The Lower Mainland’s first commute after the Labour Day weekend went “smoothly” despite a major re-routing of buses to integrate the new Canada Line, a TransLink spokesman said yesterday.
However, Drew Snider warned, the system could be even busier this morning as students head back for a full day of classes. Many students had only a partial day yesterday and travelled outside peak hours.
“We found that people were by and large able to make their connections,” Snider said.
“There were a few reports from people who found that their commute was shorter than it normally is. But we’ve got a lot more days of working out exactly how this fits to see how it’s helping people.”
TransLink also had “street teams” helping people with their connections.
During the morning commute, Richmond-Brighouse, the final station on the Richmond arm of the Canada Line, saw packed buses arriving and full trains leaving.
At Bridgeport, commuters from south of the Fraser were unable to board the full Brighouse trains. They had to wait for the alternating trains that originate at Vancouver’s airport and were nearly empty.
In Vancouver, there were 10- to 15 minute-long lineups for the 99 B-Line at Commercial and Broadway.
Some students coming in on the Canada Line elected to transfer at Oakridge to catch the 41 or 43 bus to the University of B.C. in order to avoid the Broadway rush.
Helping matters on SkyTrain were “turnbacks,” with trains running a loop from Waterfront to Commercial station, and the 12 four-car trains.