Category: Public Transit

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Building over the SkyTrain

We take the SkyTrain quite a bit to visit Rebecca’s family in Surrey, and it’s no secret that I have a fascination with it. Not so much that the obsession of wearing overalls and an engineer’s hat overtakes me, but I am a consistent gawker as the world passes by. That and trains are pretty cool.

When we passed through New Westminster a little over a week ago, I noticed that the development going up near the New Westminster Station had a portion of the building hanging out, above the track. At first we thought, they’re building a balcony over the SkyTrain? Since that hardly made sense, we only could come up with the conclusion that they are building around the track, making this building straddle the elevated track. Note the following picture.

SkyTrain overpass near New West. Station 2

This isn’t anything new in the wide world of mass transit, but I think this is going to be a first for the SkyTrain. When we went passed it again this recent weekend, Rebecca was sure to grab the website address for this fortress, Azure at Plaza88.

I can’t grasp all the details of how this will affect the New Westminster SkyTrain Station or the line itself, but it looks like there will be a series of buildings being constructed there with the SkyTrain “underneath”. From their site:

With the SkyTrain underneath, you are constantly connected to the best of the Lower Mainland. No more traffic hassles or parking stress. Downtown Vancouver in 26 minutes; Metrotown in 12.

No, I’m not being sponsored to post this, nor to I endorse the development. Still, I wonder how many people are aware that this is happening. How much of the line is going to be covered? About a year ago, this area was a mess of land preperation and pile driving. It’s only a matter of time until these suckers are shooting up into the sky. How very Tokyo of the SkyTrain.

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SkyTour seems kinda lame

SkyTour markings at Waterfront SkyTrain stationI know that sounds harsh to say, but this marking on the platform at Waterfront Station caught my eye last night while heading to meet some friends for the Canucks game last night. I had heard of it before, but it inspired me to check into it a bit more today.

You can check out more about SkyTour youself, but the basic story is that you pay for this audio tour that takes you around Vancouver via SkyTrain, telling you various things about the city. There are also walking tours included, but I’m really unsure if other forms of mass transit are required as well.

The one thing that gets me is that you really want to make sure that if you are planning on taking this tour, then make sure you have a nice, sunny day to do it. The audio sample on their website has you looking out the windows of the SkyTrain to see The Lions[wiki] among the north shore mountains. On a rainy day, which we have a few of those here occasionally, you’re hard pressed to see those twin peaks.

At the same time, you better hope for a non-crowded day on the train as well. Trying to listen to an audio tour while trying to peak through the group of kids talking at the top of their lungs, in whatever international language it is that they speak, just screams like a good ol’ time. Ahh, money well spent.

We offer to take friends and family around the city all the time, and I think that the only way to experience any place is with locals. Even though Rebecca has lived here all her life, there’s many places I’ve made her go that she’d otherwise never had explored unless my curiosity didn’t drag us there. It goes both ways.