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The Olympic Line streetcar makes its debut

The Olympic Line streetcar makes its debut

My first day ride certificate!
My first day ride certificate!

The Olympic Line streetcar launched today, and I went down to Olympic Village Station this morning to be a part of the first public ride!

As you may know, the streetcar is a joint project from the City of Vancouver and Bombardier — it’s not a TransLink project, though we are quite excited to see how it goes.

You can ride the streetcar for free every day from January 21 to March 21, 6:30 a.m. to 12 a.m. It runs from Olympic Village Station on the Canada Line to Granville Island — it’s the Downtown Historic Railway route, spruced up to take on the modern streetcars. (See this Regarding Place article for a great look at the streetcars’ genesis.)

Anyway, everyone was very excited to be there, and when we got on board, the ride was very smooth and almost shockingly noise-free. (Seriously, it’s ridiculously silent.) Four minutes later, we were at Granville Island! And then we went back again :)

The interiors are done in leather and the car itself is just 2.3 m wide owing to the narrow Brussels’ streets — but you should really see the posts by Miss 604 or Stephen Rees to get a better look at the insides. And see this fact sheet for more details!

Today was all about the ride itself, so here’s a few more pictures and video! :)

A view of the whole event. The tent was set up to keep the rain off passengers waiting in line!
A view of the whole event. The tent was set up to keep the rain off passengers waiting in line!
The front end of the streetcar before the event.
The front end of the streetcar before the event.
The streetcar shelter at Olympic Village station.
The streetcar shelter at Olympic Village station.
I ran into <a href=http://ajournal.tumblr.com/>Adrian</a> while waiting in line. We had a lovely chat!
I ran into Adrian while waiting in line. We had a lovely chat!


Here we are on board the train, heading for Granville Island! The streetcar’s motor is so quiet.

The interiors have info screens, with light-up arrows to show you which door to exit through.
The interiors have info screens, with light-up arrows to show you which door to exit through.


And here we are leaving the Granville Island platform, heading back to Olympic Village.


On the way back, we had to slow down as we passed the other streetcar. Check out the #50 False Creek, the special guest star on the left side!


Here we are arriving back at Olympic Village Station.

Oh yes - Bombardier gave out paper model streetcars! Here is mine atop my cubicle wall.
Oh yes - Bombardier gave out paper model streetcars! Here is mine atop my cubicle wall.
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