The February 2013 Buzzer and illustrator interview

The February 2013 Buzzer and illustrator interview

Tobias' illustration and his rendition of himself

Not only is February special because we have a new provincial holiday, Family Day, it’s special because the print Buzzer is helping to kick off the start of our new series this month, TransLink 101. The series, which was launched earlier this week and had its first installment yesterday, will be run primarily on the blog and answers some perennial questions we get about TransLink as well as the services and infrastructure we provide and look after. One of the subjects of this new series will be determined by our readers. Please do take the time to submit your ideas in our comments section.

Besides the Family Day service changes, the issue also includes important information about the temporary (although two years in length) route change for the #10 Downtown/Granville bus. In short, “In order to accommodate construction of the Marine Gateway Project, the #10 bus will now terminate at Marpole Loop, rather than Marine Drive Station, beginning Monday, February 4.”

Also in the issue is info about this year’s CUTA Youth Summit called Leading the Way Youth Summit on Sustainable Transportation. The summit is being held in Calgary this year and sounds like a fun and educational experience.

We also included info about our latest Twitter contest, #TL30K. Now that we’re approaching 30, 000 followers of @TransLink, we’re looking to reward a couple of lucky people with FareCards. All you have to do is either be the 30,000th follower or if you already follow us, write a tweet to our account about why you follow @TransLink with the hashtag #TL30K and we’ll randomly draw a winner after we reach 30, 000 followers. Currently, we’re at over 29, 600 followers. So, you’ll want to follow us and tweet soon!

This month we had a return illustrator to the Buzzer, Tobias Ottahal. Tobias drew the April 2010 Buzzer. We liked his work so much, we asked him to illustrate again. As usual, we interview Tobias, but this time around, we asked him a few different questions than we did last time.

What’s changed since we last interview you?

Hooo! A lot. Went to Pakistan, got a new job, moved in with my lady, and now I’m ‘gasp’ 30!

How did you come up with your illustration?

As with any good artist, the idea was delivered to me by two
jade monkeys riding the four-headed incarnation of Grefil,
god of late-night procrastination.

You’re from Sweden. How is transit similar/different compared to Metro Vancouver?

I’m from Gothenburg – the “Vancouver of Sweden” if you will (west coast, one of the larger cities, rainy).
The public transportation there is definitely decent. I commuted every day for five years when I lived there.
The only thing I miss in Vancouver is light rail! Gothenburg is well-known in Sweden for having
hung on to its trams, and now they’re an inseparable – and environmentally friendly – part of the city.

What can we expect from you in the future?

I’d love to be helping solar-energy companies with their communication and branding strategy.

Thanks Tobias! We’re always looking for great artists to spruce up the Buzzer. So, if you know of any, please email us their info at thebuzzer@translink.ca! If you haven’t picked up this issue on the SkyTrain, SeaBuses, West Coast Express or buses, you can download it here.