Upgrades to Expo Line Stations

[WBC]

Does anybody have the maps/drawings or at least a description of the upgrades that will be done to Metrotown and Broadway sky train stations?

[hollywoodnorth]

translink is being very quiet about it at the moment.........dick all on their website.........odd to say the least.

[mr.x]

Improvements for the stations include:
- replacing metal grate walls with glass walls
- new roof structures
- removal of concrete walls at platform level for Broadway Station
- improved lighting
- widened pedestrian crossing over Broadway
- improved security
- bike lockers
- new floors
- new south entrance at Broadway Station with escalator and elevator
- removal of north elevator at Broadway Station to be replaced with south elevator (as it is obtrusive)

[officedweller]

Don't know about Metrotown, but the Broadway/Commerial improvements are part of the Federally Funded Urban Transportation Showcase:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/Environ...ransitvillages

This is a rendering of the new south entrance to Broadway Station:


Translink website has info:
http://www.translink.bc.ca/Plans_Pro...se/default.asp

Project Timeline

Phase 1
Preparation of the Transit Village Plan (Spring - Fall 2005)

Phase 2
Preliminary and detailed Design of Near Term Improvements (Spring - Summer, 2007)

Phase 3
Construction of Near Term Improvements (Fall 2008)

Project Reports.
Only Surrey Central's final plan is posted.
http://www.translink.bc.ca/Plans_Pro...ectreports.asp

[deasine]

I never seen that picture... and I would think they would put the elevator at the back... anyway here are some pictures of the Broadway/Commercial 2005 Open House:



BROADWAY STATION UPGRADES (Mr. X has stated some of them)
- Replace metal screens and construct new dumpster enclosure
- Relocate elevator to south end of station
- Open a new 10th Ave entrance to the south with a new circulation stair
- Create a new bicycle storage facility (Bike Station)
- Remove 2 bays of east station wall at platform level
- Cover the underside of the passarelle
- Widen existing passarelle
- Upgrade existing roof with skylights to encourage daylighting
- Replace existing roof structure with new canopy design
- Improve area wayfinding, signage and lighting
- Community Safety Office

COMMERCIAL STATION UPGRADES
- Potential new connection to Commercial Bridge
- Widen Commercial Bridge sidewalk to accommodate

99 B-Line passenger flows
- Widen station platform bridge width to address crowding
- Improve Commercial Station plaza

99 B-LINE BUS STOP UPGRADES
DROP-OFF
- Provide weather protection, passenger information and wayfinding

PICK-UP
- Improve plaza area to accommodate peak queues
- Provide consistent design treatment (ie. paving)

#9, #20 BUS STOP UPGRADES
- Provide sufficient shelter to accommodate most of peak queuing, integrated into adjacent building architecture

SURROUNDING NEIGHBOURHOOD
- Design the pedestrian crossing on the east side of Commercial
- Drive to accommodate heavy pedestrian volumes and address desire lines to station entrances and bus stops.

[deasine]

And remember plasma displays at every station by 2009 (supposedly). These displays are in Metrotown and Waterfront station.

[squeezied]

1.8b replace existing roof

wow! that looks amazing!!

[The_Henry_Man]

Why aren't Translink combining the two station names into one, like Broadway-Commerical Station? It just makes so much more sense when Broadway-City Hall Stn is used for the C-Line. It makes the transit village much more unified. So many other transit systems around the world (at least the ones that I know of) use only one name for an interchange station. And it also makes wayfinding much easier.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by The_Henry_Man

Why aren't Translink combining the two station names into one, like Broadway-Commerical Station? It just makes so much more sense when Broadway-City Hall Stn is used for the C-Line. It makes the transit village much more unified. So many other transit systems around the world (at least the ones that I know of) use only one name for an interchange station. And it also makes wayfinding much easier.

It's something we should suggest to Translink.

