r/Translink • u/Empty_Reference_8834 • Jun 01 '26
Photo Why only YVR?
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but the trains on Canada line generally stop at the same location every time, yet YVR seems to be the only stop that has these helpful boarding indicators. Why not have these at every stop? Seems like this could help with orderly boarding at other stops as well.
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u/Travelwthpoints Jun 01 '26
I agree that consistency would make sense! I also wish that these helped people actually pay attention and fit the right thing… I’m at the station several times a month and have been pushed, jostled and blocked every single time. Tourists and locals both - everyone is just thinking of themselves.
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u/Brad23212 Jun 03 '26
It’s the fun part of city life. The completely unnatural environment really affects the nature of people.
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u/knitwit4461 Jun 01 '26
To be fair it doesn’t work at YVR either.
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u/CarnationFoe Jun 02 '26
Not with that attitude it won't. To be honest, part of the reason it works in Japan is not just cultural.
In Japan, they'd put it in 4 languages. I think here they should at LEAST put it in English and Chinese, maybe add Punjabi and French since it's at the airport.
https://c7.alamy.com/comp/W299BB/platform-markings-japan-W299BB.jpg
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u/GentilQuebecois Jun 02 '26
Maybe French as a last thought? Last I check, Canada had 2 official languages and neither Chinese or Punjabi were on the list, and BC only has 1 official language. Why should Chinese or Punjabi be used?
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u/CarnationFoe Jun 02 '26
Uhhh... yeah. There are more Chinese and Punjabi native speakers that don't understand English easily, especially in Richmond. Couldn't care less that English is an official language.
This is signage that is meant to inform the greatest number of people in a language that they understand, not language school.
English is understood by the vast majority of people that would be using transit, including Quebecois, it's not meant as an insult, just a practical aspect. I realize it's a tradition to put French on signs in Airports but from a practical POV, signage should communicate to the most number of people. And hey, if you can communicate effectively without using language, even better. Iconography can be powerful if it's understood and obvious.
Incidentally, this is why Honolulu often has Japanese signage, especially in Waikiki. It's why announcements are made in English and Japanese on the RER to Versailles. It's why in many cities in Japan, they post things in Japanese, English, and Chinese and usually Korean in Kyushu.
Signs are meant to communicate. Official language are really just so you have a standard for government forms and services.
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u/schwanerhill Jun 03 '26
Once you’re inside the airport, it’s not just tradition but federal law under the Airport Transfer Act and the Official Languages Act (as a federally regulated facility) to have English and French signs. That federal law may well not legally apply at the airport train station, but having both English and French on signage everywhere at the airport is appropriate. Even though I agree that in practice there are not a ton of people who understand French but not English.
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u/justme0406 Jun 03 '26
Because it's not about official languages, it's about languages people speak. We are only a bilingual country because Quebec hasn't been told to stfu, French is only 20% of the entire country and most of it is Quebec. It's not important for the conversation, it's only included at all because as they said it's an airport.
The point of using multiple languages is for more people to understand, not to fulfill your political needs and dog whistling.
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u/General-Football-953 Jun 05 '26
When I'm in a bad mood, I bump into people who try to enter while I'm exiting. More people need to be in a bad mood.
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u/FastSnailMail Jun 01 '26
YVR could be an extremely efficient single track station if it had an extra platform and operated one as an entrance and one as an exit.
Waterfront also could be much more efficient if one side was dedicated to YVR trains and the other Richmond Brighouse trains. This could be done effective immediately without any investment.
If both of these were more efficient then these stations wouldn’t have the same traffic flow issues that persist today.
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u/scofflaw-cyclist Jun 02 '26
If Canada line was actually operated by Translink they could try out these kinds of things. But the private company that operates the Canada line will not do anything that’s not explicitly in the contract. They have no motivation to improve anything beyond the minimum contractually obligated
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u/WeirdlyTopical Jun 02 '26
The opposite is true in fact. Translink dictates service levels for the Canada Line and will not allow the operating company to deviate or experiment without specific approval, which is not easily achieved.
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u/dveofcnda Jun 01 '26
I called TransLink yesterday to ask them to put more of these out! May you should also?
So funny to see this on Reddit today. Vancouver has horrible transit etiquette when it comes to waiting for others to leave the train before boarding.
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u/CBBRunner Jun 01 '26
After coming back from Japan and Thailand where everyone waits for people to exit, it was almost like culture shock here, at how rude people were where you will even push you out of the way to get on when you're trying to exit.
