Canada Line traffic settles down on Day 2
By Frank Luba, The ProvinceAugust 19, 2009
David Nixon and Briana Wutsch waited until Tuesday to take their two-year-old son, Osiris, for a little ride on the newest train in town — the $2.05 billion Canada Line.
The trio were among the 70,000 people to hop the train on its first official day of operation.
The family lives near the Yaletown-Roundhouse station and were going to try the system Monday — until they saw the massive lineups for the free rides offered as a pre-opening public treat.
“It was too long a wait,” said Nixon.
Their plan was solid, as they got to experience the system Tuesday without being packed into the cars like sardines in a tin.
More than 82,000 riders jammed Canada Line during Monday’s eight-hour preview of the 19-kilometre connection between downtown Vancouver, Richmond and Vancouver International Airport. InTransitBC spokesman Steve Crombie said only about 50,000 riders were expected, and the extra passengers forced the line to put on 19 two-car trains instead of the 15 initially used. The planned schedule was dropped too.
“We started trains basically as often as we could,” said Crombie.
Paid service started Tuesday morning at 4:50 a.m. from Waterfront Station and by 9:30 a.m., electronic counters showed just 9,000 people had crossed into fare-paid zones where they needed tickets. The number jumped to 33,000 by 2:15 p.m and hit 60,000 just before 6 p.m. — “so we’re anticipating we’ll hit at least 70,000 for the day,” said Crombie.
Unlike the waits Monday that were as long as two hours at some stations, commuters — including a surprising number with suitcases headed to the airport — got a more “normal” view of the line than Monday’s almost excursion-like trip.
Nixon, 34, and Wutsch, 25, liked what they saw.
“It reminds me of other cities where I have taken metros or subways,” said Nixon, who owns a chain of clothing stores.
Wutsch thinks the line will be most useful for Richmond residents wanting to get into Vancouver, but she plans to use it for trips to the airport when she travels with her toddler.
“It will be nice not to have to drive,” she said.
Both were particularly happy the line has finally been finished.
“We’ve been dealing with the construction for three years,” said Nixon.
“We’ve been living in a gated community,” joked Wutsch of the controlled access in their neighborhood. “It was a little rough. The dust and the noise and the trucks — but I guess it’s worth it.”
As with almost anything new, there’s always a little confusion, and that continued Tuesday as people struggled to figure out which train they needed.
There was also a hiccup with the new ticket-vending machines. People had trouble purchasing tickets with debit or credit cards because the new machines need to retain the cards longer than the older ticket machines. The new machines have three yellow lights and users must wait for all three lights to be lit up before withdrawing their card.
Making it easy to pay is a priority for the line, because its business case was predicated on attracting 100,000 riders a day — a total that was supposed to be reached by 2013.
TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said current ridership is not an accurate “barometer” of ridership because buses won’t be fully integrated with the line until Sept. 7, the day of the next regular bus schedule change.
“After Sept. 6, after Labor Day, is when all of the buses start focusing on the Bridgeport Station and Brighouse [station],” he said.
— with a file from Jack Keating
fluba@theprovince.com
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