Vancouver Downtown Streetcar | Proposed

[jlousa]

The ROW is there and it does not take long to lay down track, should the word go be given the 3Km section (6km double tracked) could be done in a few months. It would probably take longer to receive delivery of streetcars.

[zivan56]

It doesn't take long to lay down the tracks. Getting ROW and actual streetcars could be a problem for such a short timespan. It would be interesting to see the demo running from Main Street Skytrain to Granville Island using one or two streetcars.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Looks good, the rest of the document has some good info in it as well. With so little money needed to get this going I've always been surprised it's taken this long. Hopefully Phase 3 gets the go ahead shortly after the Olympics. The only negative I can see is a possible end to the the aquabuses.

the aquabuses are a private company aren't they? they could stay

there is a never a problem with too many transit options

[jlousa]

Yes they are a private company, but a lot of their business is granville island/tourist related, if the pacific blvd extension gets built there will surely be a huge reducation in traffic as tourists would probably take the streetcar (even though the trip would take longer). Hopefully they would survive but I'm not so sure.

[LeftCoaster]

I think with all the added infrastructure and residents along SE and E false creek they should be able to keep afloat...

HAHA.

[WBC]

Aside from being a tourist attraction and a new destination for school day-trips that thing is going to be a huge waste of money. Vancouver has been trying to sell this to TransLink for the last 10 years with zero success. And foor a good reason.

[LeftCoaster]

^??

Explain yourself

[WBC]

Well I don't want to sound like a member of Bus drivers union but 8.5 million buys you a lot of buses instead of just esentially modernazing the railway bed. Then you have to buy trams, train drivers, build a maintanace depot, build stations and then to make this even remotely sensible you have to extend this line. That is a whole lot of money for what amounts to a tourist line.

I think that several years ago the city of Vancouver has pegged the entire cost to 60-100 million dollars. Obviously Vancouver has no money for this alone. And selling a tourist line to rest of Metro Vancouver is going to be a very tough sell. This line was not mentioned in the provincial 14 billion announcement.

As for its tranportation benefits I think they are microscopic even with the line being fully expanded to reach Stanley Park. If I live in South False Creek and want to go downtown I think I would rather jump on Canada Line and be there in 3 minutes. Stanley Park maybe, but that would be more of a weekend kind of thing.

[SpongeG]

it would be more than a tourist line

its not part of translink so the region won't get all titty - its a vancouver project

[deasine]

They have existing tracks there... they just need to double the entire thing: or they can double it in certain areas to save cost.

Now they can either purchase StreetCars or rent them from another country (then add olympic themed/vancouver design wrapping over the streetcar).

Great to see this project is not scrapped =) Thanks for sharing officedweller

[mr.x]

Great to see progress with this project....hopefully, this is only the beginning of a full-scale downtown streetcar network as the city has proposed.

[deasine]

global did a report too on this (i shall share the link when it's uploaded). For now, i took a few pics with my phone. Taking videos with my phone is horrible...


Tony Parsons

According to Global, there is now a change of plans with the line. Phase 0-A will be from Granville Island to Canada Line Olympic Village Station, then continue to Main Street Science World. After that, they will explore options for expansion, should there be a demand, and extend it to Stanley Park, Yaletown, etc.


Phase 0-A Option


Picture of the SLUT () in Seattle


Historic Streetcar still there

They may use the old historic streetcars for special occasions (opening of 2010 ceremonies, during olympics, weekends, etc.).

This work (above) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by deasine

According to Global, there is now a change of plans with the line. Phase 0-A will be from Granville Island to Canada Line Olympic Village Station, then continue to Main Street Science World. After that, they will explore options for expansion, should there be a demand, and extend it to Stanley Park, Yaletown, etc.

They may use the old historic streetcars for special occasions (opening of 2010 ceremonies, during olympics, weekends, etc.).

