The monorail at Expo 86. Photo credit: Colin Rose.

I’m happy to welcome another guest post from Michael Taylor-Noonan, the newsletter editor for the Transit Museum Society! (He previously wrote guest posts about Vancouver bus numbers, and reminiscences of early Vancouver transit.) This time, Michael has kindly contributed a short history of monorails in Vancouver. Read on for more!

Readers old enough to remember EXPO 86 will certainly remember the monorail used for transporting visitors around the worlds’ fair site. That monorail, built by Von Roll of Switzerland, is still providing transportation, but now at Alton Towers theme park in the UK. It was installed there in 1987. During its one summer of operation, it was certainly the closest Vancouverites came to having a monorail as a permanent addition to the transportation network.

The idea of a monorail in Vancouver is certainly not new, though. You may be surprised to learn that there have been two proposals to build a monorail between downtown Vancouver and the airport. The first was in the mid-fifties when YVR (as it’s known today) proposed a growth strategy that reserved the airport for long-haul flights. Service to cities in B.C. such as Victoria, Powell River, and Kelowna would be by helicopter from a downtown heliport. Connecting the two would be a monorail. It would cover the 15km or so in ten minutes, and would include possible freight and mail service.

“The ingredients are already there”, airport manager Bill Inglis commented in a November 14th, 1957, Vancouver Sun article. He was referring to the city planners decision to set aside land at the east end of False Creek for a heliport. At the time the city’s transit was provided by a private company: B.C. Electric Railway Co. Ltd. (BCER). One of its’ vice-presidents, W.C. Mainwaring, was impressed with a monorail he had seen in Germany on a visit, and prepared a report for the company. It looked like the BCER would invest in the monorail. But the plans took a strange turn.

A noted Canadian expatriate engineer, Wells Coates, had recently returned to his homeland after spending most of his professional career in London, England. There he designed such items as door handles, a microphone for the BBC, and even a catamaran. But he was also was an accomplished architect. He was very interested in urban renewal, especially in the False Creek area, and this led to him being asked to submit a design for the proposed monorail. He dubbed his design the Monospan Twin-Ride System (MTRS). The cars were mounted on the rail in a revolutionary way: a central guideway carried the car attached on its side. From drawings it appears that MTRS would be a demand responsive system, much like that recently installed at London Heathrow airport (and featured recently in this blog). Small cabins would provide transport rather than long trains.

Subsequently though, BCER changed its mind about investing in a monorail. It decided to limit its involvement to providing the right-of-way. When Coates couldn‘t interest a manufacturer in the project, it was abandoned (footnote 1). Coates himself died of a heart attack in 1958 at the age of 63.

The 1970s Vancouver monorail concept.

Some fourteen years later, a U.S. Engineer, Anson S. Bilger also proposed a monorail to the airport. But his idea envisaged it running from Waterfront Station. The routing would have been via West Boulevard and Arbutus Street. There would be four intermediate stops. Trip time would be 15 minutes, with a 10 minute base headway. Again, freight and mail would be carried to boost revenue. The cost was estimated at $35 million. As the Canadian Pacific right-of-way along the Arbutus corridor was still in operation at that time, the supporting towers would have to have been quite high. Bilger proposed paying CPR one cent per passenger for the air rights over the rail track. An artist’s rendition of the proposal reused an American publicity handout, replacing a freeway with the railway. Hence the strange looking neighbourhood the train is passing through.

Of course, both proposals remained on the drawing boards, and when an airport link was finally opened in 2009, it was far removed from the Arbutus corridor and far removed from a monorail. After EXPO 86 closed there was an idea to reuse the monorail for local transit in the West End. In the nineties I recall there was similar interest in relocating Seattle’s 1962 vintage ALWEG monorail to Vancouver. But these too remained ideas, suggesting perhaps, that monorails and Vancouver just don’t mix.

Footnotes

1. Wells Coates, A Monograph. Cantacuzino, Sherban (G Fraser , London, 1978).

“Newer makes and models of light-duty vehicles are not the prime source of the blue smoke and pollution experienced on the road today… When you look at most cars now, they run a lot cleaner than the vehicles rolling off the line when AirCare started in 1992.”

