Yesterday was the first day the Burrard Chinook (TransLink’s newest SeaBus) was put into revenue service.
The Chinook has a unique livery consisting of art from the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations communities and showcases the Chinook salmon within the ecosystem as well as First Nations cultures.
TransLink now has four SeaBuses in operation: The Burrard Beaver is the remaining original SeaBus of the pair built in 1976 (the retired sibling being the Burrard Otter). The Burrard Pacific Breeze began its service in 2009 and allowed TransLink to run 10-minute service with all three vessels during the 2010 Olympics. In 2014, the Burrard Otter II entered service, replacing the Burrard Otter. And finally we have the Burrard Chinook, which will allow TransLink to re-start operate 10-minute peak service with three vessels in operation and one spare.
This past Wednesday, TransLink started to put the newest batch of buses out onto the streets, in particular, Surrey streets. The transit enthusiast in me could not resist seeking out that new bus smell.
S15003 taking recovery at Newton Exchange
The previous batch had a light grey front
These buses are the same model as the previous set of articulated buses back in 2013. However, this new batch has the “charcoal top” livery instead of the light grey which I think looks much better and fitting with the rest of the fleet. Like the last batch, these buses are fully air-conditioned. (Recently, TransLink announced that all future bus orders will have air conditioning standard.) These will be great to ride in the summer!
Surrey hasn’t seen a new bus delivery in ages (better transit enthusiasts can quote the exact date); they’ve always been getting “hand-me-down” buses from other depots in the area. I guess it is a show of good faith for further development of transit in the South of Fraser area and the #96 B-Line corridor. Twelve of these new buses will serve the #96 B-Line while the remaining eleven in the order will be distributed to other articulated bus routes in the region.
Have you had a chance to ride the new buses? Leave your impressions in the comments!
At Newton Exchange
S15003 window signage
S15003 rear interior
S15003 rear interior
S15003 rear interior
S15003 rear interior
S15003 middle door. Back to the old style push bars.
S15003 middle door
S15003 wheelchair location
S15003 wheelchair location
S15003 wheelchair location
Rear interior section
S15003 rear door
S15003 rear section. Not really a fan of the extended “fence” dividing the back row
S15003 rear section. Not really a fan of the extended “fence” dividing the back row
View from back to front
S15003 rear door
Stanchions in the articulation joint
Stanchions in the articulation joint, rear-facing seats on the middle wheel well
S15003 at Newton Exchange
S15003 rear right
S15003 rear left
S15003 front left
S15003 front left
S15003 rear left
Compare the fronts of the New Flyer XDE60 and New Flyer D40LFR
I commute from Richmond to Downtown Vancouver every day for work. Normally I take the Canada Line, which is a quick and reliable way to and from work. As much as I like trains, some days it just seems boring; after all, the majority of the ride is underground.
So I tasked myself to find five different ways to get to work (potentially one for each day of the week), if I wanted to take a break from the Canada Line. Let’s assume we’re commuting from Richmond Centre to Waterfront. Obviously we’re not optimizing for travel time.
Option 1: 403, 480, 44
A nice ride to UBC then along 4th Avenue, Burrard Street Bridge downtown. If you’re lucky, you can complete this entire route on articulated buses.
Option 2: 407, 22
I’d probably consider this one the most unscenic one, but it only involves one transfer and is a bus-only route. Probably a good one for napping.
Option 3: 430, Expo/Millennium Line
An express bus to Metrotown, then a ride on the SkyTrain downtown. If you’re extremely lucky, you may find a seat at the front of the SkyTrain.
Option 4: 410, Expo/Millennium Line
Kind of the same as the previous option except this one includes a highway run along Highway 91, but no express through the city. This has a longer SkyTrain ride too, which also includes passing the SkyTrain yard.
Option 5: 407, 480, 17, 50
And finally the crazy bus-only route. Almost guaranteed to ride four different types of buses – a New Flyer 40 footer on the 407, an articulated bus on the 480, a trolley bus on the 17 and most likely a Novabus on the 50.
Of course these options aren’t exhaustive; there are many other combinations that can loop through all parts of town. But these are the ones off the top of my head that balance being interesting and getting to work in a reasonable amount of time.
While I was in Toronto these past few days, I got a chance to see two of Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) newest transit vehicles.
For those unfamiliar with public transportation in the Greater Toronto Area, a number of transit authorities provide local transit service within different regions in the GTA. The TTC provides transportation services within the Toronto proper, including the subways, streetcars and bus service. I suppose a more detailed introduction to the different public transportation services would be ideal in a separate post.
The articulated buses
The first were the Nova Bus LFS articulated buses. These buses, introduced mid-last year, were the first articulated buses in the TTC fleet since 2003. This one was seen on the #7 Bathurst line.
TTC 2013 Nova Bus LFS Articulated Bus #9004 on the #7 Bathurst line
I must give credit to an Android app called Transit Now Toronto for helping me find out when the articulated buses were coming down the line. I actually did not realize that TTC had real-time arrival data available, so actually I spent half the time trying to find these buses the “old-school way”.
The new streetcars
The second was one of the new streetcars. This was a bit of a lucky catch as I was at Bathurst station originally looking for the Nova Bus articulated buses. When I was coming up from the subway as I saw the streetcar demonstrator pulling through the streetcar loop. I would have liked to chase it further for better photos, but my time was constrained.
TTC 2013 Bombardier Flexity Outlook Demonstrator #4401 at Bathurst Station
The new Toronto streetcars are built by Bombardier, and are similar to the ones that were demonstrated here in Vancouver during the Olympics. A fleet of 204 Flexity Outlook units have been ordered and are replacing the aging fleet of CLRV and ALRV streetcars that were built in the 1970s and 1980s.
The weather
On an unrelated topic, the weather in Toronto was very forgiving while I was there. I was hoping to see some real snow fall, but the weather turned out to be “relatively warm” (by Toronto standards); on some days it was even sunny. So before my flight back, my cousin took me to the largest (manmade) snow mound he knew of. I climbed on top of it just for kicks.
Me on a mound of snow. Yes apparently it’s all snow, I’m assuming the land here was flat before they started piling the snow up here.
