There will be a lengthy delay … Everyone's favorite announcement on the Skytrain, Vancouver British Columbia, The Best Place on Earth, or some such thing.
3:40 pm, Wednesday afternoon. Ugh, stuck on the Skytrain between Burrard street station and Waterfront. Lovely view of a chain link fence separating the tracks from an underground parking lot. Dark and dismal, Vancouver's famous Skytrain service strikes again. No wonder people hate to use the system.
I am trying to get from downtown, Granville and Robson, to Granville and Broadway. This is maybe a 2 km trip, walkable really, except I wanted to test out the new transit system here, and besides, its raining. The trip used to be a one bus 10 minute ride on the 98-B line. That bus was canceled in order to funnel traffic to the new Canada line, the reasoning, the grapevine has it, was to satisfy ridership numbers in a partnership arrangement with a private company.
British Columbia is turning into one fcukd up province. Can't wait for the Olympics. That's gonna be one great big disaster from the perspective of the residents of this fair city. It already is isn't it? Cost overruns are ridiculous and Gordo is funneling BC Gaming money that was earmarked for the arts to this unwanted mega-project.
4:05 pm. 25 minutes and the train hasn't moved yet. Was planning for a quiet afternoon. Went downtown for some noodles for a change. The noodles were good, authentic Singapore Noodles – rice noodles, prawns and a little curry. Won't be doing that again for a while.
4:10 Ok we're moving, change to Canada line at Waterfront station. Rush hour has started. Its a good five minute walk to change lines. Hordes of kids in new Canada line jackets working at minimum wage checking tickets, fielding questions.
Train to the City hall station, then out to the corner of Broadway and Cambie. Nice autumn rain. B-line to Granville and Broadway. Time is now 4:50. Over an hour to travel a couple of kilometers. Thank you BC Transit.
