Last week, I attended the open house for three of the proposed Canada Line stations, Waterfront, Robson and Yaletown. I spend most time looking at the proposals for Waterfront station—which they are building underneath the Sinclair Centre—and talking to the City and RAVCO/CLCO representatives there. I took some blurry photos of the line's cross section diagrams, and here are my hastily-scribbled notes of one of the conversations:
- there will be bike hangers on each train, though one of the pamphlets said the line will accommodate only 2 bikes per 2-car train.
- individual trains will have 2 cars on day one, but all stations will be built to allow for the possibility of 3 cars after they evaluate demand
- it's not feasible to connect directly to the existing Waterfront station, primarily because the radius for turning in would not be wide enough. It would be about a 100 meter walk either underground to CP Waterfront Station as part of the Granville Street Redesign.
I must have been slipping in my old age, because the open house was the first time I heard of plans for a downtown streetcar, though the website could use an update. As cool as it sounds, the areas served by the streetcar, at least in Phase I, seem to either be served well by existing options (trolley and/or SkyTrain) and if not, increasing or improving bus or trolley service might be a cheaper and better option.
