Nowhere to Put Your Bags on Public Transit Buses Serving the Vancouver International Airport

This year, I've been travelling to Toronto often, to visit my girlfriend, and I noticed what Hirosan pointed out with his three photos on Flickr: when going from (or even to) the airport on public transit you don't have anywhere to put your bags. From the airport, the regular bus does not have any space for baggage, nor does the 98 B-line as you can see in an overhead shot. This is in contrast to the much more expensive Airporter (which does not stop between downtown and the airport) and the express bus from downtown Vancouver to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal, which has shelves where people can put their suitcases and other heavy things they don't want clogging the aisles. I'll be interested to see how the Canada Line, which goes directly to the airport from downtown, handles this problem, as this will likely replace both the Airport-to-Airport Station bus as well as the Richmond-to-Vancouver express bus.

[Cross-posted from Urban Vancouver.]

Comments

See this picture from Wikipedia of the cars on the Airport Express line in Hong Kong, which have racks placed next to the doors and friendly people helping you move your luggage on and off the train at each station. The entire line has 5 stations - one of which is the one closest by the place where I stay when I'm in HK. MTR Wikipedia love. Seeing that many of the upper-middle class in Richmond have likely been back to Hong Kong since the line opened in 1998, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a demand. Also, the cars are apparently done by Bombardier - but it's somebody else who's doing the Canada Line this time 'round, no?

I would say transit system in Vancouver is okay but it can be much better, like the seat layout for 98 B-line and making some space for luggage if no wheelchair person is taking the handycapped space or so on... The last time I visited Vancouver, I was wheelchaired because I was travelling one week after receiving surgery. The transit system, especially SkyTrain worked great for me since Vancouver people respect people with physical disabilities but the story is different for the rest of tourists with a bunch of luggege.