-agree that it's the provincial government which messed up Translink's revenue stream by cancelling that $60.00 car levy fee over a decade.

It's also more than just about a reliable stream of revenue for construction projects.

Why the heck did the government put Translink not only responsible for public transit but also bridges, roads, and other infrastructure? You have a group of non-elected executives, who I think couldn't even manage a 7 Eleven properly, look after all that stuff?? Make these executives elected officials who are accountable to the government.

They gotta learn from the Hong Kong MTR's management about development funded transit expansion model. Be a major property developer of condos around future skytrain stations to get more revenue from property sales instead of relying on our tax dollars. Why let real estate developers get all the money from selling condos?



Hong Kong?s Expanding Metro a Model of Development-Funded Transit « The Transport Politic

We can't be sure exactly. It depends on what their definition of "reliable" is.

It could mean 95% of the time, the train comes on time, and functions exactly as it should...

Or it could mean 95% of the time something shows up, even if it is 30 minutes late.

After all you can bend statistics and twist them anyway you like...

^Exactly.

95% reliable could mean that 95 out of 100 people end up where they originally needed to go at some point lol

Here's my take on why people have unrealistic expectations between private and public transit:

It's about control and personal autonomy. When cars break down or if there's a major accident, people will not blame the car or accident because they still feel they are in control - whether they can take an alternative route, or conduct the repairs on their own time. When it comes to public transit, being stuck on a train or bus takes away a person's ability to rectify the situation.

The JR system in Japan is pretty amazing; it's massive....

Service delay refunds - Transport for London

Translink should follow this. I wish.....

well that's fucking shit then.

Reliability | Central Japan Railway Company

well that too, but Skytrain is exceptionally unreliable.
they clearly have no idea what they're doing, especially considering how simple their route is.

Oh, they have no idea alright. Look at Compass. But that's another topic...

wasn't translink historically free for an entire week in July?
1 holiday freebie seems pretty weak

This is false, at least for me.

I constantly blame/get upset at people who get into accidents because of their shitty driving habits, especially when they start causing huge delays and major traffic jams while the exchange information right in the middle of the road instead of pulling to the side like considerate human beings.

I saw an accident at kingsway and Griffith today, right where they are currently doing construction and there is backups pretty much all day long. Two cars involved in a minor fender bender blocked traffic for god knows how long (cars were backed up in for like 8 blocks) while they exchanged information.

If you're car works pull to the fucking side and deal with it, don't stay parked in the middle of the road.

Let the shitty drivers thread be a constant testament to the fact that people do indeed blame/get upset at others who cause delays and problems on the road.

Translink is underfunded, if they start giving away free fares for a week we are just going to have our taxes bumped in order to make up the difference. In the end the money has to come from somewhere... And translink is a Monopoly, they could not give you transit users a thing, and you guys could do nothing but huff and puff. So be happy that the rest of us road users are funding your free day aboard public transit and pipe down.

It is a universally known fact that humans are far from perfect. Mistakes happen -- it's human nature. In this case, an (experienced) electrician fxxked up, and unfortunately the fxxk up happened to be critical, resulting in a 5 hour system wide delay.

I dunno about others, but in my line of work, we generally don't fxxk around with the production system during regular operating hours at all. If we are forced to do so, we plan it well in advanced and send out notices and subsequent reminders to all the stakeholders. And while we work on the production system, it generally means the production system gets shut down or becomes inaccessible to the regular users.

What I am saying is, it makes no sense that Translink was sending out a field tech (electrician, in this case) to work on their production system (the Skytrain) during regular operating hours when there is a risk that the whole system can get shut down (in this case, it did). The front line electrician definitely deserves a share of the blame in bringing the whole Skytrain down, but the management staff who planned / approved this deserves at least as much blame as the electrician, if not more so. As a matter of fact, if the electrician in this case has explicitly warned his supervisor / manager of the potential danger, and the supervisor / manager has decided that the job should still be done during regular operating hours, the majority of the blame should fall on the decision maker's shoulders, not the front line worker who is merely following orders.

It is ironic how the electrician is now suspended, but the supervisor who directed this work isn't.

the japanese are amazing in this respect. produce some of the best cars in the world save for Germans. Produce #1 electronics technology in the world.

the Japanese live to work while Canadians work to live. It clearly shows with the quality and amazing things that come out of Japan. remember Japan is a small island and its one of the most desirable unique places to travel to. everything the Japanese do is efficient, tidy, proficient ground breaking

as much as i don't really like crediting vancity buzz as a good source of news, this was fairly interesting.

Vancouverites are spoiled with SkyTrain

in Switzerland they claim to have a higher efficiency with their trains than the japanese, from my experience i'd say it would be pretty hard to beat but i've never been to japan

i been through the worst, HK MTR, TRANSLINK & GUANGZHOU METRO, they 3 are the worst transit systems ever, anything is better then these 3

a 2 lines in hk lost signal due the lighting strikes yesterday & the guangzhou metro is full of shit, there is no directed airport line

aka means its not like canada where u get to transfer to a yvr train directly to the airport, they only have an airport stop (so your pretty much fucked during rush hour)

Just by looking at the map of the JR system can be mind boggling.. but they actually made it easy enough that i saw a mother drop off her daughter.. who could not have been any older than 9.. and she hopped on the train.. not from the train platform.. no.. from the entrance that goes down into the subway system.. I've seen little kids travelling that thing a couple of times.. I'm pretty glad i got a chance to see their system.. cause when i got back to canada.. translink pales in comparison but again keep in mind the size of tokyo and population density.. we're talking about 37 million in tokyo alone acrossd 23 different districts, compared to not even 3 mil in vancouver..

If you're talking about area, Tokyo is actually smaller. But more people, and yes much dense as you said, with much more buildings, railways, etc.

Tokyo Metropolis
2,187 km2

Greater Vancouver
2,700 km2

that is an extremely one sided argument made by someone with an agenda. i also wouldn't trust the numbers presented - he clearly made them in excel.

skytrain's not bad, but it's not good, nor is it particularly affordable. I hope the affordability improves when the oyster card system is introduced, but stupid things like inconsistencies between buses and skytrain make the whole translink experience beyond frustrating.

i wasn't happy that the article spent so much time talking about portland. road based trams are way cheaper than our system, and I've found them to be way more user friendly. you need trains for further away stops, trams / metro for the inter and intra city movements, with busses sprinkled around for the less popular routes. skytrains are an expensive luxury that aren't all that luxurious (to use, to look at, etc.) - we only have them because our roads aren't built with a long term vision, so we cannot easily integrate non-bus transit on the roads.

That is a terrible article - I can sum it up in one line: "Hey bitches, stop whining, we're not the worst in North America!"

Yeah ok, so is the kid who got 55% in math - but he's still a dunce.

The only thing I agree with in that article is in one of the comments: the only thing Vancouverites are spoiled with is that they get a chance to walk on the tracks; something nobody in other countries can do!

Lol...apparently another "glitch" this morning.

Metro Vancouver morning rush hour hit with SkyTrain delays - British Columbia - CBC News

My co-worker was on it and it was delay for about 40mins. :accepted:

I can vouch for this. Not even speaking of trains which is 99% on schedule down to the minute, i would say even their (Japan) buses alone is just as punctual.

Having grown up in the lower mainland, that just blew my mind where transit schedules are generally treated as nothing more than a guideline rather than an actual schedule

Again.

SkyTrain problem hits Canada Line

Yeah but I thought this was due to a power outage to the entire area, can't really knock em for that.