Friday fun poll: when did you first ride the SkyTrain?
February 4, 2011
Friday fun poll: when did you first ride the SkyTrain?
February 4, 2011
As we have been reminiscing about SkyTrain lately, I thought it would be apropos to ask you about your earliest SkyTrain memories!
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When did you first ride the SkyTrain?
Total Voters: 309 |
Feel free to elaborate on your experience in the comments :)
As a kid, me and my grandma would go to Granville island on days without school.
In the spring of 1986, before Expo was officially opened, our Grade 6 teacher took our class on a field trip to Expo Centre, and thought we should check out the new SkyTrain on the way. We walked all the way from our school to Nanaimo Station, then rode the train down to Main Street Station.
Our class had a whole car to ourselves (lucky for the general public!). I remember being fascinated by the sound of the motor and the door chimes, and being amazed that there was no driver.
I also remember our poor teacher frantically running around the train trying to prevent 25 11-year-olds from pushing all the cool door handle and emergency buttons!
I remember first riding SkyTrain back during expo 86, when I was in grade 6. Since then, I’ve taken it part-way to and from school, and gone everywhere on it since.
So, I’ve basically grown up (and old) on the SkyTrain. It’s awesome. :)
When I was 5 years old, I was still living in Hong Kong. In preparation for immigration to Canada the year after, my parents and I visited Vancouver for a few days (weeks??). That was when I first encountered “train-that-hangs-in-sky”, as the literal translation of SkyTrain is termed in Cantonese. Upon my return to Hong Kong and kindergarten, one of our activities was to name a mode of transportation. As you can imagine, my teacher was not much amused by my answer of “train that hangs in sky” – “Such does not exist!” she exclaimed.
I wanted to take the SkyTrain ALL THE TIME as a kid but only actually got to once, when my dad took me to Science World on it. (I was utterly enthralled by the experience.) This was in the late 1990s, when it wasn’t new anymore, but since we live in Coquitlam it wasn’t at all convenient for us to ride the SkyTrain until the Millennium Line was built.
Actually, we still didn’t use it much after that, but at least it was a more sensible option. The first time it became a regular part of our lives was when I started going to Metropolis at Metrotown a lot when I was like fifteen.
I’m probably one of the newer people trying out the system. My first SkyTrain ride was in the fall of 07, as a teenager. And it was a day after I moved to Vancouver from Toronto!! On that day, it was a nice sunny day, the grass was still green, and the air was fresh. My parent’s and I wanted to check out the sights and sounds of Vancouver. So what better way to do that than by SkyTrain!
With three day-passes we took the SkyTrain from Surrey to Downtown Vancouver. I gotta admit while the ride looked spectular, I was a little nervous climbing over the SkyBridge. :[] Once we got closer to downtown we could see False creek, BC Place, GM Place (now Rogers Arena) and Yaletown.
Next, we got off at Stadium were we visited Yaletown and False creek. Then we went back the SkyTrain, where we got off Waterfront and visited Gastown before taking the Seabus to North Vancouver. There we explored Lonsdale Quay market and the harbor-side on a gleamy sunny afternoon! Great memories.
I first rode the Skytrain when I was 42, it was the 25th of May and it was to get to Surrey as part of my trip from the airport. This was the first time I had been to Canada. I since moved here. :)
Honestly… I don’t remember my first ride or at least where I was going. There were only a couple things I remember; getting on at Columbia riding to one of the 3 downtown stations and getting off. That’s about it I guess. That and I was probably about 3 or 4 years old. Either way, I’ve always been riding the skytrain its been my daily ride.
My first experiences riding the Sky Train was as a kid (maybe 8 or 9 years old).
I grew up in Chilliwack, and I remember we would always go to at least one Canucks game every year as a family. I always looked forward to it because we would drive to Surrey and then take the Sky Train to, what was then brand new, GM Place. I would look out the window the whole way, and always enjoyed going over the skybridge the most.
1983. I was in my late teens when the demonstration track went up on Main Street – it was the coolest darn thing. It looked so futuristic.
My first time on the skytrain was in grade 2 when I was going on a school field trip going to Lonsdale Quay.
We started off with the #41 bus to Joyce station, then transferred to the skytrain at Joyce Station took it to waterfront Station then transferred to the Seabus at Waterfront to Lonsdale Quay.
