October 6, 2010, 12:18 pm
This just in: SkyTrain is going to extend its rush hour service in the morning to allow more cyclists to board! The extended service started this morning. Here’s the details from our press release:
Bicyclists who choose SkyTrain as part of their TravelSmart commute will now get the benefit of morning peak-period service levels. Bikes have been allowed on the Expo and Millennium SkyTrain lines since 2006, except during the morning rush hour (start of service until 9am) going towards downtown Vancouver and in the afternoon rush hour (4-6pm) leaving Vancouver.
Recently, a cycling customer brought it to our attention that SkyTrain begins reducing service to “mid-day” levels right at the start of the “bikes OK” time. During the morning rush hour, trains run every 4 minutes from King George to Waterfront Station and every 108 seconds along the combined Expo/Millennium Line between Columbia and Waterfront Stations. But after 9am, frequency is reduced to every 6 minutes out of King George and 3 minutes on the combined stretch.
On hearing from the customer, BCRTC monitored the service situation and has now decided to keep three trains, which would normally come out of service at 9am, in service for one more run each from King George to Waterfront Station. This will effectively maintain near rush hour service along that line for an additional 15 minutes and provide an extra 18 to 36 bike spaces.
“We’re seeing here the flexibility of SkyTrain’s driverless system,” says Doug Kelsey, President of BCRTC and Executive Vice-President of TransLink. “We heard this customer’s legitimate concern, saw there was a solution and were able to say ‘let’s do it’.”
The enhanced service also gives commuters more options for avoiding the “peak of the peak” by delaying their morning commute – another TravelSmart strategy.
Through TravelSmart, TransLink supports cycling as a sustainable transportation option, working with organizations such as the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition to promote Bike To Work Week (Nov. 1-7, 2010), and investing in cycling infrastructure such as the Central Valley Greenway and the Canada Line Pedestrian/Bike Bridge. SkyTrain, SeaBus, West Coast Express and the entire bus fleet are now equipped to carry bikes and bicycle lockers are available at many SkyTrain stations.
July 5, 2010, 9:00 am
The third platform at Stadium-Chinatown Station, in use during the 1980s! The third track is the one on the far left of the photo.
A while back I was asked about the third platform at Stadium-Chinatown Station.
A new SkyTrain sitting at the third track at Stadium-Chinatown Station.
What’s the third platform at Stadium-Chinatown? Well, if you go to the regular platform to board a SkyTrain, you’ll clearly see there’s ANOTHER platform across the SkyTrain tracks and behind a red fence, sitting empty. Have a look at the photo on the right to see what I mean.
So why is it there? I asked Ian Graham, operations manager at SkyTrain, and he explained that originally, the third platform provided shuttle service between the main site of Expo 86 and Canada Place, which was the Canada pavilion at Expo.
The SkyTrain link enabled Canada Place to remain part of the Expo grounds, even though Canada Place wasn’t actually at the Expo site. When you reached Waterfront Station during Expo, its platform was actually divided in half with fencing, separating the regular passengers going to Cordova Street from the fairgoers heading to Canada Place. And with the third track, regular service could continue on the main tracks while this special shuttle service operated during Expo.
Read more »
June 17, 2010, 3:00 pm
A paper craft model of the Mark I SkyTrain car. Created by Swift!
Swift sent along some outlines for paper models of the SkyTrain Mark I cars, since none could be found online!
I’m told that comments are welcome, as these are initial designs and more details can certainly be added.
For more paper fun, check out my earlier post on paper buses and trains as well :)
Update, June 18: I’d forgotten that Jason Vanderhill has some more papercraft trains to share! Here is his comment:
Hey, wait! Remember there’s also my Papercraft model that may or may not be used to rebody the SuperExpress train set. Mk I and new Mk II cars, with a more accurate scale mockup from official PDF profile of the Mk II cars. Note there are two cars per design (car 134 and 135, and 305 and 306). In fact, I ALSO did car 110 and 111 of the Canada Line! Note these are all unofficial and made by me, except for the Mk II Technical Diagram I converted to Papercraft. See the entire photoset here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmv/sets/72157622988887112/
Tim Choi is also building a model of the SeaBus!
I’m currently building a small model of the new SeaBus – if you’re interested, you can follow my build thread on this forum: http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=53458
Not much to show right now – just the hull. Will begin working on the cabin tonight.
