So…

On the weekend my brother and I took a ride on the new Canada Line SkyTrain in Vancouver. We rode the train from Vancouver City Centre to Bridgeport in Richmond. The trains are wider than conventional SkyTrain cars. There is a lot of standing room as well as space for bikes or just curling up on the floor.

My brother commented that the ride is much smoother than other SkyTrains. There’s almost no shaking or jerking. I was going to get out at every stop and take photos of all the stations, but I was too lazy.
My brother said it felt like stepping into a new city. “It doesn’t feel like I’m in Vancouver,” he said. Unlike the other two SkytTrain lines most of the stations on the Canada Line are undergound, thus bringing a functional subway to the Lower Mainland. It reminded me of taking the TTC in Toronto or the Metro in Montreal.

I was a little dissapointed with the stations. There was no art or originality in their design. It’d be nice if they brought in some local artists to jazz up the stations with paintings, sculpures and so forth.  I’m not sure what they look like above ground, but right now the stations are an empty canvas.

Here’s the train at Vancouver City Centre Station. It’s located kitty corner to Granville Station and still has that fresh new train station smell.  Note the marquee on the front of the train – it lets you know where it’s headed.

Looking down the SkyTrain tunnel from the platform at Vancouver City Centre Station.

These LED signs at every station let you know when the next trains will arrive. The orange LEDs are an improvement on the garish red marquees of the other lines.

They also have marquees inside the train lett you know where you are. All the undergound trains look alike so it really comes in handy. I was amazed at how quickly it whizzed through Vancouver. This really would have come in handy when I was at Langara.

Here’s an above ground station at Bridgeport. It looks just like a Millenium Line station. This one feeds right into the River Rock Casino. Gino had it in his mind that we’d go there… we did.