A huge weekend for transit, plus Canada Line increases trains today
February 15, 2010
A huge weekend for transit, plus Canada Line increases trains today
February 15, 2010
Our director of communications Ken Hardie sent out some tweets about the weekend ridership today.
Staggering stats: Canada Line moved 210,000 passengers on Saturday; Expo & Millennium Lines an estimated 500,000 yesterday…more…
More transit stats: SeaBus moved 133,000 passengers over the weekend; The trip planner handled 48,000 sessions on Friday from 82 countries.
And here’s another tweet our TransLink account sent out just minutes ago:
Canada Line has increased its operating trains from 14 to the max of 20. Capacity has increased in 2 train increments.
Wow, those are some amazing numbers. I wonder how they compare to Expo 86 or maybe the Obama inauguration in Washington DC and other times of mass transit use. Thank goodness I’m not working during the Olympics!
Well, apparently these numbers have broken all our records, so I guess this trumps Expo! I am not sure I can get exact comparisons for you at this time though — the number crunchers who would know this are all working out of office as transit hosts or other operational duties.
With regard to the Obama inauguration however, you might want to look at this article about the TransLink Olympic team getting ready for the Games — they went down to see the Obama inauguration transportation plan when prepping our plan. Lineups were ENORMOUS for the Obama inauguration, but it was a one day event while the Olympics here is 17 days straight. As I quoted in that article: “It’s like having three Superbowls a day for 17 days. We’re planning for rush hour traffic conditions all day.”
I was actually at the Obama inauguration and it was COLD! Taking the Metro was the only option into downtown and I had to get on at 4am, like the article said. Line-ups were crazy and police had to be stationed at station entrances to control the flow of people into the stations. However, the article mentioned that transit staff were relaying info to the crowds in the line. Well, I got none of that info and was not updated on anything. Oh well! It sure was a fun experience! ;)
This just proves the Canada Line is a badly needed service. I still can’t believe all those people who tried to shut it down during the planning phase.
just wondering how the park and ride locations are shaping up in richmond along the canada line – was hoping to park at bridgeport on Sunday – will be there about 8:30 am – is this p&r location filling up fast on a daily basis?
I don’t have any numbers for Expo 86, but there were a lot of tourists in town during the 6 months when Expo was on, and there were fireworks every night in False Creek, around 10 p.m. or so, and then the huge crush of people leaving after that.
BC Transit was running 6-car trains on (what is now called) the Expo Line, with the biggest lineups at Main Street Station, since that was 100 metres from the main entrance to the Expo Site, on Quebec Street just north of what is now called the Telus World of Science.
There were also huge numbers of charter and tour buses in town that summer, and special bus parking lots at Pacific and Drake (where the West Gate to Expo was located) and Quebec and Terminal.
BC Transit had every possible vehicle on the road that summer, including many that were past time to retire, and (according to anecdotal information I’ve heard) some that were held together by little more than the fresh red, white, and blue paint job they’d received in preparation for Expo!
teenytiny:
I’m told the park and ride at Bridgeport likely fills up quickly due to regular commuters, the casino and the Olympics. I was there at about 3:15 p.m. today and it was already full — an alternative suggested nearby was the Sexsmith Park and Ride, near Yaohan Centre.
Check out the Transit and Traffic Alerts map for a map of the park & rides and the spaces available. You can also see the Park and Ride page on our main site.
During tonight’s game Canada vs Norway at Canada Hockey Place in which Canada won (8-0) “YAY!”, I’ve witnessed a staggering line-up at the Canada Line Waterfront station. It stretched from the platform all the way to elevator section that connects to the SeaBus and SkyTrain (YIKES!). The Expo/Millennium Lines were running smoothly though. So my question is this, are there any contingency plans in place to handle monstrous line-ups at the Canada Line?
zack:
Yes indeed, queue management is a priority and we do have an entire subset of staff who is devoted to it. (I am going to write an article about it later this week!) As you’ve indicated, Waterfront is a bit tough to manage owing to so many services sharing the same space, but I am absolutely sure that staff are learning from the experience and trying to figure out better ways to manage it!
Thanks Jhenifer, if Bridgeport is full we will go to Sexsmith – is it easy to get to the Canada line if we park at Sexsmith? Do we need to get on a bus first or is it walkable?
teenytiny:
You need to take a bus from Sexsmith Park & Ride, which will take you to Richmond Brighouse Station. The 407, 430, and 480 all pick up close to Sexsmith. But I would advise you to also call our transit info line at 604-953-3333 and press 0 to speak to an operator: they will be able to provide much more detail on your journey and answer any questions you have. (They may also have more park & ride tips for the Olympic period than I know of!)