[clooless]

I haven't been to Metrotown in a couple of years, but one thing that needs to change is the width of the pedestrian overpass between the station and Metrotown/Metropolis. It should easily be twice or maybe even four times as wide. I remember going to work at the mall and the crowd of people all cramming across that little bridge after getting off the train. I realize the walkway is most likely the responsibility of Metrotown, but it would be nice.

I agree that the station names for Broadway and Commercial stations should be combined. I never understood why they gave the Millennium Line station the Commercial name and didn't simply call it Broadway. Moving the elevator will also open up the Broadway station entrance as the elevator now takes up so much space at the entryway.

[SFUVancouver]

How about this for a stroke of brilliance, just call it:

Broadway-Commercial Drive

I'm impressed with the scope of the upgrades. I don't really think the bridge to the Broadway-Commerical Drive lower platform (see how well that works?) needs to be widened. What needs to be reevaluated is the circulation in front of the escalators to the Broadway-Commercial Drive upper platform (I love it!). That is where the bottleneck occurs, not on the bridge. Widening the sidewalk and adding weather protection is a great move. Putting a new entrance on 10th, moving the elevator to it, and adding bike lockers on that side ties in very well the 10th avenue bike corridor.

I shouldn't be surprised by how comprehensive this project is, considering it has federal funding as a showcase project and the CoV is on board, but surprised I am.

[officedweller]

I think those are all just suggestions - budgetary constraints will factor in.

i.e. the reason for replacing the roof is "because it looks dated".
Yeah, like they're going to spend $2M of taxpayer's money on a whim (like a kitchen reno).

[djh]

I've not seen any timescales associated with this work.

When is Phase 1 due to start, and when should the last phase finish?

[deasine]

This is the timeline:

Project Timeline

Phase 1
Preparation of the Transit Village Plan (Spring - Fall 2005)

Phase 2
Preliminary and detailed Design of Near Term Improvements (Spring - Summer, 2007)

Phase 3
Construction of Near Term Improvements (Fall 2008)


I dobut they will be completed then. This entire TransitVillage thing hasn't been moving a bit. I'm going to email TransLink and see why the Metrotown plans aren't up... I did about three quarters of a year ago and they changed the site to "coming June 2007."

I completely agree with the Broadway - Commercial Drive name. This way people just won't mess up with the Broadway - City Hall name. And doing this just makes the station sound like a transfer point. Looks like they would need to completely reprogram the SkyTrain computers. They still haven't changed some of the messages for Broadway and Commercial Drive. I guess you have to change all the trains manually =(

Well one more thing I would add to the Broadway change is to paint all the green to silver, just to match Commercial drive station. Might as well if you are redoing the entire thing XD

For the Metrotown station, these are my suggestions:
- New signage to match those of the M-Line ones
- Larger Walkway connecting Metrotown with Station (it also gets really hot there in the summer even though it's outside)
- Create a new station entrance (with roof) at the elevator and new circular staircase to the platform (everyone just uses the emergency staircase now)
- Replace the slow and scary elevator, make it glass
- Replace metal screens with glass
- Intergrate new entrance with nearby bikepaths and sidewalks
- Widen the pedestrian crossing at Central Blvd

[vanman]

^I agree with all of those suggestions, and either the city or Translink have been talking about widening that pedestrian walkway for a couple of years now and still nothing has been done.

[mr.x]

If possible, I'd like them to expand the concourse area of Metrotown Station. It's one of the busiest stations yet I find it's a bit too small...and yea, widening the walkway to the mall (at least twice the size of what it is right now) would be nice. Maybe a part of the widened walkway could be part of the expanded concourse.

And replace all of the metal crate walls with glass. Put in more CCTV too.



I still think the busiest and most crime ridden SkyTrain stations should have turnstiles. These being Broadway, Commercial, Metrotown, King George, Burrard, and Granville.

[clooless]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

If possible, I'd like them to expand the concourse area of Metrotown Station. It's one of the busiest stations yet I find it's a bit too small...and yea, widening the walkway to the mall (at least twice the size of what it is right now) would be nice. Maybe a part of the widened walkway could be part of the expanded concourse.

