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How big is TransLink’s service area?

How big is TransLink’s service area?

The area of the City of Toronto, superimposed over TransLink's service area.
The area of the City of Toronto, superimposed over TransLink's service area.

Somebody asked about the size of TransLink’s service area the other day, and I thought you all might be interested in the answer.

TransLink serves a very large area in Metro Vancouver – about twice the size of Toronto, as you can see in the illustration above.

Throughout history, in fact, Metro Vancouver has basically always had one transit system that served all cities in the region, rather many cities with their own transit systems. (The exception, of course, is West Vancouver Blue Bus!)

This regional system stems from the way transit developed in Metro Vancouver.

Transit was launched in the 1890s by a private electric company, the B.C. Electric Railway, who kept expanding throughout the region and served it as one unified transit system for about 60 years. (Here’s a past post about B.C. Electric and its interurbans.)

So even as our transit system changed hands to different authorities later, the regional transit system had already stuck and never went away.

Also, here’s two more illustrations comparing us to Montreal and Chicago, if you’re curious.

The area of the City of Montreal, superimposed over our service area.
The area of the City of Montreal, superimposed over our service area.
The area of the City of Chicago, superimposed over our service area.
The area of the City of Chicago, superimposed over our service area.
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