A roundup of Canada Line coverage, while we wait
August 5, 2009
A roundup of Canada Line coverage, while we wait
August 5, 2009
While we all wait for August 17 to finally arrive, I thought I’d gather up the Canada Line info lying around into one mega post, so everyone can snoop around before they board the trains.
- Here’s the Buzzer’s original tour of the Canada Line — video heavy!
- The Buzzer also took several readers on a Canada Line ride: click here to see the photo and video from VancouverIsAwesome.com, Miss604, and more.
- Here are three photo tours of Waterfront Station, Vancouver City Centre, and Yaletown Station, during their construction.
- And make sure to check out Tafyrn & Seamora Palecloud’s Canada Line Photography site, which has photos of the whole line’s construction, dating back to 2005. (Here’s a profile I did of Tafyrn & Seamora!)
- Collected photos and video from the four open houses this summer: Vancouver City Centre, Oakridge Station, Templeton Station, Lansdowne Station (plus one more set from Lansdowne.)
- Lego models of Canada Line stations: here’s King Edward, and here’s YVR.
- Hey — a piece of an old Canada Line temporary bridge was used to repair the Pattullo after the fire this year.
- For details like service hours, bikes on Canada Line, and more, check out the Canada Line section of TransLink’s website. The full list of bus changes related to the Canada Line can be found here. (Edit: These bus changes will take effect on Monday, Sept 7 — there will be a few weeks of the current service before they change over.)
- Here’s the opening announcement article from the Vancouver Sun, and a gallery of their ride on the line from March 2009.
HI Jhenifer
I noticed the new map for Skytrain has been posted at Translink website and now includes Canada Line; however, there is a mistake on the map. The zone boundary for the Canada Line is shown between 41st and 49th Avenue stations – when it should be between Marine Drive and Bridgeport Station. Can you pass this on to the map makers.
Sent that along to the people in charge of maps. Thanks!
Couple more issues with that map:
1. the stations are spaced wrong between Broadway and Marine – too close together at the south end
2. there’s a glitch – clicking on Lonsdale gives you Sea Island Centre travel times apparently to nowhere
3. the Canada Line colour is wrong – it should be light blue consistent with the system map and other publicity (the expo and millennium lines are the same colour as on other maps, so why is the Canada Line green?
4. Some of the times are wrong (e.g. Bridgeport to Richmond is shown as 8 minutes, but on the summary time table on the same webpage it is shown as 6 minutes – one of them must be wrong).
Thanks
Passed that on too, thanks.
Hi Jhen,
Just thought I’d ask if you could find out why Bridgeport Station was named after Bridgeport Road, seeing as it’s about 1 km away from that road. I guess I can understand why it wasn’t named Great Canadian Station because of its connection to River Rock Casino Resort’s owner.
Do you know when Waterfront Station of the Canada Line is an open house?
Christian: Sadly, the open houses are done for the summer. But with the line opening on Aug 17 you’ll get a chance to see Waterfront up close very soon :)
Tsushima:
I’ve passed your question along for an answer, but in the meantime, I once got an explanation for why “Robson Station” was renamed “Vancouver City Centre,” and I thought I’d repeat it here since it highlighted the process by which names were selected:
This press release from 2006 also describes the final Canada Line name choices with a bit of explanation too, although there isn’t really an explanation for the Bridgeport name.
Ah, thanks a lot for your help!
I noticed a bit of an inconsistency just now.
On a regular service day, the first train out of Waterfront is 4:50 AM. However, on the sign outside of the station, (according to a picture from Canada Line photography) it says that the first train is at 4:35 AM. Why is that?
Adam:
4:50 a.m. is the correct time. Thanks for pointing that out though — I’ve passed along the correction about the signage to staff at ProTrans BC (that’s the concessionaire running the Canada Line).
Hey Jhen, I checked the transit schedules for SkyTrain and it doesn’t seem to be updated with the the frequency and first train-last train for Canada Line, even though they have already the travel times for the stations. Do you think they can update that page with the frequency and first train-last train schedules for Canada Line?
Hello Translink,
I had the pleasure of taking a ride on one of the new skytrains yesterday. I was surprised and irritated by a loud, low, humming sound that seemed to have come from the roof of the train. I am hoping this was a defective car, as it was annoying and it would be a shame to have this sound in your ear every day.
Thanks!
Fabian, it’s the air conditioning system. Could be the compressor or fan that’s really noisy. I only experienced this on car 307, hopefully it is just a faulty A/C system and not a poorly specified system. In either case, the trains will certainly be quiet in the winter. lol.
Yes, it’s the air conditioning system, and this has been noted as an issue. They’re working on a fix! This is why we test the cars first :)
Rvie: The Canada Line travel times can be found at the Canada Line section of the TransLink site. I think as it’s not officially open yet, they haven’t been put into the active part of the site that you’ve mentioned, as it would be misleading to let people think the Canada Line is actually open right now and they can catch it!
Jhenifer and the rest of you folks,
On the skyscraper forums I’ve been reading about numerous people complaining about lack of service along the Granville corridor (express service that is) to cater to the three private schools along that route.
