Aging Expo Line goes ka-put – again
Last summer’s shutdowns had passengers abandoning SkyTrain in droves.
As Zwei has predicted, the Expo Line is aging and problems are arising all to often.
What this continuing problem does illustrate is Translink’s bankrupt policy of trying to put all east-west transit customers on one line, instead of several east – west line if LRT was to have been built. With SkyTrain there is no redundancy.
Expect more and more shut downs until the line is refurbished at a cost of several billions of dollars.
Electrical problem shuts down SkyTrain service on Expo Line
By Staff Reporter, The Province October 24, 2015
An apparent electrial problem has shut down SkyTrain.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, PNG
SkyTrain engineers are trying to fix an electrical problem that has led to the shutting down of the Expo Line.
Transit reports that normal operations continue on the Millenium line between Clumbia and VCC Clarke.
A bus bridge was initially set p for Expo line trains between King George Station and Columbia Station and between Waterfront Station and Broadway station.
While the service across the Fraser was brought back on line, SkyTrain continued to rely on a bus bridge between the Edmonds station and Waterfront.
Passengers are being urged to stay in the trains and wait for SkyTrain attendants to manually drive halted trains to the nearest stations
Ai?? Copyright (c) The ProvinceUpdate
Expo Line back in service
Service on TransLinkai??i??s Expo Line has resumed after 12 trains completely came to a halt along various locations.
TransLink Spokesperson Anne Drennan says Ai??numerous trains had to be manually moved.
Ai??ai???There were a dozen trains that were on the tracks with passengers when the system shut down, when the Expo Line shut down. We had crew members go out as quickly as possible and bring those trains manually back to the stationsai???.
The delay began around 6pm affecting the entire Expo Line.
About an hour later service was restored between Edmonds station and King George station.
Bus Bridges were put in place between Waterfront and Edmonds Station.
Being stuck on that train for an hour with no word as to what the problem was or when it would be fixed was very frustrating. Finally having a driver show up to manually move us to the next station was a relief, but finding an inadequate bus service from the downed stations was even more frustrating. TransLink’s ability to communicate and solve problems are completely unacceptable. I’ll be hesitating before stepping on a sinking ship next time.
I noticed signs up in Vancouver about service cuts on bus routes in preparation for the commencement of the Millennium Line extension out to Coquitlam. Service cuts aren’t called service cuts any more by the spin doctors at TransLink, they are service hour “reinvestments”. Since the new CEO showed up, everything is a dividend, investment or reinvestment. I’m still waiting for TransLink to list on the TSE for investors to jump at the opportunity to lose $2 annually for every $3 invested in TransLink stock.
Of course, as soon as the Millennium Line extension goes into service, spin doctors at TransLink will be tallying up all the stellar ridership from all the service hour “reinvestments” (bus service hours to recycle existing bus passengers to the Millennium Line). None of these service hour reinvestments will be billed to the operating cost of the Millennium Line extension. Anyone who suggests that they contribute to the cost of operating s-train will be hunted down and accused of heresy.
Such is the sad state of affairs in Vancouver where the truth is censored because it promises to subvert the clique lying about the high transit use in Vancouver. In fact, TransLink’s transit use is the lowest of peers in Canada as Figure 4-11 in the link following illustrates. For achieving the lousiest public transit use in Canada, the masters of spin at TransLink earn $20,000 to $30,000 monthly to basically scratch their you know what all day at TransLink and plan for more of it.
http://www.caw111.com/TranslinkEfficiencyReview-Mar2012.pdf
After the Millennium Line extension goes into service, ridership reported by TransLink will soar and real transit use will plummet as people say the heck with waiting for some smelly bus to take them to a crowded s-train stop. However, in the newspapers which TransLink keeps close and controls with lucrative advertising revenue and political pressure, TransLink will have achieved another miracle with its record ridership to prove that TransLink once again was right as always to have pissed away billions of dollars on s-train. TransLink is soo aaahmazzing.
Switching gears, Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver and Director of TransLink was in an article in the Ottawa Citizen. He was gushing and buzzing about how he’d like to see clean and quiet electric buses replace our unclean and unquiet diesel buses in Vancouver. Uhhh, he is the mayor. If he feels so strongly about it, nothing is stopping him from passing the by-law banning all the current diesel buses which operate 100% underneath the electric trolleybus wires along Broadway in Vancouver. He could also just oppose the billions of dollars for the subway and the tens of millions of dollars being squandered right now to re-plan what’s been planned dozens of times in the past for the subway along Broadway so that he can free up the money for e-buses. He has no such intention.
He’s the consummate two faced and glib politician who puts on a big show for the newspapers and then stealthily plans for more diesel bus use in Vancouver to keep his subway dream alive until he is convinced: that e-buses can prove that they have the necessary torque to climb up hills in Vancouver and that e-buses can handle our brutal Vancouver winters. I’m pretty sure that the thousands of e-buses in present use now, including the electric buses which have been in successful operation near Edmonton, Alberta since 2014 prove that e-buses can climb our hills in Vancouver and can endure our semi-tropical climate in Vancouver.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/local+news/vancouver+mayor+promotes+electric+buses+translink/12301918/story.html
I’ll have to cut it short. It’s time to get ready for the season seven premiere of TWD on AMC. Zombies on TWD aren’t nearly as scary as our zombie mayor is in Vancouver. If I have my way, we’d be holding an election every two years for the mayor of Vancouver. Our mayor got elected, changed the term from three years to four years for elections and is coasting on our dime after he gave himself a hefty raise to represent the less than 50% of the voters who fell for his crap and elected him. Yup, he’s obviously mayor to end homelessness and improve transit alright, as he says.
http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walking-dead/video-extras/sneak-peek-of-the-walking-dead-season-7-premiere
Mr Chris, you note that “TransLink’s transit use is the lowest of peers in Canada as Figure 4-11 in the link following illustrates.”
Yes, that figure shows that Translink has the lowest “revenue passengers per km”. But if these numbers are normalized by Translink’s three time larger service area and one-third as dense population as the Toronto (TTC) service area reported in Table 4-1 the resulting picture is rather different.
BTW is anyone else bothered by the fact that this consultant’s report does not report units on the y axis of some graphs?
Zwei replies: Sorry Dondi, that argument was debunked about two years ago.