Canada Line races toward capacity

[Hourglass]

Fully agree.

But the author lost me by comparing the Canada Line to a heavy rail system such as Hong Kong’s MTR. The MTR also has 10x the daily ridership in a much more populous, densely packed city.

And candidly, who cares what a visitor from Boston thinks? Boston’s MBTA has a similar ridership to Skytrain while serving a metro area almost twice as populous as Metro Van.

[ilikeredheads]

surprise surprise, another misinformed piece by dailyhive about canada line.

fuck boston too.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by ilikeredheads

surprise surprise, another misinformed piece by dailyhive about canada line.

fuck boston too.

Yeah he goes on complaining about all the wrongs of the Canada Line before getting around to "The provincial government even forced the Canada Line as a public-private delivery" without mentioning that a bunch of the problems of the line are because of that.

Ooh some of the platforms are only 40m and will have to be expanded to 50m, with no comment about how they're already built for that and we're just waiting on the reno. Or how planners were supposed to magically know about city densification plans there didn't happen until 7+ years after the line was opened.

I also rolled by eyes over the complaint about single escalators - has he never ridden the Expo or Millennium lines??? Except for some of the renovated stations and the newer Evergreen stations, there's only one up escalator per platform and that's it (some are even missing up escalators) - and those lines are much busier than the Canada Line.

[logan5]

The lady from Boston mistook it for an airport people mover? I know the Canada Line trains are short, but that would be one hell of an airport people mover. People movers are really, really rinky dink.

[osirisboy]

OMG. Ten years plus and still going on about the same things. Isn't Canada line far from reaching capacity? Doesn't it effectively do what it was built to do? What's the friggin problem?

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

OMG. Ten years plus and still going on about the same things. Isn't Canada line far from reaching capacity? Doesn't it effectively do what it was built to do? What's the friggin problem?

Yes, none of this is new or interesting. This opinion has been expressed a million times, some agree with it, others find it to be rather melodramatic. End of story, really.

[WarrenC12]

All you have to do is look into the history of the decision making process (and pending Olympics) to understand why we got what we did with the Canada Line. On the one hand we were lucky to get anything. On the other hand, there are some regrets (not being Skytrain "compatible" among the biggest for me).

I don't think anyone can deny it has been an amazing success, thanks in part to the development along the line. Let's not make the same mistakes again anywhere else in the region.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

OMG. Ten years plus and still going on about the same things. Isn't Canada line far from reaching capacity? Doesn't it effectively do what it was built to do? What's the friggin problem?

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Yes, none of this is new or interesting. This opinion has been expressed a million times, some agree with it, others find it to be rather melodramatic. End of story, really.

Yes. Maybe this thread should be put on the "back burner" somehow, until the new trains arrive, and hopefully capacity increases.
No sense in continually playing "Canada Line Chicken Little" the way people are.

[GMD]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Yes. Maybe this thread should be put on the "back burner" somehow, until the new trains arrive, and hopefully capacity increases.
No sense in continually playing "Canada Line Chicken Little" the way people are.

Any chance this thread can be renamed to 'Canada Line inches toward capacity'?

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by GMD

Any chance this thread can be renamed to 'Canada Line inches toward capacity'?

or ...

'Canada Line grows toward capacity' (faster than the experts predicted) -perhaps because it was needed and because it's useful?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

or ...

'Canada Line grows toward capacity' (faster than the experts predicted) -perhaps because it was needed and because it's useful?

or maybe "Canada Line Updates" (?) ... Seems a realistic title, IMHO,altough others may disagree.

[logan5]

The capacity between Richmond and Broadway/City Hall will be sufficient for a very long time, but the section going into downtown might hit 15 000 pph much sooner than expected. Back when Canada Line was being planned, office buildings (which attract a lot of ridership) were not being built at nearly the same pace that they are today. If CL hits capacity, we can easily just extend the Expo Line from Waterfront to connect with the Millennium Line.

I think all this talk is pointless though. In 30 years, public transportation is going to be completely different.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by logan5

The capacity between Richmond and Broadway/City Hall will be sufficient for a very long time, ........
//please excuse the edit//

I think all this talk is pointless though. In 30 years, public transportation is going to be completely different.

That is a very interesting point you brought up. Would you be willing to share some ideas, give examples?
It's 33 years since Skytrain opened on the Expo Line; before that all diesel or trolley busses Things really do change a lot over time. Alors, any ideas you're willing to share are welcome

[Metro-One]

Outside of the built in 3rd car expansion, all the Canada Line really needs (and should be part of the current 10 year plan) for the next couple decades is a new southern entrance at Vancouver City Centre (with the platform access point being where the current south end wall is), a second platform at YVR (luckily YVR is actually looking into this), and a second platform at Bridgeport (built over the road on the west side).

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

That is a very interesting point you brought up. Would you be willing to share some ideas, give examples?
It's 33 years since Skytrain opened on the Expo Line; before that all diesel or trolley busses Things really do change a lot over time. Alors, any ideas you're willing to share are welcome

Skimming through Jarrett Walker's Human Transit would give you some ideas. Also some short points I got from a bunch of articles on the subject.

• Electric buses (of various sizes)
• Micro-mobility (eg electric scooters, motorized skateboards, unicycles)
• Ride hailing (eg Uber, TransLink's current Bowen Island transit-on-demand pilot)

[s211]

Originally Posted by Sheba

[*]Micro-mobility (eg electric scooters, motorized skateboards, unicycles)

As I've heard numerous times now, if 30 is the new 20, then 20 is the new 10.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Outside of the built in 3rd car expansion, all the Canada Line really needs (and should be part of the current 10 year plan) for the next couple decades is a new southern entrance at Vancouver City Centre (with the platform access point being where the current south end wall is), a second platform at YVR (luckily YVR is actually looking into this), and a second platform at Bridgeport (built over the road on the west side).

Exiting or entering by the new southern entrance, where would that exit precisely? Within the Nordstrom building / Pacific Centre? Or at street level outside, or where, please.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Didn't we say that the automobile and the jet plane were the future just seventy years ago, and that trains would be gone? I welcome the addition of dockless scooters/Blimp Rapid Transit/whatever the hell comes next, but we'll likely need buses and grade-separated rail for at least the rest of the century.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Didn't we say that the automobile and the jet plane were the future just seventy years ago, and that trains would be gone? I welcome the addition of dockless scooters/Blimp Rapid Transit/whatever the hell comes next, but we'll likely need buses and grade-separated rail for at least the rest of the century.

I sooo want a Star Wars inspired hovercar!

We need more passenger rail in BC - and less reliance on fossil fuel. A lot of areas outside of N America don't seem to have bought into cars as much or killed off their trains, and I envy them that.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I sooo want a Star Wars inspired hovercar!

We need more passenger rail in BC - and less reliance on fossil fuel. A lot of areas outside of N America don't seem to have bought into cars as much or killed off their trains, and I envy them that.

Another problem'll be all the tiny villages up in the mountains that make it so hard to run any kind of mass transit. Rail to Prince George makes even less sense once you realize that it's only got a quarter of the North's people.