Well, a small moment of transit history passed this morning — the last wooden bus stop was pulled out of the ground in Langley at 10 a.m.!

Taking out the last post was CMBC’s most senior man, 43 year veteran, Frank Crowhurst. In September 1994, Frank, a Bus Stop Maintenance Painter was the one to put the post in the ground, so it was appropriate that he was the one to remove it.

For those who don’t know, the bus stops in greater Vancouver all used to be wooden blue posts, not steel pipes as they are today. But because of the cost of using steel pipe versus cedar, plus lead based paint issues, the wooden post era had to come to an end.

So, over the past 15 years, CMBC Bus Stop Maintenance crews have been converting TransLink’s 8200 wooden bus stops in the Metro Vancouver area to the new metal posts. The new posts have proven to be less labour intensive to maintain, and have stood up better to vandalism. (In the past, if the post was knocked over, the wooden post had to be dug out of the ground — now a metal post can just be unscrewed and replaced.)

Here’s a bit more about Frank Crowhurst, the history of our bus stops, and the last post from our communications folks over at CMBC!

About Frank Crowhurst and the last post

Forty-three-year CMBC veteran, Frank Crowhurst, was nominated to pull the last wooden post. With more than 25-years experience as a Bus Stop Maintenance Painter, Frank can visualize and give directions to nearly all 8200 bus stops and signs in the system, and he says this particular post was left to the last because it’s in a rural area that doesn’t see a lot of activity.

Frank recalls that over the years if many of the old wooden bus stops weren’t being replaced due to vandalism, such as kids carving up chunks or burning them for fun, they were being repainted to keep tune with the political environment. When Frank started in the Sign Shop Maintenance, he personally pulled a few NDP orange and brown posts, and then helped re-paint them along with the rest of the post fleet to the Social Credit red, white and blue, before re-painting many of them again with the TransLink blue that currently coats “The Last Post”.

The I.D.s were also all updated over the years to incorporate the new Customer Service number, and later the new 604 area code for the new ten-digit dialing system, and finally the new bus stop numbering system corresponding to the Next Bus service, so that’s why Frank says he’s familiar with all the locations.

The last post started its work life in September 1994, when the Salmon River extension north along Fraser highway was added. It was originally part of the #511 Langley Centre/Aldergrove run, now the #502, and was on the Salmon River Run ‘flag stop’ where customers would stand along the side of the road and flag down an Operator to request them to stop and pick them up.

Frank Crowhurst, with the assistance of co-worker and 23-year CMBC Building Service Worker Chris Rasmussen, dug out the 8 to 10 foot post, which extends a minimum of four feet in the ground. The team then prepared the hole for the new steel post by placing a 100 lb cement block, which is pre-formed back at CMBC’s Burnaby sign shop, into the hole. The new pole was then placed into a sleeve that fits into the cement block and bolted into place. The whole process took approximately 20 minutes.

What will happen to the last post?

The last post will most likely become an icon of history in the halls of CMBC, or be inducted into a transit museum where it will be enjoyed by future transit enthusiasts.

Other tidbits about the signs

In the past the wooden posts had two sets of signs, one made of wood and one of metal. Now both sides are metal with the near side of the bus reflective for easy viewing as a bus approaches.

There are four different types of ID signs and 3 types of ID bus stop plates used to direct customers.

The I.D. signs are now silk screened including approximately 3300 geared at conventional service, 1300 for Community Shuttle service and 500 for Night Bus.

As another interesting sidebar, Frank said that in past if a bus stop was being removed altogether from a particular location, it was often quicker to use the front bumper of the truck to snap off the top of the wooden bus stop at ground level rather than dig down and remove the portion buried in the ground. That’s a trick that definitely won’t work with the new steel poles!