One of our old trolleys driving down Granville Street, before the Canada Line construction began in 2006.
Note: I’m still on holiday, returning Monday Sept 13! This is a scheduled post I prepared in advance.
Just a reminder: the trolley buses are back on Granville starting today! Make sure you check this post for all the details on the move.
A West Vancouver Blue Bus at Georgia and Granville in downtown Vancouver. Photo by sashafatcat.
I’m still on holiday! This is a scheduled post.
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.
The C3, C4, and C8 reroute maps. Click to see a much larger version.
As part of our September 2010 service changes, there will be changes to the routes for the C3, C4, and C8 shuttles in New Westminster. As such, we’ll be hosting an two open houses to show people the three changed routes and answer any questions! Here’s the blurb I’ve been given:
In consideration of ridership demand, land use changes and in response to customer requests, improvements are planned for the New Westminster Community Shuttle Service which will optimize resources to enhance peak frequencies, clarify destination and trip patterns and extend service to the Victoria Hill area. To learn more about the service improvements and changes please join us at one of the open houses.
Learn about the changes at our Open Houses on Tuesday August 31:
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
New Westminster City Hall
511 Royal Avenue5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Fraser River Discovery Centre
788 Quayside Drive New West City Hall
511 Royal AveFor more information, please contact:
Vincent Gonsalves
TransLink Community Service Coordinator
Tel: 604-453-3043
I’m told we’re doing this open house for these specific routes because the C3, C4, and C8 have some of the larger route changes during this service adjustment.
Also, remember to look at our full list of transit service changes to see if your route has any changes!
Here Coast Mountain Bus Company employees Frank Crowhurst and Chris Rasmussen stand beside the last wooden post on active duty, and the new metal post that has replaced it in the 4200 block of 240 street N.B. in Langley Township. Photo by Charlotte Boychuk.
Well, a small moment of transit history passed this morning — the last wooden bus stop was pulled out of the ground in Langley at 10 a.m.!
Taking out the last post was CMBC’s most senior man, 43 year veteran, Frank Crowhurst. In September 1994, Frank, a Bus Stop Maintenance Painter was the one to put the post in the ground, so it was appropriate that he was the one to remove it.
For those who don’t know, the bus stops in greater Vancouver all used to be wooden blue posts, not steel pipes as they are today. But because of the cost of using steel pipe versus cedar, plus lead based paint issues, the wooden post era had to come to an end.
So, over the past 15 years, CMBC Bus Stop Maintenance crews have been converting TransLink’s 8200 wooden bus stops in the Metro Vancouver area to the new metal posts. The new posts have proven to be less labour intensive to maintain, and have stood up better to vandalism. (In the past, if the post was knocked over, the wooden post had to be dug out of the ground — now a metal post can just be unscrewed and replaced.)
Here’s a bit more about Frank Crowhurst, the history of our bus stops, and the last post from our communications folks over at CMBC!
Julie from Access Transit tries getting on a trolley with a scooter at Vancouver Transit Centre, under the guidance of trainer Bert.
The ramp from a trolley bus on the practice curb at Vancouver Transit Centre.
So, as Access Awareness Day is on Saturday June 5, I went to learn about accessibility on buses with Coast Mountain Bus Company’s training department last week!
Julie from Access Transit joined me at Vancouver Transit Centre, our main Vancouver bus depot. Bert from training had set up a trolley and a new diesel bus to show us the accessibility training provided to both operators and passengers. There’s a curb and a bus stop in the yard to simulate real-world conditions!
By the way, did you know that passengers with disabilities can book appointments with our training department to practice entering and exiting buses in the yard? Patients from the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre often come down to give it a try, if they’re not used to riding public transit with an assistive device yet.
(To book an appointment, call Ron Williams at 604-264-5420 to set up a time! The training department will arrange to have buses ready so you can practice for as long as you need to feel comfortable.)
Angus dancing as the Carnival Band gives him a surprise performance! Photo by Wayne Worden of the Carnival Band.
To celebrate his last day after more than 40 years on the job, Angus McIntyre took a Brill trolley out for a ride yesterday evening, packed with friends, colleagues, and well-wishers!
Angus followed his regular 7 Dunbar/Nanaimo route, and the Carnival Band surprised him with a performance at Nanaimo Station. I wasn’t able to make it out for the ride, but folks have said he was properly surprised by the gesture!
