Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Vancouver BC SkyTrain's Canada Line

On a walkshop at Walk21, I had a chance to visit the Davie Street corridor to review pedestrian design and the interaction of sidewalk cafes and streets.

We took the Canada Line down two stops to start the tour. The tour was "staffed" by volunteers that helped us get oriented by carrying a red umbrella.

The train is underground through downtown which results in very efficient movement through the City. It is fantastic that there are no drivers along the alignment. I have to assume that the safety record has been good and they haven't had any problems. They must have some pretty sophisticated control systems to make this all work and it would seem that each train would have to have some sort of oversight using cameras. These trains are highly reliable and run constantly-up to a train every 90 seconds during rush hours. In the times I have ridden it I have rarely ever had to wait for a train.

The train stations are very well lighted. The focus of the light is all on the station as opposed to the rail alignment.

The train information in the station is excellent. The signs provide good information for customers. There is a lot going on in the train station beyond the real-time customer information including advertisements on flat screens and news segments.


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