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Old 07-19-2017, 12:24 PM
 
Location: Beautiful British Columbia 🇨🇦
525 posts, read 454,012 times
Reputation: 943

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^ I second that. The first time I used public transportation on my own in a city was in Vancouver. Even I managed to figure it out. The bus drivers are very helpful too!

 
Old 07-19-2017, 12:50 PM
 
3,950 posts, read 3,302,106 times
Reputation: 1693
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
This isn't about Europe. We are comparing the US and Canada, but since you brought it up.

Canada, does amazingly well, considered we are the second largest country in the world, with the population of California.

Comparing Canada to the rest of the world is difficult. Australia might be the closest. Another country that is huge with a small population.

However, somehow, must be magic, Canada rates high on the things that matter. QOL and Standard of living. Our cities are rated along with European and Australian ones. The US...not so much.

Vancouver road systems? You mean freeways within the city? Compared to Seattle, the actual streets here seem better looked after. Also the city is trying to get people out of their cars. Within downtown, over 50 percent of trips are now on foot or bike. As the downtown population grows, making it better for cars isn't going to work.

Skytrain actually does get compliments and good marks from tourists from Europe. It's not London or Paris, but it does just as well as cities of it's size in Europe.

Lyon for example, a system I've used, has 32 K of track compared to 80 K of track for Skytrain. Plus ridership in Lyon is 38.5 million a year compared to Vancouver's Skytrain of 137.5 million per year. Pretty impressive I'd say.

Amsterdam another example I've used. Milan, again another I've used, is slightly larger than Vancouver, but to be expected since Milan's population is larger.

It is also the largest driverless rapid transit system in the world.

I know my friends from Europe think our transit in Vancouver is quite good and is getting better all the time.

So don't dismiss Skytrain so easily.

You know very well what I think about the QOL "surveys".....

Vancouver road system is not atrocious because lack of freeways within the city.

I never said that the Skytrain is bad...but not impressive compared to Europe, no matter if you received compliments. It can be considered excellent in the North American context.
Comparing track length is not appropriate, European cities tend to be much denser. Barcelona, for example, has a smaller area compared to Vancouver but 3 times the population.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,504 posts, read 15,555,283 times
Reputation: 11937
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturno_v View Post
You know very well what I think about the QOL "surveys".....

Vancouver road system is not atrocious because lack of freeways within the city.

I never said that the Skytrain is bad...but not impressive compared to Europe, no matter if you received compliments. It can be considered excellent in the North American context.
Comparing track length is not appropriate, European cities tend to be much denser. Barcelona, for example, has a smaller area compared to Vancouver but 3 times the population.
I gave ridership as well. Vancouver's Skytrain is very successful and stands up to other metro type systems in similarly sized European cities.

What a lot of European cities have that Vancouver doesn't is rail links, but that is because of population and distances between cities.

What is atrocious about Vancouver's roads??? Yes they get congested at certain times of day, but isn't the a world wide issue?
 
Old 07-19-2017, 01:19 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,504 posts, read 15,555,283 times
Reputation: 11937
Quote:
Originally Posted by Halcyon18 View Post
^ I second that. The first time I used public transportation on my own in a city was in Vancouver. Even I managed to figure it out. The bus drivers are very helpful too!
Getting around Vancouver by transit is extremely easy. The whole lower mainland is under Translink, so co-ordinating the system is simpler.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 01:45 PM
 
3,950 posts, read 3,302,106 times
Reputation: 1693
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
I gave ridership as well. Vancouver's Skytrain is very successful and stands up to other metro type systems in similarly sized European cities.

What a lot of European cities have that Vancouver doesn't is rail links, but that is because of population and distances between cities.
We are getting somewhere...."stand up" a little bit rosier perspective compared to "not going to impress" (it doesn't...it is ok...average by European standard)

Quote:
What is atrocious about Vancouver's roads??? Yes they get congested at certain times of day, but isn't the a world wide issue?

Are you kidding me?? You are probably one of the handful Vancouverites that thinks there is nothing wrong with Vancouver roads. Where do I start??

- Excessive use of traffic lights

- No turning lanes

- No direct, straightforward freeway link between the border and Hwy 1 (bypassing Vancouver, not asking for a freeway in Stanley Park), the new Hwy 17 helps a bit but it takes me back to Langley to get Hwy1 basically.

- Massey tunnel highly insufficient in peak hours, many major arteries need widening in general

- Extremely convoluted and confusing design of road interchanges and connectors (for example the Stewardson Way interchange in New Westminster)

Maybe you do not drive so this is foreign to you.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 02:05 PM
 
10,839 posts, read 14,726,313 times
Reputation: 7874
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
This isn't about Europe. We are comparing the US and Canada, but since you brought it up.

Canada, does amazingly well, considered we are the second largest country in the world, with the population of California.

Comparing Canada to the rest of the world is difficult. Australia might be the closest. Another country that is huge with a small population.

However, somehow, must be magic, Canada rates high on the things that matter. QOL and Standard of living. Our cities are rated along with European and Australian ones. The US...not so much.

Vancouver road systems? You mean freeways within the city? Compared to Seattle, the actual streets here seem better looked after. Also the city is trying to get people out of their cars. Within downtown, over 50 percent of trips are now on foot or bike. As the downtown population grows, making it better for cars isn't going to work.