June 4, 2010, 5:04 pm
The rail rodeo sign up at VCC-Clark Station.
(Update: click here for the rail rodeo results!)
I spent all day Thursday and a bit of Friday out with the International Rail Rodeo participants!
As you may know, TransLink is hosting the 2010 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference, and the Rail Rodeo is a big part of that conference.
Teams from other rail systems compete in tests of their operations and maintenance skill—operator teams compete in train operations, and maintenance teams challenge each other on diagnosing and fixing train problems.
Eight teams are competing this year: Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Canada Line, New York, Dallas, SkyTrain, and Philadelphia. The official competition is on Saturday, June 5, but Thursday and Friday were a crash course in SkyTrain operation. Competitors needed to learn all about the SkyTrain system, as that’s what they’re going to be tested on!
Read more »
May 20, 2010, 10:30 am
A detail from David's Metro Vancouver rail diagram, featuring historical notes and milestones in one handy map!
David M, a longtime Buzzer blog reader and transit enthusiast, has put together an unofficial diagram of Metro Vancouver rail, with many annotations describing its history and more. Both he and I thought you would enjoy seeing it! Grab the full map here (2.8MB, PNG, 4617×2357).
March 29, 2010, 9:00 am
Ghostly SkyTrain soars above Vancouver! From the cover of the SkyTrain Flight Plan leaflet.
Here’s another classic SkyTrain leaflet: the SkyTrain Flight Plan from 1986!
It’s obviously another info piece to help people get used to SkyTrain — only the Flight Plan is much more in depth than the ‘Join the SkyTrain team’ leaflet from last week.
The awesome SkyTrain attendant fashions are in place, but there’s also promotional stuff for the B.C. Parkway, pictures of tickets and how to read them, and a bit on SkyTrain control.
A few more images to whet your appetite!
Read more »
March 22, 2010, 9:00 am
A photo from the 1986 'Join the SkyTrain team' brochure!
A colleague at TransLink has shared some fantastic old SkyTrain brochures with me, so I’ve scanned them to share with you over the next little while—yay!
Download this first brochure in PDF form: it’s called Join the SkyTrain team!
If you can imagine, back in 1986, nobody was really familiar with how to ride SkyTrain: so “Join the SkyTrain team” was produced to show everyone how to ride the train. You’ll be familiar with most of the instructions, but man, just check out those awesome SkyTrain attendant outfits!
Everyone's hair is amazing in the 80s!
March 11, 2010, 2:49 pm
Our media relations staff just sent this notice out this afternoon — take note, if you are interested in contributing to Chilean earthquake relief!
SkyTrain customers will have the opportunity to contribute to relief efforts for the earthquake in Chile on Friday, March 12.
Members of the Chilean community will be at selected stations, collecting donations to the Canadian Red Cross Chilean Earthquake Relief Fund during the morning rush hour and from 2-6pm.
Teams will be on-hand at the following stations:
- Waterfront
- Burrard
- Granville
- Commercial-Broadway
- Metrotown
- King George
- and Lougheed Town Centre
Chilean musicians will also be performing at Metrotown in the afternoon.
The BC Rapid Transit Company and TransLink are pleased to support this effort to get aid to victims of the disaster.
February 28, 2010, 9:36 am
Speeder Crew repairs loose LIM cap bolts at Main Street SkyTrain Station. File photo.
This article is by Dave Miller, guideway supervisor for the British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (that’s our subsidiary in charge of WCE and Expo & Millennium Line!) As you’ll soon see, it’s all about working on the SkyTrain guideway late at night.
Michael Chernyh, Guideway Serviceperson and Carson Schmidt, Guideway Technician have signed up for the Guideway Olympic Response coverage at Waterfront SkyTrain Station this week. It is 4 p.m. and it’s time to get ready for work.
Pack the lunch bucket, fill the thermos and hit the road because this is an extended shift and Carson and Michael need to relieve the day shift crew at Waterfront Station in a seamless turnover. Plus, the day shift guys are eager to get home to catch the day’s Olympic highlights on the tube. They’d heard the roar of cheering Canadian fans echoing through high-rises in downtown Vancouver every time Canada potted a goal in the 7-3 win over Russia in Men’s Hockey.
