One thing that sets Vancouver apart from most other North American cities is its trolley bus system. Back in the 1950s, as the city began to dismantle its electric streetcar (railway) system, it opted to take advan¬tage of cheap, abundant hydroelectricity, and buy buses that run on overhead wires. Soon, forty-four- and forty-eight-passenger buses built by a Canadian foundry — cream in color and sporting the BC Electric Company “thunderbird logo” were running along most major thoroughfares.
In the 1980s, when diesel buses where increasingly taking over, BC Transit considered scrapping the trolley fleet. But Vancouverites had become attached to this generally smooth-moving, quiet, and clean form of transportation, and the popular fleet was renewed and expanded. Even at the turn of the twenty-first century, there is talk of ordering more trolley buses — abandonment is no longer an option.
In light of the exorbitant pricetags and endless politics surrounding other transit options, the trolley remains a kind of poor-man’s work¬horse. It does, though, have disadvantages. For one, it occasionally comes off the rails, and the driver has to get behind the bus and deftly maneuver the trolley poles back onto the overhead wires. And, obviously, it can’t go places where there are no wires (new wire-rails were installed out to UBC not long ago).
The second-best transit options are the articulated diesel buses that operate on new rapid-transit B-line routes. While transit engineers are just beginning to make use of all the available rapid-bus technology — bus-stop electronic messaging and traffic-light overrides, for example the B-lines are hugely popular, largely because they stop only at major intersections and save time. The busiest is the #99 Broadway B-line (Lougheed Mall in Burnaby to UBC). Another useful B-line, particularly if you’re traveling between the airport and downtown Vancouver with limited luggage, is the #98 along Granville Street.
Other good bus routes for practical and picturesque reasons — are the #35 between Simon Fraser University in Burnaby and Stanley Park; the #22, which loops around east-side Knight Street and west-side Macdonald Street; and the #250 from downtown, via the Lions Gate Bridge, to Dundarave and Horseshoe Bay (the latter is operated by West Vancouver Blue Bus, the Cadillac of BC bus systems).
For more on public transit services, go to www.translink.bc.ca or call 604-953-3333.
Detailed timetables of all Lower Mainland bus and SkyTrain routes are available at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library at 350 West Georgia Street.
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