According to the provincial press release, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and key stakeholders will, “…identify those sources of particulate emissions currently not managed through air care programs, and come up with reduction options that can help address human health concerns.” TransLink, through the subsidiary company, Pacific Vehicle Testing Technologies Ltd., better known as AirCare, has provided emission testing for vehicles in Metro Vancouver.

For more info, take a look at the Ministry of the Environment press release. This is a provincial announcement, so we don’t necessarily have access to all the answers. However, we’ll see if we can help!

Cycling and transit: two modes that play a key role in our transportation future.

As you may have heard, news of TransLink’s financial situation has popped up in the media over the past few days. (Here’s the Globe and Mail, Frances Bula’s blog, and Jeff Nagel in the North Shore Outlook).

So I thought we’d take a moment to look at our financial road ahead, and hopefully give everyone a better grasp of where we’re coming from.

Primary sources: our reports to the Mayors’ Council

So first: why are we in the news right now? Well, the Mayors Council had one of their scheduled public meetings on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 and TransLink made a presentation at the meeting outlining our financial status.

All the documents from that presentation are online, so you can have a look at all the details for yourself. Find them at the main Mayors’ Council meeting page, under “Reports” for the May 22 meeting.

Or, grab them at the links I have conveniently set up below:

• Memo from TransLink CEO
• Appendix A – Defining the Financial Challenge
• Appendix B – PowerPoint Report
• Appendix C – Efficiency Review
• TransLink Commission Annual Report 2011

It’s obviously your choice how to dive in, but I found it easiest to understand by reading them in the order above. The memo, then the appendixes, and then the Commissioner’s Report.

What are the key points?

Here are the highlights:

• We currently don’t have stable funding sources to pay for our current system maintenance and planned improvements for the system. Key factors include:
• The Regional Transportation Commission has rejected our requested increase in FareSaver prices for 2013 onward, although not increases on cash fares (more about this here)
• The Mayors’ Council has passed a resolution indicating that a temporary property tax source that had been put into place for 2013 onward is no longer available, and we don’t have a replacement for this funding yet.
• Our fuel tax revenue is declining. Fuel tax is a key revenue source, providing 1/4 of of our annual funding, and is estimated to be about $120M less over the next three years than we expected.
• Also, increases in the cost of fuel impacts our operating costs.

• We have made some progress on our latest investment plan, Moving Forward, but the Mayors’ Council’s recent decision on property tax requires us to re-examine priorities and develop a new plan.
• Based on the Moving Forward plan, we have invested in the Evergreen Line, some bus service expansion and additional SeaBus hours, as well as restoring $17 million to municipal road upgrade and cycling programs.
• But we need to make decisions on key projects that are on hold, including Main Street SkyTrain station, King George B-Line and the Bus Rapid Transit on Highway 1 over the new Port Mann Bridge. These have significant senior government and partner investments, and we need to match funding.
• As well, to remove the previously approved property tax from the 2012 strategic plan requires us to write a new supplemental plan.

• By law, we have a limited number of funding sources that we can draw on for money.
• Among these sources are property tax, transit fares, real estate, and other fees related to transportation like parking.
• Oakridge Transit Centre, a former bus depot at Oakridge and 41st, could be a source of some revenue for the future. We have been considering selling this property since 2009.
• However, we don’t know for sure exactly when Oakridge might sell, or at what price. As well, funds from this sale will go straight back into operating costs.

• We have identified $84 million in efficiencies and these have already been considered in our plans. Further efficiencies may impact service and our customers.
• The provincial audit is underway and we look forward to any opportunities for efficiency that are identified through this process.
• The Regional Transportation Commissioner also performed an efficiency review of TransLink in March 2012, and we are reviewing the Commissioner’s observations to determine if it is practical to accelerate implementation suggestions. There are already several suggestions in the review that are already captured in TransLink’s efficiency plans (see appendix C for more detail).

In the long-term, TransLink’s CEO Ian Jarvis points out that our current financial challenges stress the need for everyone—the Mayors’ Council, the Province and TransLink—to work together to establish sustainable and enduring funding sources for Metro Vancouver’s transportation network.

Questions?

Well, this is a weighty topic and I’m certain you have questions. Please do put them in below and I shall endeavour to find you the answers in a timely fashion, as always!

Use tranit as part of your cycling commute or use your bike the whole way to work!

Bike To Work Week starts next week, May 28-June 1!