Skytrain actually does get compliments and good marks from tourists from Europe. It's not London or Paris, but it does just as well as cities of it's size in Europe.

Lyon for example, a system I've used, has 32 K of track compared to 80 K of track for Skytrain. Plus ridership in Lyon is 38.5 million a year compared to Vancouver's Skytrain of 137.5 million per year. Pretty impressive I'd say.

Amsterdam another example I've used. Milan, again another I've used, is slightly larger than Vancouver, but to be expected since Milan's population is larger.

It is also the largest driverless rapid transit system in the world.

I know my friends from Europe think our transit in Vancouver is quite good and is getting better all the time.

So don't dismiss Skytrain so easily.
Nat, 32 km is only for the subway in Lyon. It also has 75.3 of tramway including Rhoneexoress to the airport.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,504 posts, read 15,555,283 times
Reputation: 11937
Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli View Post
Nat, 32 km is only for the subway in Lyon. It also has 75.3 of tramway including Rhoneexoress to the airport.
We are talking subways/Metro here. Vancouver has Seabuses, should that be in the equation as well?
 
Old 07-19-2017, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,504 posts, read 15,555,283 times
Reputation: 11937
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturno_v View Post
We are getting somewhere...."stand up" a little bit rosier perspective compared to "not going to impress" (it doesn't...it is ok...average by European standard)




Are you kidding me?? You are probably one of the handful Vancouverites that thinks there is nothing wrong with Vancouver roads. Where do I start??

- Excessive use of traffic lights

- No turning lanes

- No direct, straightforward freeway link between the border and Hwy 1 (bypassing Vancouver, not asking for a freeway in Stanley Park), the new Hwy 17 helps a bit but it takes me back to Langley to get Hwy1 basically.

- Massey tunnel highly insufficient in peak hours, many major arteries need widening in general

- Extremely convoluted and confusing design of road interchanges and connectors (for example the Stewardson Way interchange in New Westminster)

Maybe you do not drive so this is foreign to you.
I find the people that complain about Vancouver's roads, actually don't live in Vancouver. The live in the burbs.
People like you, who just want to get somewhere faster by wanting a freeway link. Vancouver rejected that years ago.

People on the North Shore who would rather see Nelson Street in Vancouver become a freeway so they can get to work 10 minutes faster. It isn't going to happen.

Excessive use of traffic lights?

Turning lanes exist, and a lot of places where they don't, will have a left turn flashing arrow.

Massey tunnel is being looked at. It's a fight right now between a new bridge or new tunnel, besides, it's not a Vancouver city responsibility.

Stewardson exchange is not in Vancouver.

I drive. I've been doing in Vancouver since 1974. I'm well aware of the layout.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 03:07 PM
 
3,950 posts, read 3,302,106 times
Reputation: 1693
Quote:
Originally Posted by botticelli View Post
Nat, 32 km is only for the subway in Lyon. It also has 75.3 of tramway including Rhoneexoress to the airport.

Natnasci is simply incapable of reasoning when it come to Vancouver faults...it does not have any....period...


Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci View Post
I find the people that complain about Vancouver's roads, actually don't live in Vancouver. The live in the burbs.
People like you, who just want to get somewhere faster by wanting a freeway link. Vancouver rejected that years ago.

People on the North Shore who would rather see Nelson Street in Vancouver become a freeway so they can get to work 10 minutes faster. It isn't going to happen.

Excessive use of traffic lights?

Turning lanes exist, and a lot of places where they don't, will have a left turn flashing arrow.

Massey tunnel is being looked at. It's a fight right now between a new bridge or new tunnel, besides, it's not a Vancouver city responsibility.

Stewardson exchange is not in Vancouver.

I drive. I've been doing in Vancouver since 1974. I'm well aware of the layout.

I was complaining about Vancouver roads when I was living in Granville for crying out loud...and so many many Vancouver proper residents...in your alternate reality maybe nobody does but in the real world they do.
 
Old 07-19-2017, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,504 posts, read 15,555,283 times
Reputation: 11937
Quote:
Originally Posted by saturno_v View Post
Natnasci is simply incapable of reasoning when it come to Vancouver faults...it does not have any....period...





I was complaining about Vancouver roads when I was living in Granville for crying out loud...and so many many Vancouver proper residents...in your alternate reality maybe nobody does but in the real world they do.
People complain about traffic, not the roads. The solution to traffic, of course would be to BUILD MORE ROADS or WIDEN existing ones.

Imagine if Vancouver did that. Imagine that now you have thousands of more cars entering the city. There is a breaking point, and Vancouver has reached that. Where are all those thousands of cars heading into the downtown peninsula going to go? Lions Gate Bridge will never be widened more than it already has, and that was just to widen the lanes for safety. A new bridge across the harbour is never going to happen. A tunnel is way too expensive.

There is now talk of restricting the amount of cars being able to enter the downtown core, like London. Several methods exist to do that, and I doubt it will happen soon, but that is where we are. Building freeway links from downtown is NEVER going to happen. We are moving away from the car centric model.

I'm well aware of Vancouver's faults, but I have yet to really hear one that is unique to Vancouver. In a lot of areas, Vancouver does things exceptionally well, one of which is a downtown that is walkable, pleasant and liveable.
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