Large Cat

Saw those novas yesterday. What the actual ****?

The backlit signs are actually much better than I expected them to be. They are certainly better than the ones on Main St, and I hope we can see more of them around the system. I also like that buses which have not yet departed the terminus are listed with their scheduled times, rather than minute estimations. On 41st, the stops seem to have been adjusted to separate the R4 stops from other buses as much as possible. This is probably good for the R4, but it puts the local 41 stops quite far from the intersection in some cases (i.e. WB Victoria), and it also makes the "next bus" signs less helpful than they could be. Not all of the Rapidbus posts are up yet on the R4--a couple stops still have only T-ID signs. Also, a large percentage of the buses are still wrapped up (or not yet painted green).

I still wish they would make it the N14, and the N22 the N2 lol. If anything the 14 needs more capacity in the evenings before nightbuses start, but I can see why they would swap in trolleys after 3am. Also, interestingly enough the block number for the R4 is now 804.

We can now confirm that RapidBuses will be interlined significantly with NightBuses, which are the opposite of rapid. So much for a strong brand!

The city seems to be warming up to bus lanes and other improvements such as red bus zones. Hopefully they'll take a look at 49th too. I don't think we're quite at the point of "too many buses" on the 49 yet. At rush hours the headway goes down to a minimum of 4 minutes, but at all other times (esp. in the evening) there is a lot more room for improvement. In addition to these suggestions, all door boarding at select stops (like UBC, Cambie, Langara, Metrotown at least) would go a long way.

UBC might be able to pull off charging stations for the 25 and the 33. Might as well start looking at XE60's so that both the 25 and the 49 can use them. Or for the sake of humanity, why not on the 100?

That, and not having all-door boarding on most of them for no good reason.

I'm still trying to figure out whether RapidBuses will be interlined with Nightbuses as the B-Lines currently are. My guess is that yes they will be, unfortunately. Any info on this would be appreciated.

You see, these should honestly be sent to Surrey to ensure there are no 40 footers on the 96. Just 2 would probably do the trick.

It's a little disappointing that they aren't rebranding the 99 at the same time, if only because the 99, as the representative B-Line, will still maintain higher frequencies throughout the week than all of the RapidBus routes, implying that RapidBus lines are worse than B-Lines despite the rebranding. Nothing, probably not even priority lanes, beats frequency, and the 99 is still going to beat the rest at that. Also, the 99 might be losing its air conditioning. 😛

Besides all of those important points, the "air conditioning" also functions "to specifications", meaning the interior of the car feels like your bathroom after a long hot shower with the door closed and the fan turned off.

I agree.

I'll be waiting for an R9 UBC / Downtown via Broadway and Burrard, to replace the 44.

Unless someone can tell me a good reason why it has to be this way, I think booking out anything but artics on the 96 at this point is just complete carelessness towards the customer experience in Surrey. It's time SoF got a fair deal on vehicle allocation, not to mention service hours.

TBH, I think the "South Granville Station" should be renamed "Fairview Station" to avoid ambiguity (for the same reason as Mount Pleasant Station) and "Fairview-VGH Station" to "Oak St-VGH" or something along those lines. People are accustomed to being dropped off at Heather by the 99; they should know that the new station stops right at Oak St and is the appropriate place to transfer to the 17.