As an avid transit user who lives close to the system, I don’t cycle as much as I could. Sometimes I need reminding of the benefits, joy and ease of getting on two wheels (or one or three) and riding to work. Bike To Work Week is just that reminder. Now that summer is just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to extricate your bike from the confines of your storage, pump up the tires and join the thousands who are of the same mindset. If you’ve never participated in Bike To Work Week before, the idea is to join other in the enjoyable practice of cycling to work. You and your colleagues can create your own team and log your commutes online, compete with other teams, participate in bike-oriented events and win prizes.

Speaking of prizes, there are celebration stations set up throughout Metro Vancouver. Often these stations give away food and prizes to cyclists! TravelSmart is a sponsor of Bike To Work Week, and TravelSmart representatives will be at the  HUB (formerly the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition) celebration station situated just east of Metrotown SkyTrain Station on the BC Parkway on Monday, May 28 from 6:30-9:00 am. There will be refreshments and free bike mechanic services! Oh, and TravelSmart is also running their own bike to work contest.

If you’re looking for some pointers on the week, here are a number of them we’ve written about:

• What to wear cycling
• The bicycle diaries: five things I learned on Day 1 of Bike To Work Week
• Bike To Work Week: an interview with bike mechanic Mike Grant

Need help planning your route? You can use the “Full Maps” on our cycling page, the UBC Cycling Metro Vancouver page or biking directions in Google Maps.

The new Report Lost Item form on our website.

A tiny update about our website. Last week we put up a new Report Lost Item form on the Lost and Found page!

The form helps you quickly put in the minimum amount of information required to locate your lost item — especially mandatory information like a name and/or phone number.

It’s a replacement for the Lost Property email address, as our staff often found we weren’t getting enough information from many emails. And of course, it’s another method for you to reach us at your convenience.

Lost Property receives over 4000 calls and 2500 walk-in customers each month, so the new form makes the volume of requests a bit easier to handle. A Workleader at Lost Property collects the request from the form, and staff reviews the list daily to see if we have received any items that match. Once items that are matched to a report, the staff can contact the owner and put the item on hold until they can arrange a pick-up.

So if you have a lost item to report, click here to go to the new Lost and Found form!

The Lost Property office receives over 40,000 items annually and logs over 35,000 into the database system. And if you’re curious about our Lost Property office and what it collects, check out these past posts:

• What is Lost Property collecting during the Olympic period?
• A visit to the Lost Property office

IT’S THE MAY LONG WEEKEND! While I’m sure you’ll be busy celebrating the longest-reigning British monarch (although Queen Elizabeth just needs four more years to top her!), you might also find time to see also check out the Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair, or the various farmers’ markets in the region.

And should you be using transit to reach your destinations, here is the holiday service for Victoria Day on Monday May 21, 2012:

Bus and SeaBus services will be running a Sunday schedule.
SkyTrain will operate a Sunday schedule.
West Coast Express trains and TrainBus service will not operate.

As well, remember that because it’s a holiday, you’ll only need a single-zone fare to travel in all zones all day. Also, every Sunday and on holidays, you can use your FareCard to take five other riders with you for free. Specifically, all passengers with an adult FareCard, West Coast Express 28-Day Pass or Annual Employer Transit Pass can take up to five children, or one adult and four children, on transit with them for no extra charge.

The good old SeaBus sailing towards the North Shore.

The final public input phase of the North Shore Area Transit Plan starts Friday, May 18. If you’re unfamiliar with the NSATP, I wrote a post on the first part of Phase 3 in January. In short, the plan is to create a long-term transit vision and identify the service and infrastructure investment needs to meet that vision. This time around, we’re looking for feedback on a set of priorities for the region should funding and/or resources become available. Those funds/resources would come from possible future funds provided for via a base or supplemental plan or through service optimization.

