The February 2009 Buzzer is now on all our buses, SeaBus, SkyTrain, and West Coast Express!

The issue celebrates a huge SkyTrain milestone: 1 billion riders! There’s an article about the origins of SkyTrain, a little SkyTrain fill-in-the-station-name game, some astronomical stats about the SkyTrain system, and more.

We’ve also put out a call for loose issues of the Buzzer from 1916-1974: we’d like to scan them to create a digital Buzzer archive. (Our collection is in little bound books, and we’re hesitant to unbind them for fear of destroying the actual issues.) And there’s info about two new TrainBus trips, a reminder of the Canada Line open house dates, and reroutes scheduled for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in March.

The Back Issues history item is also possibly my favourite so far — it’s from 1936, quoting transit rules from 1836, and you’d be surprised at how many of them still apply today.

And again, we are pleased to feature the work of a Canadian illustrator on the cover, by illustrator Nickelas Johnson, who also heads the lo-fi rock band Field and Stream.

As always, if you can’t get the Buzzer on the system, you can always read it in PDF form on our website. Visit our Buzzer PDF archives, which stretch back to the heady days of June 2006. (Here’s the direct link to the February issue PDF.)

Don’t forget to enter the FareCard contest too: you can win a free FareCard in every issue of the Buzzer. Read the issue, then answer the question right by Monday, Mar. 2 at 9 a.m. to win!

Enjoy the latest Buzzer: comments are welcome below!