Check out the Carnival Band’s blog for more pictures and stories. There’s also a lovely item over at Vancouver is Awesome. Edit: Dennis has sent along an album of photos as well!
Plus here’s a photo of the Brill Angus was driving (followed by another one)!
Two Brills were in fact part of Angus's retirement ride. Photo by Wayne Worden of the Carnival Band.
Longtime trolley driver Angus McIntyre will be retiring at the end of May! (We made sure to get the trolleys in the background of this picture :)
After driving buses for 41 years, Angus McIntyre has announced he will be retiring at the end of May!
His last official day will be Tuesday Monday May 31 (celebrations are planned!), but until then you can catch him driving the 7 Dunbar/Nanaimo or the interlined Main/Victoria routes in the evenings. Congratulate him if you see him!
I spoke with Angus last week, and asked him to share his reflections on the city and transit after 40 odd years of service. It’s a long period to think about—he notes that he actually worked through six decades, starting in the last four months of 1969 and finishing in the first half of 2010.
“Very few people in this company achieve that goal [of 40 years driving],” he said with a laugh. “You have to start quite young and be durable to make it through.”
You can read the full interview below (and see this post for more on Angus!).
Congrats to Rick Laidlaw for driving 35 years without an accident!
The Tri-City News ran a story on transit operator Rick Laidlaw, who has been driving buses for 35 years and has never had an accident! Over the years, Coast Mountain Bus Company has estimated that Rick has picked up and dropped off an estimated 2.2 million passengers, and travelled the equivalent of a trip to the moon and back. A huge accomplishment, and a big congratulations to Rick!
You might have noticed already, but the Trolley Overhead division from the Coast Mountain Bus Company has started reinstalling the trolley wire back on Granville Street.
Today, the crews were working on the stretch from Robson to Davie Street on Granville. I went out this morning to catch this video of a crew rolling out one of the wires that the trolley buses eventually attach their poles to—watch the back of the truck carefully and hopefully you can see the wire rolling out behind them. (The video colour’s a bit weird because I hadn’t figured out the settings: sorry!)
Where’s the second wire, you might ask? Well, there was a second crew following in another truck, rolling out the other wire. Wires are made out of bronze, and when they’re operational, they carry 600 volts of direct current (don’t ever touch them!)
The whole reinstallation project got underway on March 29, and is eventually slated to finish by August 30 once all the installation, testing, and commissioning is complete. By the way, can you believe we haven’t had trolley service on Granville since April 2006?
Here’s a couple more photos of the Trolley Overhead crew, where you can better see the wires rolling out.
One of CMBC's many trolleys!
So Coast Mountain Bus Company, our subsidiary providing bus service in Metro Vancouver, is also a member of the prestigious International Bus Benchmarking Group (IBBG), a forum for medium and large bus organizations to share experiences and learn from each other.
Every year, IBBG asks its members to present an identical survey to its customers, so they can compare the results and see how the different agencies can improve.
If you’d like to participate, click here to go to CMBC’s website, and a popup will ask you to take the survey on bus service! The survey will be open from April 12 to May 9, and I’m told we will share the results of the CMBC survey once it is finished, although they can’t share the results from the other companies.
Here’s a bit of the survey’s opening message for some insight:
Coast Mountain Bus Company, which delivers all of the regular bus service in Metro Vancouver, would like to hear your thoughts about the service they provide.
Are the buses usually on time? Is it easy to find the best route for your journey, is it easy to buy a ticket for your journey? Are the buses clean, comfortable and well-driven?
Your opinions are important whether you use the buses frequently, occasionally, or even if you hardly ever use the bus service.
Eleven world cities are conducting this survey at the same time, so that they can find out what their passengers think of the service they provide. These cities will compare the results of the surveys, so that they can learn from each other and work towards giving you an even better service.
The results of website studies conducted in this manner represent the opinions of people who care enough about local bus service to take the survey.
If you’re curious, the IBBG consists of transit companies from Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, London (UK), Madrid, New York City, Montreal, Paris, Milan and Sydney. It’s managed by the Railway and Transport Strategy Centre, a highly-regarded transport research centre at Imperial College London.
One of our extra Olympic buses out at Oakridge Transit Centre. Photo by Charlotte Boychuk.