On Friday, May 18, an online questionnaire will be available to fill out. Also on that day, information on the high priority projects will be available on the TransLink website. On Saturday, May 19 until June 9, will be attending community events. At the events, we’ll be looking for your feedback on the high priority projects. Here’s some specifics for what you need to know:

Saturday – May 19, 2012 – 11am – 4pm – Bowen Island - Snug Cove General Store

Wednesday – May 23, 2012 – 11am – 6pm – City of North Vancouver - Civic Plaza Farmers Market

Saturday – May 26, 2012 – 9am – 4:30pm – District of North Vancouver, Lynn Valley Days at Lynn Valley Park

Saturday – June 2, 2012 – 10:30am – 5pm – West Vancouver, Centennial Community Day Celebration at Ambleside Park

Thursday – June 7, 2012 – 11am – 6pm – Lions Bay, General Store

Saturday – June 9, 2012 – 11am – 5pm – City of North Vancouver, SeaBus Terminal

Once this phase of the consultation is over, we’ll be moving into the fourth phase of the plan, monitoring. That means we’ll be watching to see if the priorities chosen still make sense. For now, you have your choice of providing your feedback in person or online. As usual, I’ll be forwarding your comments to the team responsible for the plan. So stop by one of the public events or download the online questionnaire and provide your feedback!

We’re holding our 2011 annual general meeting at Vancouver Transit Centre this year! (That’s the bus depot in Vancouver on the way to the airport — you might have seen a fleet of buses parked there if you’re going by.)

After the presentation, you can stay for a question and answer period, and tours of the transit centre, which houses our trolley fleet and training space. Note that tour space is limited—you can only sign up for a spot in-person when you attend the meeting, and you must attend the meeting to go on the tour.

The details:

Wednesday, May 30
AGM: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Tours will follow. Please wear flat, closed-toe shoes.

Vancouver Transit Centre
9149 Hudson St., Vancouver

Parking is quite limited – so plan your trip on transit (use the TripPlanner or call 604-953-3333)

And if you’re unable to attend in person, join us for a live webcast via our webcast provider (please register in advance) where you can see the whole meeting live and ask questions.

I would have loved to ask Ian to comment on all of your questions and suggestions, but he’s a busy man. Here are the ones I was able to ask him:

Question from Jack:

Ian and his coveted coat rack.

I think more private investment options as seen with the Canada Line should be taken into consideration. If you look at New York’s massive subway/underground system, various investors and companies manage it, not just one.

Ian -Thanks for your input, Jack. I agree that we need to continue to examine different approaches for implementing and delivering service. As with any of our strategies, we need to consider the tradeoffs in terms of impact on overall service quality and integration. You point to the Canada Line, and I would note that our HandyDart service are provided under contract as well as some of our Community Shuttle Services. You may want to check on your assumptions regarding New York – my understanding is that all the underground systems are operated in house.

Question from REIG:

Transit users have helped to reduce the region’s congestion and CO2 emissions, which are produced by automobile users. Thus, it’s only fair that automobile users help reduce the costs of transit users. In particular, monthly or annual vehicle licensing fees can have a progressive structure by being tiered according to the energy efficiency/emission rates of the registered vehicles. The goal of TransLink is to promote public transportation, which leads to a sustainable future for Metro Vancouver. This cannot be achieved until people fundamentally change the way they reach their destinations. The best way to do this change is to collect revenue from automobile usage, while increasing funding for public transportation.

Ian – I appreciate you taking the time to provide your perspective. As you are likely aware, TransLink has examined the implementation of a vehicle charge, or as we referred to it a Transportation Improvement Fee. The concept was to vary the charge based on the engine size, which was a proxy for environmental impact. Many share your perspective and many would disagree with your perspective. It  is important that we continue the dialogue on funding to determine a mix that residents and businesses believe is fair and equitable.

Question from Riva:

I have to agree with Mike that TransLink should not be responsible for both roads and transit. There should be a separate transit authority with a separate transit budget.

Ian – I would ask you to consider a different perspective. Our overall goal is to improve the mobility for goods, services and people. An effective transportation network considers all modes – walking, cycling, transit and roads. Transit, cycling and personal and business vehicles all share our roadways – the fact that TransLink has a role in all modes is seen as very progressive by the many delegations that come to visit us each year. The fact that we have a role in roads and provide funding for roads enables us to influence the design and use of roads and bridges to integrate pedestrian and cycling use.

Question from Gary:

What is TransLink doing to ensure the maximum utilization of its trolley bus fleet? The only way to increase the use of these vehicles is to increase frequency of existing routes or to have capital projects to expand the network. Please do what you can to maintain this unique and emission free part of our transit network.

