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Here comes the new SkyTrain
The sparkling Millennium Line and revamped bus services will speed up
commutes -- especially for SFU

Frank Luba and Susan Lazaruk

The Province


Sunday, August 25, 2002

The Province
Simon Fraser University student Azam Tyab, 28, at the new Production Way
SkyTrain station, which he'll be using to shave at least half an hour off
each trip between his home and the campus.


More than a year late and with one station yet to be built, SkyTrain's new
Millennium Line finally opens next weekend.

The $1-billion-plus project connects New Westminster with East Vancouver to
complete a Lower Mainland SkyTrain loop that officials are predicting will
bring 16 million new riders on board in its first year.

Students at the main Simon Fraser University campus and residents of
Burnaby appear to be the big winners heading into next Sunday's opening of
the Millennium Line and the bus service changes that feed into it beginning
Sept. 2.

The situation isn't as positive for Coquitlam, which gets the 97B-Line
express service instead of SkyTrain, and locations such as Riverview
Hospital -- which is losing half its bus service.

SFU students are looking at much shorter commutes. While the SkyTrain
doesn't go up Burnaby Mountain, its stop at Production Way links to a
direct bus to the campus.

During the peak hours, there will be bus service to SFU every 7-8 minutes
and there will never be a wait longer than 15 minutes.

"It's a really big improvement in service," said Jan Gunn, internal
relations officer for the Simon Fraser Student Society.

Azam Tyab, 28, a political science student at SFU, is looking forward to
his fourth and final year, if only because he's going to be shaving at
least a half-hour and as much as an hour from his daily commute, each way.

Last year Tyab, who lives in the Whalley area of Surrey, had to take three
buses and the SkyTrain to get to the Burnaby Mountain campus. The trip
would typically take an hour, 20 minutes and sometimes as long as two
hours, he said.

"It was a total pain," he said.

Last year, he would catch a bus to the Surrey Central SkyTrain, which he
would ride to Columbia Station in New Westminster. From there, he'd take a
bus to Lougheed Mall and then transfer to a third bus to get to SFU.

Tyab will now be able to ride the Millennium Line four stops from Columbia
Station to Production Way, which Translink says will take nine minutes.
From there, there's a frequent shuttle that will have him on campus in
five minutes.

Approximate total one-way commute: 50 minutes.

"That's spectacular, I'm really pleased," he said. "But I guess I won't be
getting as much reading done."

Translink spokesman Ken Hardie also said the new line will benefit those
travelling from Coquitlam to UBC. He said taking the Millennium Line from
the new Lougheed station to Broadway and then transferring to the express
99 B-Line bus will save those commuters 17 minutes each way.

The Millennium Line project has been beset with delays related to
environmental studies and access agreements.

Even now, the final station at the Vancouver Community College in East
Vancouver is "in limbo," according to a spokesman for the Rapid Transit
Project Office that built the system. In the meantime, the Millennium Line
will end at Commercial station.

"We haven't been able to get an access agreement with BNSFR [Burlington
Northern-Sante Fe Railway]," said Benson Chin of the RTPO. "[Burlington]
would like to get something from the project to allow us to build on the land."

So while there are designs for the station, there's been no construction.

Coquitlam Mayor Jon Kingsbury acknowledges the new 97B-Line will help a
portion of his community but he argues it does little for areas like
Westwood Plateau, half of which doesn't even get bus service.

"We still don't have a good feeder system," said Kingsbury, who is hoping
the northeast sector will be considered soon for the community shuttles --
less intrusive mini-buses intended for lower-ridership routes that also
debut Sept. 2 in South Surrey and White Rock.

Then there are bus service cuts of more than 50 per cent to Riverview Hospital.

"Riverview is a surprise," said Kingsbury of the cuts, which affect some
2,400 employees and 800 patients. TransLink met with stakeholders Thursday
and may consider future changes.

Burnaby, which reaped benefits by planning the growth of Metrotown around
the Expo SkyTrain line, is making similar plans along the Millennium Line
-- which essentially parallels the Expo line.

An example is the Lake City Way station. While it won't be built until next
year, it will be another attraction for Burnaby's growing high-tech
industrial park in the area.

TransLink's Ken Hardie said the estimate is that in the Millennium Line's
first full year of operation it will have 16 million riders that are new to
transit.

"You could be quite confident in saying that's 16 million trips that would
have been made in other ways, primarily cars," said Hardie.

But that reduction in congestion will cost a staggering $4 billion over the
standard government mega-project amortization period of 40 years.

There were 60 new Mark II cars purchased from Bombardier for the Millennium
Line and to supplement service on the existing Expo line at roughly $2.5
million each.

The Mark IIs are roomier and you can walk from car to car.

They will run in two-car trains carrying a maximum 260 passengers, in
comparison to the present four-car Mark I trains that can hold 320 passengers.

But while seats on the new cars are larger and more comfortable, there's
room for just 84 seated passengers compared to the 140 seated on the
four-car train.

But if any of this is making you hot, take a trip on the new cars --
they're air-conditioned.

fluba@...

slazaruk@...

© Copyright 2002 The Province