SidneyTransitfan

They used to 'sign on' with a little radio pushpad onboard the buses until T-comm came online.

Spotted 1080, 1088 and 1093 heading over to Nanaimo at 11am on Tuesday.

I think I had this driver in Surrey two years ago on an evening 503... one can hear the tunes playing through the portable radio in my video from the ride.

The main argument against LRT in Metro Vancouver is that it is NOT planned to be grade-separated, especially in Surrey. This is therefore portraying the whole LRT proposal to be all expense for little gain - sure it'll look nice, but it won't be any more practical than the 96 B-Line BRT already in place for a far less expensive price tag. If the Surrey LRT was to be built grade-separated (far more expensive) it also would be completely incompatible with the existing Skytrain system - so at that point you might as well drop the Tram-style LRT altogether and just go with more SkyTrain expansion.

Regarding this idea - one I've had myself that I'll elaborate on. I think there could be a business case for an RDC-Budd service from Chilliwack, running along the CN mainline to Waterfront Station through the Grandview Cut - perhaps with an intermediate stop at Fort Langley. Back in 1986 there was a DMU service operated as part of Expo, between New Westminster and Abbotsford with temporary wooden platforms. (Using a British Class 142). TriMet has two RDC Budd-car DMUs it bought from Alaska. I believe I heard somewhere they wish to order new DMUs to replace them in the coming years, so perhaps they could be utilized for such a service?

2279 was making some particularly strange intermittent high-pitched whining noises tonight. It was running the route 5 along Denman past my workplace when I heard it - at first I thought it was the brakes squealing - but it was making the noise when standing still too. Even after the bus operator took the poles off it continued whining for several minutes. Something electrical gone wrong?

Re-Uploaded my former Canada Line explorer video - now including the stations in the city of Richmond and on Sea Island. Also with some minor narration changes.

7115 (and the buses 7151-7243) may be at or beyond their specified life expectancies, but sometimes buses just are in a good enough condition to keep going. The one thing that sets these buses aside from the high floors retired before them is just that - these buses are low floor. A lot of the high floor buses retired en-masse since 2008 were retired before their lives were truly up - they were just pulled from service because low-floor buses replaced them and rendered them totally redundant. Only a few lucky ones went to serve secondary careers in colder climates, the rest that were left behind were mothballed or scrapped virtually once there was no longer any need for them, regardless of their condition. I applaud the fact TransLink and BC Transit have found the sense to keep older buses not-yet ready for retirement in active service. Just wish they'd have done that a bit sooner (like ten-years ago sooner).

Spotted one heading up I5 just north of Marysville, WA on Tuesday. I think the number was H16029

They could - but it would just make things more complicated with the station setup at Lougheed. If this were the case - Platform 1 would be for Expo trains to Waterfront Only. Platform 2 shared between Expo trains to Production and Millennium Trains to Coquitlam, and Platform 3 used only by Millennium Trains to VCC. A better arrangement avoiding the use of the crossover would be to run 'wrong line' (left track, like in the UK) for the entire Evergreen line - but of course this would just confuse the hell out of everyone. xD

Spotted BC Transit 9459 heading Northbound on Granville Street at Broadway this morning around 7:45am, towards the Granville Bridge.

No idea if it's still running or not - but from my experience the two best places to look for buses in Kelowna are Queensway Exchange, and Orchard Park Mall, most of the major routes serve those two points.

Probably, yes. Around 1:15-1:45pm.

This is a little something I finished off last night, it's a full commentary on the Canada Line with some of the available connections, landmarks and amenities en-route. We start at Waterfront Station, and finish at Marine Drive - looking at all nine stations along the way. I had intended to do the entire line in one video - but owing to personal time constraints (and rather poor weather since October 10th when most of this was filmed) I decided to release the footage I had (City of Vancouver) as Part One. Part Two will follow when the weather improves (on my days off) and will include the stations in the City of Richmond, and on Sea Island.

Thing is - as much as I hate to say it - this ain't going to happen, I can tell you this for a fact. You can dream as much as you like, but dreams are just that - dreams. We don't get to decide what TransLink does with its' resources (spare buses and the like) - all we can hope is that (sometimes) the ones who call the shots make a decision that we like. Double Deckers are a possibility - but not a certainty right now. Give it a few years and maybe we'll see how things pan out, but dreaming like this and clogging up the forums with it isn't a good idea. In 2009 I myself dreamt about the day TransLink came to its' senses and put the E901s and 1989-1990 MCI Classics back in service until the Olympics were over, but it never happened. Likewise it will never happen with the 1995-1999 New Flyers, once they reach 17 years old their days are numbered.