Demand? You need more routes and service to attract demand.....not just one tiny route that basically goes nowhere and would only serve tourists. Not to mention that if it does go through DTES and Chinatown in the future, it would serve as a catalyst for bringing back business and activity to those neigbourhoods.....it's sad to see what Chinatown has become these days, my childhood memories of it were a place that was bustling with activity all day and everyday.










Toronto's new Siemens streetcars




On top of a streetcar fleet that is primarily modern, it would be nice if they could renovate and run a few historic streetcars.

[deasine]

Haha I agree too, I guess financially, it's not plausible for the city. I'm pretty sure this is only a city project and not related with TransLink or Provincial Government, (of course not Federal either).

The council will vote on this on Tuesday.

More Modern Streetcars

Strasbourg Tram by Bombardier - Source: Wikipedia


Alstom Citadis - Source: Wikipedia


Melbourne Trams - Source: Melbourne.org


Combino Amsterdam - Source: Wikipedia


Closer to Home

Portland MAX, most sucessful LRT/Streetcar in the US - Source: Wikipedia

I'm sure SFUVancouver has a few pictures of the MAX system (you're the one that went to Portland a few months ago if I'm not wrong)


Seattle SLUT () - Source: MyZip


My Personal Favovorites
Siemens LRT/StreetCar/Trams used in Houston and Charlotte. The Avanto series.


Avanto Siemens Metro Rail in Houston, one of the most new sucessful LRTs in US - Source: Wikipedia


Avanto Siemens LYNX in Charlotte (that swish reminds me of Canada Line Logo/SkyTrain Logo) - Source: Wikipedia

[Jacques]

After seeing the debacle about the greenbelt of Carrall street going south instead of north as planned, I doubt very much we will ever see the making of this tram line in Gastown let alone Stanley park, a lot of hot air I say.
I wouldn't hold my breath on this one, they will conclude that implementing phase 0 is sufficient to attract tourists as they have been doing for a few years now anyway, so no cuts off my pants.
the city is like a big machine that works to make believe we will do this and we will do that but I need your cash first and you tourist are my sure bets I can fill my pocket.
IMO

[Jacques]

According to Global, there is now a change of plans with the line. Phase 0-A will be from Granville Island to Canada Line Olympic Village Station, then continue to Main Street Science World. After that, they will explore options for expansion, should there be a demand, and extend it to Stanley Park, Yaletown, etc.

emphasis on the highlighted words tells more of the truth as another gimmick for City hall

[deasine]

Global TV Report:
http://canwest.a.mms.mavenapps.net/m...a-a490510d9fc5

Global TV Newscasts>Global BC Newshour Mar 05>17:30 (you have to wait to load and drag the viewer to 17:30, they didn't divide it into a seperate report)

Notice reporter Linda Aylesworth said something wrong when she reports about route mapping

[djh]

Originally Posted by Jacques

According to Global, there is now a change of plans with the line. Phase 0-A will be from Granville Island to Canada Line Olympic Village Station, then continue to Main Street Science World. After that, they will explore options for expansion, should there be a demand, and extend it to Stanley Park, Yaletown, etc.

emphasis on the highlighted words tells more of the truth as another gimmick for City hall

Yeah, wasn't Phase 0 originally from Granville Island to Science World? Why the scale-back? Is this to "protect" the Olympic Village?
And I'm not even sure that the $8.5 million includes a doubling of the track on the ROW, just a 'modernising' of it. So will we really see any difference to what has been running along those tracks every tourist season for the last number of years?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by djh

Yeah, wasn't Phase 0 originally from Granville Island to Science World? Why the scale-back? Is this to "protect" the Olympic Village?
And I'm not even sure that the $8.5 million includes a doubling of the track on the ROW, just a 'modernising' of it. So will we really see any difference to what has been running along those tracks every tourist season for the last number of years?

Considering that the proposed 2nd Avenue streetcar would run through the Olympic Village, there's no point in building any further than the Olympic Village Canada Line Station. The Olympic Village will be closed off like a castle/fortress, nevermind having streetcars running through it during the Games.

[djh]

They could have still built the line and just run the trains to Cambie/2nd during the Olympics.