike just didn’t seem to sit right. The bus operator was nice enough to give me some helpful visual bike miming with his hands through the windshield. It turned out that I didn’t pull the support arm high enough so the bike was sitting too loose in the rack. Once I pulled up the arm and moved it so it almost touched the neck of my bike frame, it was snug. The anxiety of the moment soon drifted away after I boarded the bus and we moved along to the next stop.
If you haven’t had a change to try a bike rack on a bus before, TransLink has just posted this video on the TransLink YouTube account on how to do this.
Besides this video, text on all you need to know about how to load your bike on the bus can be found on the TransLink website. For convenience, I’ve taken the vital info and posted it below.
Besides these pointers, my only additional tip is to always keep one hand on your bike until you’ve properly secured your bike with the support arm. This will make sure your bike can never fall back on you.
Restrictions
To fit in the rack, bikes must have a minimum of a 40 cm (16”) diameter wheel.
Motor-assisted bikes of any kind are not permitted.
Loading and Unloading Your Bike
Here’s how to load and unload your bike:
Before the busarrives, remove loose items such as water bottles, pumps, and panniers.
Tell the driver you want to load your bike, and then lower the bike rack by pulling on the handle.
Lift your bike onto the rack.
Lift the support arm up and over the front tire.
Sit at the front of the bus and keep an eye on your bike.
When leaving the bus, please tell the driver that you need to remove your bike. Exit from the front door.
Remove your bike and raise the rack to the upright position.
Currently, bus racks require bike wheels that are a minimum of a 40 cm (16”) in diameter. Buses can take a maximum of two bikes at a time. So be prepared to potentially wait for a bus with space available to take your bike.
If you have any additional tips on taking your bike on the bus, please share them!
****This event has just been cancelled due to a mechanical problem with the bus. :( It may be rescheduled for tomorrow. I’ll update this post as soon as more information is available.****
This is a little late notice (sorry, I just heard about it myself!), but I thought I’d let everyone know about the BYD Electric Bus demo at Metrotown today. The Coast Mountain Bus Company regularly tests different buses and this one seems pretty cool! It will be at the Metrotown Bus Loop between 3p.m. and 3:30p.m today. It would be great to see Buzzer blog readers there! I’ll be there taking a few photos of the bus. Here’s the specs:
39’4” long
100” wide
Maximum 60 passengers
100% electric drive, in-wheel motors, proprietary “iron phosphate” (Fe) batteries.
Range: 250-300km.
Top speed: 96km/h.
Charge time: a full charge takes 6 hours.
Air Conditioning
Front, center, and rear passenger doors.
Solar panels are integrated on the roof to generate some electricity.
I’ve been told that BYD is located in Shenzhen, China, and started business in 1995 as a battery manufacturer. They are currently one of the world’s top four battery manufacturers and are #4 in Chinese car sales. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 9.9% of BYD. Also of note, the bus is currently configured to a Chinese specification, and has some missing equipment: no bike rack, no wheelchair ramp, inadequate space for wheelchairs. It is equipped with window curtains!
As part of our accessibility focus, I wanted to chat with someone who uses a wheelchair and knows our transportation system intimately. Brad Jacobsen is with the BC Paraplegic Association’s Peer Program. He’s also the creator of the Bus Stop Hop, an annual event that teams up able-bodied people with people who use mobility aids to partake in an Amazing Race-style competition on public transit.
It’s a pretty cool race with an aim to help people in need of accessible transit overcome their fear of it and for able-bodied people to better understand what accessible transit is all about.
Here is an excerpt from our conversation:
Brad, tell me about your injury and what happened afterwards.
I broke my neck on the May Long Weekend in 1994 in a diving accident. I dove into a glacier river in Pemberton trying to get a Frisbee. I was instantly paralyzed and left floating in the spring run off. I was able to hold my breath until a friend got me. My life took a different direction after that. I was 24 and was just accepted into BCIT’s broadcast journalism program and was thinking of becoming a teacher one day.
You know, when I finally realized what had happened, I faced my challenge head on. I thought I could overcome my disability. So I just pushed myself and did as much as I could as fast as I could. I moved out as soon as I finished rehabilitation, I got my own place and I got a job with BC Ferries.
Tell me about the challenges you face with mobility.
Working at BC Ferries, I worked eight days on/four days off without the use of the HandyDart system. At the time, it was difficult to get across boundaries, so I had to use accessible transit, which back in 1994 was still new. Not all the buses were accessible. Often, I had to wait for long periods of time when buses were full or broken down. I was often the first in line, but I wouldn’t be able to get on when the able bodied people behind me could. My eight-hour days at work were 11 hours if there weren’t any problems. Managing all the things you have to do as a quadriplegic with a spinal cord injury and being at work… was challenging but worth it.
What’s the Bus Stop Hop all about?