I think my first time on the SkyTrain was when I was 3 or 4 or 5 or so. It was New Years and night time. My parents and I got on at Broadway Station and then I don’t really remember anything about the trip :P It was definitely before they started building the Millennium Line. I love the SkyTrain!! :D
Gee this poll really shows the demographics of people on this blog.
I too found the Skytrain kinda neat and embraced it when I could, taking the long way home. Like the Canada Line, there was crowds to use it during it’s free trial period.
While we have talked about Expo, the Concord lands near Science World was also used for CART for several years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL_-nBXvK1w
Stadium and Main St station were very popular as passengers were given cheap seats to the whirling vehicles underneath. When the track moved to Science World, Skytrain riders even got more of a show as people would ride back and forth to see their heros. The victory podium was located across Science World North playground. You can still see the checkered flag on the pavement. Skytrain yielded some interesting sharp turns as drivers were coming highspeed around the pillars to the finish line and pit row. While under Skytrain the power rails would cause interference with the race car cameras.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TRIL_w91BM
I miss the Indy, which had to go with the Olympic village construction.
Remeber ridding it back when it was first opened and was a free trial. Was very young and it was full, even later at night like it is at rush hour now.
I was 23 when I first rode Skytrain during the free preview in December 85…. though I did ride the Terminal Ave demo in ’83, I would have been 21.
Despite riding Skytrain almost every weekday for the past 5 1/2 years, I’ve only been over Skybridge twice, and south of Scott Road once… and that was just a joyride, not for any specific purpose.
Still haven’t been south of Aberdeen, or out to YVR on the Canada Line
Where is the contest corner: ti win a fareCard the answer to the question is “travelsmart”
My first SkyTrain ride was in the early 2000s, when I was around 9 years old. Me and my mom would always go out to New Westminster (we reside in Richmond), and it was quite a long trip! This was back when there was no 98 B-Line, so we had to take one of the Richmond buses that went to Burrard Station.
From there, we would take the SkyTrain to New Westminster, where we would visit the River Market. I have fond memories of a particular shop, where I would get my favourite dessert: ice cream with M&Ms! I also recall a bookstore nearby, where I did buy a few kid’s books.
All in all, it was good fun, and I think the trips really opened me up to public transit. You just never know what will happen the next time you step on a bus, train, or seabus. And that is why, it may sound silly to some, but one of to-dos on my list is to personally travel every TransLink bus route. Still a way to go, but there will definitely be no problem getting motivated for that. :)
I rode the Skytrain at an open house (for free) in 1985 from Edmonds station to 22nd station. It was a way of introducing Skytrain and the train was PACKED.
I am 23 (this week, actually) so it has been around since before I was born and I have been riding it since then too. So I don’t remember a certain time riding it until I was at least 5 and Mom and I were going between Broadway where her Dad still lives and Metrotown (probably for lunch). I also have very early (and fond) memories of riding the old high floor trolleys. Now that I’m grown and I left for 8 years, the whine of the trolleys is still really comforting.
Summer 2008,I lived convenient to Nanaimo station so I took train to downtown
I did not know that trains here are driverless,so I was extremely confused when I got on the train :)
It took me 5 minutes or something to finally understand how it works,I did not know that such system exists
expo 86
if i remember correctly, it was canada place to science world…
No Canada Place was never near Science World. Could you have been thinking about the North West Territories pavillion that brought us the Inukshuk that we see in English Bay?
Canada Place was the Trade and Convention Centre (Pan Pacific hotel).
I remember taking the SkyTrain to Woodwards with my mother and sister every Christmas to see the singing Christmas tree and Santa Claus. That’s probably my earliest memory of the SkyTrain.
I first rode as a kid. I was born in 1986 but didn’t move to Vancouver until the end of 1989. I don’t really remember my first time, but my family and I lived near Central Park at one time so we always accessed the SkyTrain system through Metrotown Station.
I seem to recall somewhere buried in my poor memory that I had been stuck in a train between stations for an extended period of time once.
First rode in June 2008. Before we moved to Vancouver we didn’t expect it to have such an extensive system.
[…] In a fit of SkyTrain nostalgia, last week I asked about your first ride experience on SkyTrain. […]
@Ed:
It would be interesting to create a card that allows us to check off every route that we have rode on. Do you think that such a thing would be popular?
Eugene: that would be kind of fun. Let me see what I might be able to put together :)