It’s the 15th anniversary of West Coast Express today: November 1, 2010!

Yep: it was November 1, 1995 when West Coast Express set off on its maiden journey, connecting commuters along a 69 km stretch from the northeast sector to downtown Vancouver. (Here’s the Feb and Oct 1995 Buzzers announcing WCE!)

Since then, the average ridership for WCE has doubled! That’s an amazing 10,500 people per day now riding the trains, from a start of just 5,000 a day—and the service even carried its 30 millionth rider last Monday.

Small wonder, though: since 1995, West Coast Express has been much beloved by customers, and they’ve added more service over the years to try to keep up with demand. There’s TrainBus, a bus service that takes customers along the West Coast Express route, a service boost that started in April 2008, extra Olympic trains in February 2010, and seven new rail cars this year.

Celebrate with West Coast Express, 3 p.m. to 6:20 p.m.!

As I’ve mentioned, throughout October, West Coast Express has been celebrating with contests and giveaways on its very own blog. But today, November 1, 2010, you can join them in person for a special party to celebrate and win prizes!

Join the West Coast Express team at Waterfront Station from 3-6:20 p.m. today, and you’ll be able to spin a wheel and enter a raffle for some anniversary prizes. As well, the 30 millionth rider, chosen last Monday, will be awarded with a year-long pass for West Coast Express and the rest of the TransLink system… congrats!

If you join in and snap some photos, I’d love to share them on the blog: feel free to e-mail them to thebuzzer@translink.ca. Unfortunately I’m sick and working from home today, so I won’t be able to get out there myself—but many happy returns to West Coast Express! Here’s to 15 more years!