Yes, the Olympics are over, but I still have a couple of articles left to share about our work! This article is by Charlotte Boychuk from CMBC’s employee communications team, and it recognizes the great work of our bus maintenance staff. And for a bit of context, part of our old Vancouver bus depot, Oakridge Transit Centre (OTC), was reactivated in order to store and maintain the extra 160 buses we used for the Olympic period. (Normally, OTC houses just CMBC’s trolley overhead department and some of our Community Shuttle fleet.)
Jack helping oversee the Olympic fleet. Photo by Charlotte Boychuk.
If you want to track down Jack, Burnaby Transit Centre (BTC) Maintenance Manager, he can be found at night and well into the morning during the Olympic period assisting Alan at Oakridge Transit Centre (OTC), who manages the garage on a day-to-day basis.
Jack and Alan oversee the Olympic fleet, consisting of 129 conventional and 20 community shuttle buses, currently used to augment our fleet of ‘Specials’ serving the various Olympic venues.
Together they work with the Special Work Team (SWT) and OTC Mechanics to help maintain the fleet.
Update! Since the Robson Square zip line will remain open through to March 21, the #5 Robson/Downtown will stay on its detour route from before the Games until March 21 as well.
That means the #5 will operate via Denman, Robson, Burrard, and Pender until March 21. It’s gone back to this detour route as of Monday. Previously, we had expected it to return to its regular route by March 4. (And stay tuned: I’m finding out if the N6 will stay on this detour route too. Turns out the N6 will be a diesel route and will be on its regular route until the Paralympics starts.)
Also, I’m told that the #17 UBC/Downtown/Oak is entirely back on its regular route as of today, which is actually earlier than expected. So hurrah for that!
I’ve updated this info in the previous post on downtown bus routes returning to regular service. Check that post out for the full details on all the downtown routes!
Road Services: Kevin, Gord and Shawn
This article was written by Charlotte Boychuk for Coast Mountain Bus Company employee communications. It’s a look at how our Road Services team is helping out for the Games period!
To ensure athletes get to their venues on time, the City of Vancouver created a network of Olympic lanes throughout the city where athletes in specially-marked vehicles can zip through the streets to any of the nine Olympic competition zones. These lanes are shared with our bus fleet and other emergency vehicles.
Teams of highly-trained CMBC Mechanic Road Services crews stand ready in strategic locations to provide quick fixes to problems that may stop our buses from moving and potentially blocking traffic.
For the duration of the Olympics, if a repair can’t be done quickly, the Road Services teams have three pusher trucks ready to move the buses to an area where longer repairs can be performed.
OK, we do have some service improvements starting Monday, Feb 1 that have nothing to do with the Olympics. They’re just service improvements! And here they are:
Starting February 1, selected rush hour trips will be running on Murray Street to help the C25 with its high passenger loads and better balance transit services.
Currently, the C25 is very crowded, so re-routing the C26 will give passengers another option for travelling along Murray Street. (The section of St. John’s Street that will now be missed by the C26 has a lot of transit services, including the #97, C27 and C28, so customers on this corridor will notice little difference.)
The trips that will be rerouted are:
Starting February 1, the C47 trip leaving Haney Place at 2:01 p.m. will extend its route to Yennadon Loop.
The extension adds more transit service to Alouette River Campus, which is near Yennadon Loop and needed more afternoon service. (Currently, two afternoon trips are provided, leaving Haney Place at noon and at 3:01 p.m.) This change also improves service for the nearby Silver Valley area.
In December 2009, a few non-rush-hour trips were re-routed to serve the Bonson South residential area. But starting February 1, all remaining trips will be re-routed to serve Bonson South.
The re-route addresses the community’s request for peak period transit service, since residents are currently walking over one kilometre to access public transit during the peaks! Customers living in Bonson South will have peak period service and will be able to conveniently connect with the West Coast Express.
Here’s a note to remind you that more buses will be rerouted starting Monday, Feb. 1, owing to the upcoming Olympics.
A list of the affected routes:
For the full details of these exact reroutes, check out the full list of Olympic service changes. All of them will be back on their regular routes by the end of February or in March sometime.
Again, here’s some handy sources for more on the Olympic travel situation:
I Love Transit Week was held July 12-16, 2010! Thanks to all who participated!
Photos from I Love Transit Night!