One of the main challenges with trying to have events was people [with physical challenges] saying that they can’t get there. There was always the excuse of no transportation, yet right under our noises was this amazing transportation system.
We were always trying to do creative things, trying to make people learn and gain confidence in a fun way. That was about the time when the Amazing Race was popular on TV, so we created an event that took the mystique out of the transit system. We got people in wheelchairs paired with a peer in a wheelchair, along with people from TransLink and a friend or family member to make teams of four. They race around the city in four different modes of transportation. Three modes are directly related to TransLink, the SeaBus, SkyTrain, and the bus system. We also incorporated the Aquabus in False Creek. We created this fun scavenger hunt/race around Metro Vancouver including Burnaby, Metrotown, and UBC. We’re going to have 15 teams this year. All the trolley buses have been accessible since 2008, so that makes the race even bigger [than earlier years]. Now, we also incorporate the Canada Line.
In this 10th year, we want to invite more executives and community partners. In the past, we have had a lot of participation from upper management at TransLink.
When is it this year?
This year it will be on August 7th, 2011. We’ll have some people who competed last year and some new people. We’ll have some people who are very competitive and some that just want to overcome their fears and just get on a bus. Having someone get on a bus on a crowded weekend along with able-bodied people can illustrates the difficulties people with physical challenges have when using transit.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, Brad!
Brad told me that the teams for this year’s Bus Stop Hop have not yet been finalized, so do check out the Bus Stop Hop page on the BC Paraplegic Association website. And remember that if you’d like to try out getting on a bus in a wheelchair or using a bike rack, come on down to Metrotown tomorrow, June 8, 2011, for the accessible bus trailbetween 10AM and 2PM. See you there!
Seniors and young kids often have special needs when it comes to transit
Access Awareness Day Saturday, June 4th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This Saturday, June 4, 2011, is Access Awareness Day. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a comprehensive provincial campaign led by SPARC BC to raise awareness about disabilities, accessibility barriers and social inclusion. TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company will be promoting accessibility through various. For the public,
TransLink will be hosting an accessible bus trial at Metrotown on June 8, 2011, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This bus will provide wheelchairs for interested persons to try boarding a bus in a wheelchair. Both TransLink staff and the community are welcome to try out the accessible boarding features on a conventional bus as well as using the bike rack. For more information, please call the Access Transit Office at 604-453-4619.
TravelSmart For Seniors pilot program
Transit can be a challenge for the elderly. That’s why TransLink’s Access Transit Secretariat has partnered with the Burnaby Fall Prevention Society and Voices of Burnaby Seniors to launch TravelSmart for Seniors: a pilot project in which seniors train other seniors to use the public transportation system. The sessions cover fare zones; using ticket vending machines; security features on SkyTrain, buses and SeaBus; how to use the TransLink Trip Planner and the responsibilities of front-line customer service staff.Participants will also go on a transit field trip, which provides a hands-on opportunity to explore many facets of public transportation.
To help develop the training, members of Voices of Burnaby Seniors went on five different transit field trips, going from Burnaby to locations such as Lonsdale Quay and the Vancouver International Airport.
The first of four TravelSmart for Seniors sessions was held today at Confederation 55+ Centre in Burnaby. If you didn’t get a chance to attend today, you have three other opportunities:
TravelSmart for Seniors sessions will be held:
Thurs, June 2, 2011
Edmonds 55+ Centre
7282 Kingsway
Burnaby BC
Thurs, June 9, 2011 Cameron Complex 9523 Cameron St. Burnaby BC
Thurs, June 16, 2011
Bonsor 55+ Centre
6550 Bonsor Ave.
Burnaby BC
*All sessions will run from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.To register, please call or email Julie Rogal at 604-453-4587 or julie.rogal@translink.ca
A Brill trolley with the BC Hydro colours, operating as the 14 Hastings in 1967.
Note: This is a scheduled post as I’m away this week, returning Monday April 11, 2011. If you need to reach TransLink info or staff, see this post!
As part of our April 2011 service changes, we are bringing back the 14 Hastings trolley route—an iconic former bus route that ran through Vancouver’s downtown for many years!
The 14—which even had a famous play named after it—makes its triumphant return to the streets due to optimization changes for the 10 and 17 trolley routes.
Here to tell us more about the 14’s history and its current incarnation is Peter Klitz, one of TransLink’s planners involved in the project. Read on for more insights and some classic photos of the 14 through time!
Our old and new trolleybuses at an event in 2007 --- you can clearly see their differing bus numbers!
For this Friday fun post, Michael Taylor-Noonan, the editor of the Transit Museum Society‘s newsletter has kindly contributed a piece on the history of bus numbering! Read on for a deep dive into the numbers we see today.
