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Transit in Vancouver: Questions and Answers


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3 hours ago, rickie22 said:

The first photo is only half of the sign; the sign should display "19 KINGSWAY / TO JOYCE".

The driver of the bus in the second photo may not know that sign is available.

This question may have been answered in the past, but are drivers not given a specific sign to display on every leg? Is it really up to them to choose which sign is appropriate? I've always wondered about this about special signage like Go Canucks Go or Happy Holidays or whatever - is it the driver's choice or is that assigned to specific buses? 

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2 hours ago, InfiNorth said:

This question may have been answered in the past, but are drivers not given a specific sign to display on every leg? Is it really up to them to choose which sign is appropriate? I've always wondered about this about special signage like Go Canucks Go or Happy Holidays or whatever - is it the driver's choice or is that assigned to specific buses? 

I thinks Happy Holidays is probably driver preference - perhaps extra-route signs be preference and route signs usually be assigned.

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On 2/7/2021 at 4:59 PM, Vancouvers Trolleys said:

Yes. Or be there any sign without the route number? For example, no 301 TO SCOTTSDALE but just a SCOTTSDALE sign? See this - there be no 19 JOYCE STN sign but just a JOYCE STN sign. Or alternatively, 19 TO JOYCE.

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All the Expo and Millennium (pre-Evergreen) stations have a sign code programmed like that with no route number. Also used for bus bridges between stations.

There's also SkyTrain East/West and Canada Line North/South as generic ones. SkyTrain Special too, but that doesn't give info about direction or destination.

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5 hours ago, Meraki said:

All the Expo and Millennium (pre-Evergreen) stations have a sign code programmed like that with no route number. Also used for bus bridges between stations.

There's also SkyTrain East/West and Canada Line North/South as generic ones. SkyTrain Special too, but that doesn't give info about direction or destination.

There are signs for every station in the system, not including West Coast Express stations. There are also signs for Carvolth Exchange and Langley Centre.

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  • 6 months later...

Question for the board, are there any trolley rectifier stations downtown other than the Haro one? Seems like a busy area for just one, although the old trolley wire map doesn't show any others.

I conjecture there might be one around Howe and Davie as the supply cables (term ?) have connections that disappear into laneways near there.

(@captaintrolley Maybe you would know)

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The last buses that WVMT actually owned were their D40LFs. Ever since then, TransLink handles the orders, which have slightly different specs to standard CMBC buses, and allocates them to WVMT. TransLink still owns the buses, WVMT just operates and maintains them.

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4 hours ago, anyfong said:

Speaking of West Vancouver Blue Bus, do they order new buses on their own independently of TransLink, or does TransLink handles all bus orders which then allocates some to Blue Bus?

The last independent Blue Bus Order was the 1999 D40LF's.  Since then, all new Blue Buses have been ordered and allocated by Translink. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/13/2021 at 5:17 AM, jmward said:

Question for the board, are there any trolley rectifier stations downtown other than the Haro one? Seems like a busy area for just one, although the old trolley wire map doesn't show any others.

I conjecture there might be one around Howe and Davie as the supply cables (term ?) have connections that disappear into laneways near there.

(@captaintrolley Maybe you would know)

I've been trying, from time to time, to get a complete handle on this, so your post provoked a further effort. Unfortunately the sources that I've found don't provide a completely clear picture of the situation. We know there's the Haro St rectifier station though the address given is 1050 Smythe St. In addition I've looked into the Murrin rectifier station which is located west of Main at Union Street. There's a very interesting page in the commemorative booklet "Vancouver's Trolley Buses 1948-1998", which has a lot of information about the Murrin station in particular as it was the last one to use mercury arc rectifiers. This was closed in 1993 and replaced by state of the art solid state equipment. There's one reference which seems to imply that the new installation was at Haro Street, but I think that was just ambiguous writing and there are two downtown rectifier stations: Haro St and Murrin. The article quotes the installed power of Murrin as 4 MW, which by my calculation is enough to power about 80 trolleybuses at any one time. Add on the Haro St unit and there's probably enough to power about half the trolleybus fleet.    

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  • 7 months later...
4 minutes ago, Blake M said:

Are there specific stopping procedures for some routes? Got chewed out by a 210 driver for wanting to disembark at McGill & Renfrew coming from downtown.

Yes, it runs as a pick-up only express until past the Ironworker's Bridge.

Specific stopping procedures can be found on the public timetable PDFs linked on TransLink's site.

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41 minutes ago, Blake M said:

Are there specific stopping procedures for some routes? Got chewed out by a 210 driver for wanting to disembark at McGill & Renfrew coming from downtown.

The 210/211/214 from Downtown to Phibbs are the last routes that follow the old suburban practice of being drop off only inbound/pick up only outbound in Vancouver.  All other services that did this have either fallen to Skytrain expansion or been switched to regular stopping procedures. 

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51 minutes ago, Blake M said:

Are there specific stopping procedures for some routes? Got chewed out by a 210 driver for wanting to disembark at McGill & Renfrew coming from downtown.

210/211/214 are pick-up only leaving downtown and drop-off only entering downtown. If you're heading to East Van from downtown, you'll probably be best off taking the 4. In the evening, the 209 does make all local stops in both directions, with drop off and pick up service.

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  • 2 months later...

Not sure where to put this question, but does anyone know why PoCo of all transit centres is being converted from a CNG depot to BE before Burnaby or Richmond are converted from their diesel operations? Overall, GhG emissions from transit vehicles are nothing compared to the tens, if not hundreds of thousands personal vehicles driving around Metro Van daily, but to my understanding CNG is cleaner than diesel and it would make more sense to convert Burnaby or Richmond first. Obviously the CNG equipment is the oldest in CMBC operations, so perhaps that’s why?

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10 minutes ago, Transit Guy said:

Not sure where to put this question, but does anyone know why PoCo of all transit centres is being converted from a CNG depot to BE before Burnaby or Richmond are converted from their diesel operations? Overall, GhG emissions from transit vehicles are nothing compared to the tens, if not hundreds of thousands personal vehicles driving around Metro Van daily, but to my understanding CNG is cleaner than diesel and it would make more sense to convert Burnaby or Richmond first. Obviously the CNG equipment is the oldest in CMBC operations, so perhaps that’s why?

Not sure on the exact reason but just to add on: PCT is also the 2nd oldest of the 6 CMBC yards. STC is older by 2 years but received major upgrades in 2011 and 2018. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hey all, pretty broad question but I’m looking to see if anyone has photos of the drivers area and controls for your LFS and Xcelsiors, any model except the Trolleys is fine as the spec sheets tend to be the same. Looking into something for my workplace. If you don’t want to post here or if there’s a direct fan site you can send me a PM if needed 

 

thanks ✌️ 

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5 hours ago, 503FraserHwy said:

ones i can get (will this be good) 

2015, 2018, and 2021 XDE60

2016, 2018, and 2019 XN40

2006 D40LFR

Sorry for late reply, LFR isn’t needed but the most recent Xcelsior would be fantastic, if you can grab a Nova I’d be very appreciative as well 

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  • 5 months later...

I had this situation happen twice this month while riding a BAE Novabus HEV.

 

Low air warning goes off while moving. Noticed both air gauges reading 80 PSI. Both gauges weren't rising which meant the compressor wasn't building any air although the engine was running. Turned off the bus, restarted it, and the compressor was building air again.

 

My question is: what causes this to happen and why does restarting the bus fix it? Is the compressor engine driven or electronic like the trolleys?

 

 

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