http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mak5wW7lo28

SkyTrain turns 25

The SkyTrain system officially turned 25 late last year (December 11, 2010, to be exact), but today we celebrated the Silver Anniversary with an event at the BC Rapid Transit Company’s (SkyTrain’s) Operations and Maintenance Centre as a celebration of our 25th year of regular service.

There were roughly 100 people in attendance including Grace McCarthy, the former minister of BC Transit, whose government under then Premier Bill Bennett was responsible for launching SkyTrain 25 years ago. Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Peace River South; Fleetwood-Port Kells Member of Parliament, Nina Grewal; TransLink CEO, Ian Jarvis, and SkyTrain President and General Manager, Fred Cummings, were also in attendance. Four SkyTrain employees were honoured at the event for working with SkyTrain for 25 years. Thanks for all those years of service!

1. Having helped put together this Silver Anniversary video, it’s amazing how long the system has been in operation. I personally love the old footage of Transit Control (now named T-Comm) SkyTrain Control Centre at the Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC) and their old instruments. The video provided a dramatic entrance to a Mark II SkyTrain with a special design that entered the platform at Maintenance Centre seconds after the video concluded.

Now that the first 25-years is behind us, I can’t wait to see what the next 25-years will bring!

Canada Line turns 2!

Yup, it’s been part of our lives for a couple of years now, and it’s become a mainstay for many Metro Vancouver commuters. Today marks the second birthday of this latest installment in Metro Vancouver’s  SkyTrain system.

InTransit BC, the company that built the Canada Line, has this to say about the anniversary:

“Canada Line is a very successful public/private partnership between TransLink and InTransit BC. Average daily ridership is approximately 107,000, up substantially from when the System opened 2 years ago. At the end of our 2nd Operating Year, Canada Line has handled 73,622,384 passenger trips. InTransit BC’s Operator, PROTRANS BC, has delivered first-class service, and TransLink is to be commended for enhancing the integration of the overall transit system in Metro Vancouver. The new Canada Line schedule was developed based on increased level of service required under the contract between InTransit BC and TransLink. Doug Allen, the President and CEO of InTransit BC, is confident the new schedule will be well-received by passengers traveling all parts of the Canada Line System and beyond.”

That new Canada Line schedule mentioned is an increase in the number of trains running during peak hours. Here’s the skinny on that from the press release:

There will be 16 trains operating in peak service hours, up from 14, meaning more frequent service and shorter intervals between trains. Weekdays, peak service levels will start a half-hour earlier at 6:30 am and will run an hour later until 7 pm. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, peak service levels will continue to start at their regular times (9:00 am Saturdays and 10:00 am Sundays and holidays) but will run an hour later each day until 7 pm.

Although this birthday isn’t one of the big ones for Canada Line (we like to celebrate birthdays every five years), fans of TransLink on Facebook had some very nice things to say about the line:

Canada Line Bridge turns 2!

The Vancouver Bicycle Meetup Group is obviously big fans of the Canada Line Bridge. They celebrated the bridge’s second birthday last Sunday with a ride and some cake. Take a look at the photo section on their meetup page for some great shots! If you missed the ride this year, they’ve already set up an event for when the bridge turns three!