Back on the guideway, two other Response Crews are covering the system, one at Commercial-Broadway Station and another at SkyTrain’s Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC) for points east. These crews are ready to respond to any problem in the guideway within minutes. They are equipped with spare parts, several specialized cleanup and repair kits and linear induction motor (LIM) tapping sticks.
Read more »
February 12, 2010, 9:00 am
Apparently there’s a bit of confusion about Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain Station for the Olympic period, so here’s a post to hopefully sort things out. (This also might be helpful for those going to the opening ceremonies tonight.)
For those who don’t know, Stadium-Chinatown Station is the train station closest to B.C. Place and Canada Hockey Place, which means you may be using it if you are riding the Expo or Millennium Lines to a hockey game, a victory ceremony, or the opening or closing ceremonies.
Here’s the key points:
- Stadium Station is NOT closed during the Games!
- For events, we are asking people to exit on the Expo Blvd side, and enter through the Beatty St side, to keep the flow of passengers manageable.
Here are some diagrams to show how it works.
Arriving for events
Where to exit for an event at B.C. Place or Canada Hockey Place.
If you arrive at Stadium Station and you’re going to an event in B.C. Place or Canada Hockey Place, please follow the signs and exit through the Expo Blvd entrance to get to your venue.
The Expo Boulevard exit of Stadium-Chinatown Station. Click for a larger version!
This is the Expo Blvd exit, in case you wanted to know what it looks like from the street!
Read more »
February 3, 2010, 1:00 pm
Coca-Cola ads in Granville Station
Eagle-eyed readers will note that I missed Granville Station on Monday’s tour of Olympic ads in downtown SkyTrain stations. Luckily, my colleague Charlotte Boychuk from CMBC captured Granville’s look for the Olympics.
Obviously, Coke is advertising all over Granville Station! The ads are pretty enormous. Here’s a couple more shots too.
Read more »
January 20, 2010, 4:42 pm
Car 348! The other half is car 347. This is the last car to arrive in our order of 48 new SkyTrain cars from Bombardier.
Yay: the last of our 48 new SkyTrain cars arrived in Vancouver recently!
Our new SkyTrain interiors were on the cover of a railway interiors magazine!
A small ceremony was held at VCC-Clark today to mark this milestone by the British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (that’s the company who runs Expo/Millennium Line and West Coast Express).
BCRTC CEO Doug Kelsey and Bombardier’s North America president Raymond Bachant said a few words, especially to thank our partners in the federal and provincial governments, and Bombardier presented a gift of a model version of the new SkyTrain car.
You’ve probably already enjoyed these cars out on the system, but the full complement will now boost capacity by 30% on the Expo and Millennium Lines. Just in time for the Olympics!
By the way, did you know the interiors were featured on the cover of Interiors Magazine, the official publication of the Railway Interiors International Expo? Why yes! You can even read the full Interiors article online—it actually provides a lot of insight into how the interiors were put together!
And here’s a few more photos from the event—including the model SkyTrain!
Read more »
January 20, 2010, 9:00 am
An ad in a historic trolley for the SeaBus back in the 1970s. Photo by rickie22.
Many moons ago, Eric shared this photo of a vintage SeaBus ad in a historic Brill trolley. Can you believe the SeaBus used to be orange back in the 1970s?
Anyway, do check out the whole set of Eric’s photos, which are from a Brill trolley tour put on by TRAMS in 2007. Here’s one more:
Another ad from the Brill historic trolley. Photo by rickie22.
And make sure to see this ad: it’s pretty amazing!
January 15, 2010, 9:00 am
Aha – after last week’s flashback, Greg sent along a couple of photos of SkyTrain in the early 1990s.
View from Main Street Station.
Hope I got those captions right, Greg! I am really enjoying these old photos of our system by the way. if you’ve got photos to share, e-mail me!
January 8, 2010, 9:00 am
Metrotown SkyTrain Station circa 1986.
Over on Twitter, SkyTrain’s communications liaison Jennifer Siddon has been posting some historical SkyTrain photos for people to enjoy. I thought I’d cross-post them on the blog so you could see them too!
(Jennifer also reminded me that SkyTrain celebrated its 24th year of operations on January 3, so let’s send our rapid transit system the happiest of birthday wishes!)
More photos after the jump…
Read more »