For this first guest blog, I’ve decided to write about bus numbers – not the ones on the front that tell you where your bus is headed, but the ones on the side, back and front that distinguish one bus from hundreds of identical vehicles. For years this was known as a ‘unit’ number, but now it can be called an asset number, fleet number, or bus number, depending on who you are talking to.
One of our trolley buses visited Seattle for a day so King County Metro Transit could try it out on their streets! Click for a larger version. Photo by Klaus Peter Canavan.
One of our trolley buses went a little off its regular route last week—it was roaming the streets of Seattle for a day!
That’s because we were demonstrating new trolley technology for the King County Metro Transit agency in the Seattle area. Two staff from the Coast Mountain Bus Company showcased the bus and fielded technical questions for the Seattle agency. (And if you’re curious: the trolley went down by flat-bed truck and Metro Transit covered all costs. Sadly, there’s no trolley wire between here and Seattle!)
Anyway, just thought you’d enjoy seeing how our region shares knowledge on transit solutions :) You can also check out Seattle Transit Blog for their notes on the trolley trial, with video and way more photos.
Thanks to Klaus Peter Canavan from Vossloh for sending through the photo above as well—read on to see a few more of Klaus’s trolley photos below.
Riders wait for the 99 at Commercial-Broadway Station.
Update, Dec 14, 2010: I’ve just got word that construction has been extended a few days! So the 99 stop will now return to normal on Friday December 17, 2010. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Just in time for Christmas! I’ve just got word that starting Wednesday, December 15, 2010Friday, December 17, 2010, the 99 B-Line stop at Commercial-Broadway Station will return to its original location (stop #52094) as construction in that portion is complete.
However, the 9 Alma and N9 Downtown will continue to stop at their temporary location until further notice. Here’s the original blog post with the map of the temporary stops.
Spread the word to those who will find this useful :) And thank you to everyone for your patience during this period, and to all our staff at Coast Mountain Bus Company for their assistance during this situation!
Just got a quick correction to the earlier winter bus service changes: it turns out the 28 Phibbs Exchange/Capilano University will NOT be rerouting via Canada Way come Monday, December 13, 2010. It will be staying on Laurel Street until early next year. Please let others know if this is relevant to them!
Here’s the link to the bus service changes post too, in case you want to see all the changes one more time.
The C28 community shuttle, dressed up as a reindeer! Photo by Chris Cassidy.
Our reindeer bus, photographed by David Lam! Click the picture to see David's full gallery of reindeer bus photos.
Chris Cassidy sent along some photos of the 2010 reindeer community shuttle this morning, so I thought I’d give the reindeer buses their own post :)
If you don’t know, one TransLink bus and one community shuttle get dressed up as reindeer every year. Staff from the Coast Mountain Bus Company have been performing this bit of holiday magic for over 20 years, starting just after the very first Toys for Tots charity drive done by the company in 1987. Check out this 2008 post for more history, plus the challenges of finding the right antlers and nose that work on the road!
The bus and community shuttle get dispatched all over the Lower Mainland, so just keep an eye out to see if they’re in your neighbourhood. But if you do want more specific locations, the TransLink Twitter account has also been tweeting the location of the reindeer bus and shuttle when they know where they are.
And just to clarify, the reindeer bus does NOT offer free rides, but there may be some tinsel and holiday treats presented by your friendly transit operator!
News1130 interviews Lothar Greczmel, winner of our 2010 Bus Roadeo driving competition!
Coast Mountain Bus Company held its 34th annual Bus Roadeo last Sunday, September 12!
The roadeo is an annual fun event for our bus operators and their families, and there’s a driving skills competition and a mechanical skills competition for employees to show their stuff.
The big winner of the driving competition was Lothar “Lowfloor” Greczmel, who also won last year, and the winning mechanical team was made up of Lenora Stenersen, Richie Wenzlaff and Sebastian Przestacki. Congratulations to all!
You’re invited to learn more about the bus-only lane on Marine Drive in West Vancouver!
As you may know, an eastbound bus-only lane is being built on Marine Drive, starting just west of the Village at Park Royal to Taylor Way. The reason: no more traffic lanes can be added to the bridge, and taking transit is the only way to move more people over the bridge. (Buses make up two per cent of bridge traffic, but move 28 per cent of travellers, and increasing transit’s share of the road will help increase capacity.)
Info sessions about the lane are planned at Park Royal Shopping Centre from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the following dates:
Thursday Sept. 2 @ North Mall centre court near Aveda Saturday Sept. 4 @ South Mall in front of Latitude
The West Vancouver Bus Lane is part of the $40 million Marine Drive Transit Priority Improvement Project, which also includes replacing the old Capilano River Bridge with a new three-lane bridge, adding a bus lane in North Vancouver and improving Marine Drive.
For more information, contact Vincent Gonsalves, Community Relations Coordinator at TransLink, at vincent.gonsalves@translink.ca or 604-453-3043. You can also check out the info session page on the main website for more.