Good point. The concourse is tiny relative to other stations that aren't even half as busy. It would also be nice if the mall doors were right at end of the walkway instead of down further, but that's just being picky.

I still think the busiest and most crime ridden SkyTrain stations should have turnstiles. These being Broadway, Commercial, Metrotown, King George, Burrard, and Granville.

I don't know. When I was in New York all of the ruffians congregated in the areas before the subway turnstiles. But my biggest peeve was when it was really busy lines would form in front of the turnstiles as people swiped their fare cards. It didn't help that the "beep" sound that alerted you to the fact the card was accepted is the same "beep" sound to tell you the card was not accepted.

Another issue is that the turnstiles in the stations in outlying areas acted as both entrances and exits, so, again, when it was busy lines formed as people had to wait as those leaving the station on trains that had just arrived hogged the turnstiles (priority was given to those exiting stations).

Of course another issue is that the turnstiles could be avoided simply by jumping over the mechanism.

All in all, they were a pain the ass a lot of the time.

[mr.x]

I don't know. When I was in New York all of the ruffians congregated in the areas before the subway turnstiles. But my biggest peeve was when it was really busy lines would form in front of the turnstiles as people swiped their fare cards. It didn't help that the "beep" sound that alerted you to the fact the card was accepted is the same "beep" sound to tell you the card was not accepted.

Well that was NYC....for their population and commuter needs, i think their subway is quite incompetent. In Hong Kong, no lines at all....it was fast.....you went in and out of it.

We would need a lot of turnstiles, and thus concourse space, for Broadway, Commercial, Granville, Main Street, Waterfront, Burrard, Metrotown and King George Stations. And all of these stations have some space issues with their concourses, especially Main and Metrotown.

Another issue is that the turnstiles in the stations in outlying areas acted as both entrances and exits, so, again, when it was busy lines formed as people had to wait as those leaving the station on trains that had just arrived hogged the turnstiles (priority was given to those exiting stations).

I doubt they'd use the same turnstile system here. That would be quite inefficient. Perhaps the turnstiles could have timers that set of whether they are exit or entrance gates.

Of course another issue is that the turnstiles could be avoided simply by jumping over the mechanism.

Turnstiles have to be manned. In Hong Kong, they have glass circular booths or a glass enclosed counter with a man watching the turnstiles, taking questions from visitors, and dealing fares.

All in all, they were a pain the ass a lot of the time.

Yea, NYC isn't the best example.

[clooless]

Indeed, you are correct in pointing out that many of the flaws I mentioned could be overcome with the proper turnstile technology. If they are implemented at the stations you mentioned, a redesign and/or enlargement of the concourse will have to take place to accommodate the turnstiles otherwise there will be lineups getting to the platforms.

Another thing, any turnstiles they do install had better use robust swipe mechanisms rather than those pokey readers they use on the buses. The Las Vegas CAT system uses the same card system as Translink, but they employ durably designed swipe readers in all the buses that allow for much, much faster transfer examination and loading of passengers.

Yeah, New York certainly wasn't the best example, but it is the only one I could draw experience from as I have never been to Hong Kong or on any other metro system other than Calgary. One nice thing I noticed about the New York subway, at least from what I saw, none of the cars had any graffiti on the outside or inside.

[deasine]

I would say just implement the Smart Card technology immediately so it can be used for Busses, SkyTrain turnstiles, and many other items such as parking, shopping, etc. The Octopus Card in Hong Kong is one of the reasons why there are no lines in stations 'cuz they just pull their wallets out (without opening) and walkby with the wallet on top of the scanner and then the door opens. Many school cafeterias and shopping stores use it too.

Supposedly, if the SmartCard system was implemented, it would be able to detect people walking on the bus, scanning the card immediately... I read it in some report.

Anyway, our SmartCard system must be smarter though. Since TransLink uses timed fares and fare zones, it differs from the Hong Kong system, pay per "mode" use.