Checking in with SeaBus, Mon Feb 15 at 10 a.m.

February 15, 2010
|By Jhenifer Pabillano - Buzzer Editor

Checking in with SeaBus, Mon Feb 15 at 10 a.m.

February 15, 2010
|By Jhenifer Pabillano – Buzzer Editor

Transit host Vince helps out a customer.
Transit host Vince helps out a customer.

I checked in with staff over at SeaBus at around 10 a.m. this morning, just to see how things are going.

It turned out Sunday was the biggest day ever for SeaBus, with 55,000 trips counted! Tegan and Vince, the transit hosts stationed over at Lonsdale Quay, said the sunny weather, celebration sites, sports events, and Chinese New Year brought huge numbers of locals to the SeaBus. Many were also heading in the opposite direction up to Cypress or Whistler. (There’s an Olympic departure hub at Lonsdale Quay, connecting spectators to Cypress and Whistler through the Olympic bus network.)

All in all, it was a very intense day — Tegan said she helped so many people at once that she started feeling rather bleary-eyed toward the end of it.

Transit host Tegan at Lonsdale Quay this morning.
Transit host Tegan at Lonsdale Quay this morning.

Monday morning, however, was much more steadily paced. Short bursts of people kept flooding off the SeaBus and up the escalator to the Olympic transfer hub, heading for snowboarding and skiing events. Tegan said this was much more manageable than yesterday :)

The escalator leading up to the Olympic Bus Network departure hub. It’s just to the right of the bus loop when you exit the SeaBus north terminal at Lonsdale Quay.
The escalator leading up to the Olympic Bus Network departure hub. It’s just to the right of the bus loop when you exit the SeaBus north terminal at Lonsdale Quay.

Lots of people kept coming by to ask for directions to the Olympic bus network. The hosts said that some visitors who arrived were quite emotional once they realized they didn’t have tickets to the Olympic bus network — a discovery they sometimes made on the SeaBus trip over! But there is a last resort – tickets are sold near the departure hub for those last-minute cases. (Ask the VANOC volunteers at the top of the escalator.)

An Olympic bus parked at the departure hub at Lonsdale Quay.
An Olympic bus parked at the departure hub at Lonsdale Quay.

I ran up to see the departure hub while I was there. There are seven bus bays along the street and plenty of blue-jacketed volunteers ready to help.

Waiting at the north SeaBus terminal to head back to Waterfront.
Waiting at the north SeaBus terminal to head back to Waterfront.

Heading back to Waterfront, 10-minute SeaBus service had started already, and the SeaBus was getting steady crowds, but wasn’t entirely full.

Visitors stare at our lovely views.
Visitors stare at our lovely views.

And most visitors on the vessel were absolutely mesmerized by the views! In the photo above, there’s a lady in a white jacket videotaping everything, and the lady in the plaid jacket is taking photographs intently at the window. Everyone else was just staring right out the windows at the splendor of Vancouver :)

Marine attendants Debbie and Doug at the south SeaBus terminal at Waterfront.
Marine attendants Debbie and Doug at the south SeaBus terminal at Waterfront.

Debbie and Doug were the marine attendants staffing the south terminal at Waterfront. Doug wound up working for 12 hours on Sunday, and said the crowds were just enormous for all the transit services in Waterfront.

Fun fact: Debbie is the lady in the SeaBus demonstration video! Who knew?