Transit in Vancouver: Questions and Answers

[captaintrolley]

2 hours ago, VancouverTrolleybus said:

Well, the poles.

All modern trolleys have EPU, so if there is a doubt whether the poles can traverse a situation, lower them and reverse on back up power.

[Vancouvers Trolleys]

When buses be pulled from other routes to acts as shuttles, what happens if them bus-shuttles need to displays a sign that's not programmed? (For example, if the 25 was going to terminates at King Edward Station and shuttles be going from, let's say, Kingsway to Brentwood, would them shuttles display "25 TO KINGSWAY"? I doesn't think that sign's programmed.)

[Orion V]

At the turn of the century, how did they fix the gap at station issue when the Mark IIs were first introduced to the system since they are 0.15m wider than the Mark Is? The original Expo line was built to Mark I widths were they not?

[Stormscape]

2 hours ago, Vancouvers Trolleys said:

When buses be pulled from other routes to acts as shuttles, what happens if them bus-shuttles need to displays a sign that's not programmed? (For example, if the 25 was going to terminates at King Edward Station and shuttles be going from, let's say, Kingsway to Brentwood, would them shuttles display "25 TO KINGSWAY"? I doesn't think that sign's programmed.)

Driver discretion if they're aware of an appropriate sign code, otherwise just SPECIAL if Tcomm doesn't tell them a sign code.

[Express691]

6 hours ago, Orion V said:

At the turn of the century, how did they fix the gap at station issue when the Mark IIs were first introduced to the system since they are 0.15m wider than the Mark Is? The original Expo line was built to Mark I widths were they not?

As far as I know, stations were single tracked on weekends one by one as maintenance was carried out.

[MCW Metrobus]

7 hours ago, Vancouvers Trolleys said:

When buses be pulled from other routes to acts as shuttles, what happens if them bus-shuttles need to displays a sign that's not programmed? (For example, if the 25 was going to terminates at King Edward Station and shuttles be going from, let's say, Kingsway to Brentwood, would them shuttles display "25 TO KINGSWAY"? I doesn't think that sign's programmed.)

@Stormscapeis pretty much correct on this one. The same applies for regular service blocks that get short-turns for which no destination sign exists, although in this case it could be easier just to display the regular sign and then make an announcement a few stops before the short turn that the bus will go out of service at that location.

One pertinent example of this: there is no destination sign code for "301 TO SCOTTSDALE", although this is the obvious location to short-turn 301s running late out of Richmond - or even out of Surrey, because there isn't really anywhere convenient to turn around at the Richmond end. A Surrey-bound 301 short-turning at Scottsdale can save up to half an hour (10 minutes each way between Scottsdale and Newton Exchange, plus the allotted recovery at Newton which is usually between 6 and 10 minutes, at least on weekdays). I've done it before, but with the absence of a sign code I would have to use the Newton sign and just hope that I could get a little ways ahead of a 319 on Scott Road to give the passengers enough time to catch it when I arrived at Scottsdale. (Easier said than done, those 319s do NOT waste any time...)

I also remember once running late on a 106 bound for New West Station, and being asked by T-Comm to short turn at 6th and 6th, by turning right onto 8th Ave, left on 8th St, left on 6th Ave and then left again on 6th St to head back towards Metrotown. (This was before the route was split at Edmonds.) I thought that there was a sign code that involved 6th and 6th, but I couldn't find anything other than "155 TO 8TH ST". I don't remember what I ended up doing, probably just told people I wasn't going down the hill and waited for the panicked reactions when I made the right on 8th Ave. 

[Vancouvers Trolleys]

On 2/7/2021 at 4:54 PM, MCW Metrobus said:

@Stormscapeis pretty much correct on this one. The same applies for regular service blocks that get short-turns for which no destination sign exists, although in this case it could be easier just to display the regular sign and then make an announcement a few stops before the short turn that the bus will go out of service at that location.

One pertinent example of this: there is no destination sign code for "301 TO SCOTTSDALE", although this is the obvious location to short-turn 301s running late out of Richmond - or even out of Surrey, because there isn't really anywhere convenient to turn around at the Richmond end. A Surrey-bound 301 short-turning at Scottsdale can save up to half an hour (10 minutes each way between Scottsdale and Newton Exchange, plus the allotted recovery at Newton which is usually between 6 and 10 minutes, at least on weekdays). I've done it before, but with the absence of a sign code I would have to use the Newton sign and just hope that I could get a little ways ahead of a 319 on Scott Road to give the passengers enough time to catch it when I arrived at Scottsdale. (Easier said than done, those 319s do NOT waste any time...)

I also remember once running late on a 106 bound for New West Station, and being asked by T-Comm to short turn at 6th and 6th, by turning right onto 8th Ave, left on 8th St, left on 6th Ave and then left again on 6th St to head back towards Metrotown. (This was before the route was split at Edmonds.) I thought that there was a sign code that involved 6th and 6th, but I couldn't find anything other than "155 TO 8TH ST". I don't remember what I ended up doing, probably just told people I wasn't going down the hill and waited for the panicked reactions when I made the right on 8th Ave. 

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 KINGSWAY TO JOYCE.

[Orion V]

1 hour ago, Express691 said:

As far as I know, stations were single tracked on weekends one by one as maintenance was carried out.

How come the Mark Is now don't have a wider gap at stations between its floor and the station platform which provides a safety issue to customers VS its newer variants? Is it a negligible difference that customers won't notice?

[Express691]

59 minutes ago, Orion V said:

How come the Mark Is now don't have a wider gap at stations between its floor and the station platform which provides a safety issue to customers VS its newer variants? Is it a negligible difference that customers won't notice?

I think it's negligible. That said, there's an even worse situation with mk3s being a few cm above the platforms.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-skytrain-mind-the-gap

 

[rickie22]

16 hours ago, 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.

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.

[InfiNorth]

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? 

[Vancouvers Trolleys]

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.

[Pops1719]

The TMAC automatically changes the sign when the bus starts its next trip, but right now as it is, some blocks aren't able to log in properly, and thus, aren't able to have automatic sign changes.

[Meraki]

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.

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.

[Pops1719]

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.

[jmward]

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)

[captaintrolley]

Sorry, I don't know. The proper term is Feeder Cables, however Supply Cables is fine too. There are several board members that I am sure will know more about the substations.

[anyfong]

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?

[Stormscape]

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.

[Michael Marriott]

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. 

[martin607]

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.    

[Blake M]

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.

[ephrex]

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.

[Michael Marriott]

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. 

[Zortan]

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.