Furthermore, UBC students are also complaining about lack of service and having to make “additional transfers”
I’d like to point out that #480 is still the ONLY bus that will cross the Fraser and take the Granville corridor up to 41st Ave. This transfer can be made by South of Fraser commuters at Bridgeport station where the #480 will service.
All the private school kids can also make the transfer to #480 here as well. The 480 gets off Granville at 41st so one can always transfer to #10 at 41st Avenue for faster service.
I can’t believe how many people overlooked the route the 480 takes.
Is there a map (like Google maps, etc.) which shows the Canada Line stations in relation to the street? Basically, a map of the stations which shows the streets that they are on would be great. Thanks!
Good question Mia! I haven’t actually seen a Google Map mapping the Canada Line route out — although if someone out there can point us to one, that would be great.
In the meantime, go to this page on the Canada Line site, and then click the stations in the map on the top right: it will pull up a map showing the station on the actual streets.
If I have time on Monday and nobody else has pointed us to a Canada Line Google map in the meantime, I’ll see what I can cook up on Google Maps :)
Mark D.:
Yeah, I have to agree with you. I have some friends that go to Vancouver College and Little Flower Academy (two of the three private schools that are along the Granville Corridor). When I talked to them about the Canada Line, they said that it would be hard for them to access their schools because it’s too far for them (the Canada Line goes along Cambie while VC and LFA are along Granville). So from what you said, I think it’s a great idea for them to take the 480 to Granville and 41st and then transfer to the 10 in order to get to their schools. Or what I could suggest is that they could take the Canada Line, get off at Marine Drive, and then take the 10 entirely to their schools (as it passes by the Marpole loop [am I correct?] and then entirely through the Granville Corridor).
For maps of areas around the Vancouver stations, see
The following page has links to the DPB minutes:
http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/rto/canadaline/stationdesign.htm
The following page has links to the precinct planning:
http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/rto/canadaline/precinctplanning.htm
On an unrelated note, the SkyTrain maps/travel time page has been updated for the Canada Line:
http://tripplanning.translink.ca/hiwire?.a=iScheduleLookupSearch&LineName=999&LineAbbr=999
Hi there,
I have to catch a plane at 7.45AM on Tuesday August 18th from Vancouver Airport. Will there be a sky train to take me to the airport from Waterfront at 5.30 AM?
It will be in regular service for Tuesday August 18. Hours can be found on the Canada Line section of the TransLink website.
Translink has posted an “Opening day activities” page on the Canada Line portion of the website now. Seems that every station aside from Olympic Village, Marine Drive, and Sea Island Centre will have something going on during the service day on Monday.
Yes! I’ll have more details on the events in a little bit, too.
Hello,
I was wondering why the Canada Line is being branded as light blue. Blue is already being used on the Expo Line and it isn’t as if we’re running out of colours.
With a name like “Canada Line”, one would expect red or white, neither of which is currently in use.
Is the line being branded as blue to please the Conservative government?
Why do the doors on the Skytrain sometimes open when the train is fully stopped, before it can pull into a station? One afternoon, 20 metres above Nanaimo Street, headed east, I saw other commuters grab a man and pull him inside; they saved his life when the south doors opened suddenly and he started to fall.
Was the issue reported? If reported if they can pull the security tapes to verify/diagnose the situation.
There was an incident a year ago when kids broke the door as the train left the station, while the train’s safety features were under maintenance.
They get open today. After 2 years wait. Finally
George Parker:
Several people have asked about the colour scheme of the Line, especially as to why it isn’t red. Here’s the response I had from InTransit BC, the concessionaire who built the Canada Line:
A.B. Hansen: The doors on the SkyTrain shouldn’t open when the train is stopped. It’s a grave safety issue if this happens. As ;-), please do report that issue if you see it — they will pull the train and fix it. But as far as I know, this does not happen on a regular basis.
[…] The new Canada Line Skytrain is now in operation, so a number of changes are coming to transit services in Greater Vancouver. For more information, visit Translink’s Canada Line website and this post on Buzzer Blog. […]
Mapping of exactly where the stations are and adjacent businesses would be very helpful. I visit Vancouver regularly and would like to stay at a hotel within walking distance to a station, but it is very very difficult to figure this out at the moment.
Google Earth/Maps need updating to link locations of the Canada Line with businesses close by.
Tsushima:
Long time coming for this answer, but it seems the reasoning is that the area is known as “Bridgeport,” even though Bridgeport Road is actually blocks away.
[…] more, feel free to check out some first day stories, a roundup of opening day photo and video, and some past Buzzer posts about the construction of the line. As well, here’s the schedule and activity map from opening […]
[…] For more, feel free to check out some first day stories, a roundup of opening day photo and video, and some past Buzzer posts about the construction of the line. […]
[…] more, feel free to check out some first day stories, a roundup of opening day photo and video, and some past Buzzer posts about the construction of the line. As well, here’s the schedule and activity map from opening […]