Ian – Great question, Gary! We want to optimize the use of our existing Trolley Infrastructure, and some preliminary work has been done to assess gaps in the existing trolley network along high frequency corridors. It’s important to understand the financial trade-offs required to expand the infrastructure. At a cost of a $1M per km price tag to expand the network, it’s a big investment that we want to make sure is the right one before proposing long-term expansion. However, of note, in 2005, we made a commitment to maintaining a trolley fleet by replacing it with new trolleys, and even added articulated trolleys. We remain committed to reducing energy use and emissions from fleet and facilities. We are also working with the City to make bus stop changes to enable us to make more effective use of the articulated models, and this requires capital funding as well.

Question from Xerxes:

Has anybody considered replacing the CNG buses with Hybrid instead? The CNG buses seem quite costly compared to the regular diesels and the hybrids.

Ian – We constantly examine the most appropriate vehicle types for our use and make the decision when we replace fleet. We have invested in the CNG’s and are committed to run them until they need replacement. Interestingly, we are finding that CNG engine technology has improved significantly since our last CNG buses were purchased in 2006, improving reliability and performance.  Also, the price of CNG has dropped about 60 per cent in the past two years from $10.00/Gj to $4.00/Gj, making CNGs very inexpensive from a fueling perspective. Thanks for asking.

Old and new bus stop signs in North Vancouver. You can hardly see the old sign!

Astute riders may have noticed some new signage up at bus stops and transit exchanges in the region lately! It’s all part of our new wayfinding strategy, designed to help everyone better understand the transit system. (For more, check out Robert’s overview post on the strategy here.)

I got planner Jeff Deby to help explain what new signage is out there right now. Here we go!

New signage at selected bus stops

The old and new bus stop plates.

First, stops that currently have narrow bus stop signage are being replaced with new T-plates, which also carry text identifying the location of the stop.

You can probably guess why these are an improvement on the old signs, but here’s a list anyway:

• You can now quickly see the bus stop from far away
• You now know the exact location of the bus stop
• The location written on the sign matches the location description in our trip planner and the audio announcements on the bus!

The replacement work is starting in North Vancouver, and the majority of their stops with narrow signage should be changed over this year—about 200 have been installed so far. (North Vancouver was already scheduled for regular bus stop signage replacement work this year, so that’s why we’ve started there first.)

New maps and signage at transit exchanges

The new Regional Transit Map. Click the image to download a large PDF version.

Detail of the Regional Transit Map.

The next big development is the new wayfinding signage up at selected SkyTrain stations and their associated bus loops—all the downtown Expo and Millennium Line stations, plus Lonsdale Quay, Marine Drive, Richmond-Brighouse, Bridgeport, and New Westminster. (And soon, new maps and signage will be installed at Expo Line stations, included with the renovations to install faregates.)

That includes updated maps showing nearby bus routes, locations where you can walk to, and a brand new Regional Transit Map! Grab it as a PDF here.

The Regional Transit Map shows ALL the transit service in our system, and the new version has lots of great improvements, including:

• It’s a large format that shows the entire transit system on one page (the previous version stopped just past Pitt Meadows—you had to look on the back for Langley and Maple Ridge)
• Regular service and limited service buses are clearly distinguished (so riders know not to expect buses that run just in the peak to come along all day)
• Bus routes are easier to follow, as the lines have been carefully distinguished in tricky spots on the map
• NightBus has been separated out as its own map, so riders won’t think NightBuses are available during the day
• the Frequent Transit Network corridors are now shown, so you can figure out which streets to quickly catch a bus!

(Eagle eyes will also note that the Frequent Transit Network highlighting on this map is consistent with the colours used on the actual Frequent Transit Network map, too. Synergy!)

New loop signage

Stops at these bus loops also have new signage, to better indicate the bay locations and the associated buses at those stops.

In the future, all bus stops that have routes listed on them will look like these loop stops!

Next steps

The full rollout will continue throughout the region in the coming year, especially in concert with renovation projects and the like. And signs will also be replaced on an ongoing basis around the region as needed: for example, if a bus stop gets damaged.

We don’t have confirmed dates on the rollout yet, but we will keep you updated as it unfolds. If you have specific feedback, please make sure to submit it through the Customer Feedback Form or at 604-953-3333, so we can log your concern and get it to the wayfinding team.

And of course, your comments are welcome below!