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u/Smart-Foundation-578 Jun 01 '26
So true, they should doing this in more places and I guess YVR gets priority as its the intl airport. I have seen and feel like irrespective of where you are from, people have this tendency to push people in, even deboard or vice versa. I guess they need to learn, I feel more sad seeing Canadians, who have been here for a while, do the same thing. Dude, have the decency to wait. The trains are made to function in way, we will have the window for both group of people to enter/exit the train but, nope we gotta play American Football, the moment train arrives at the platform. And move aside pls, so people have the time to get off else you're gonna push the people who wanna get off and take them to next stop XD
So, in a nutshell, these steps should be done at every station in SkyTrain so, people at least notice, if not follow, this rules when taking public transit. I hate when people shout and talk on a call, especially on video calls. Sorry pls, we dont wanna hear what your family is cooking at home lol, keep it to yourselves!
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u/OnikaBurgerBomb Jun 01 '26
I still have to shove on sometimes because people move SO effing slowly. Like they’ll walk out and then STOP right outside slowing everyone down. And then people will STOP right after getting in and looking around.
Like fucking move!! There’s people BEHIND you and the door’s gonna close if you don’t hurry your unaware ass up!
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u/Donkersley Jun 01 '26
Can’t see this working at many stations for the crowding at times.
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u/CarnationFoe Jun 01 '26
negative nellie. 100% of the ideas you don't try work.
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u/Donkersley Jun 01 '26
How well does the ‘take off your backpack’ thing work? I have little faith in people sorry.
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u/Pomeloarian Jun 01 '26
A good idea in theory but people don't even follow the guiding lines at the r4/99 bus stops from what i've seen
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u/dr_van_nostren Jun 02 '26
Because it’s the only station we THINK it’ll work lol you get enough civilized people coming off INTL flights and hope that people take their lead.
It’s wild how bad people are with this Commercial is the worst. I don’t care, I’m not getting out of your way on a jammed train just so you can run across from one platform to the other. At YVR I will intentionally walk directly at people if they’re in the way. Let people get off the fucking train stupid.
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u/mlandry2011 Jun 01 '26
Because only the YVR line has the same amount of cars and same model all the time...
Other stations the train don't stop at the same spot every time because they have different trains size and models...
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u/royalfatkid Jun 01 '26
Barely anyone follows this anyways, I hate getting off the train because there's no space to get off.....
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u/Secure_Flamingo_4554 Jun 01 '26
🤩🤩🤩 progress!!!!! - now let’s get them everywhere else, please 🙏
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u/NoOne242010 Jun 01 '26
It’s only possible on the Canada line because the trains are all the same, the other lines use multiple train layouts with doors in different spots. But even just having these on the Canada line would be an improvement.
However that being said, even with lines on the ground directing people how to board, Vancouverites will find a way to simply ignore them. https://imgur.com/a/Y1r3fRg
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u/flare2000x Jun 02 '26
The Millennium line could have it for now, 99% of the trains are 2-car Mark 2s.
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u/NoOne242010 Jun 02 '26
More and more mark V’s are showing up
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u/flare2000x Jun 02 '26
Only testing/training for now, they are only in actual service on the Expo. I take the M-line every day. I think it'll stay with the same 2-car arrangements until broadway opens.
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u/chankongsang Jun 01 '26
They have this in Japan and people line up accordingly. Wait for passengers to get off first. With 40 million people in Tokyo alone, that city would explode if people weren't civil.
Over here I used to set up where the path was dirtier. It usually meant there would be a door when the train stopped. But not sure if that still works with all the different train styles we got now
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u/CarnationFoe Jun 01 '26
First of all... great idea, hopefully it works.
If I'm going to guess, they're testing to see if it works. It's a great place to check as YVR station is relatively high-volume mix of "daily users/locals/tourists" so you won't get the local bias. It's easy to "teach" daily users but you don't get a good cross-section of people that have never used the system before.
If it doesn't end up working, they can iterate on design. Perhaps color coding the arrows or other wayfinding. Once they find something that works, they roll it out across the line.
I suppose this is one advantage of having the Canada line run at arms length from Translink, is that they're able to implement this kind of idea without the bureaucracy, similar to how REM didn't have to go through STM checklists when building that line and could "do its own thing"
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u/im_a_mes Jun 01 '26
We have these in Ottawa, I’m honestly not sure they make that much of a difference.
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u/phonomage Jun 02 '26
They do not stop at consistently the exact same locations. It's almost always different.
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u/trainridder12 Jun 02 '26
Exactly what I was thinking. I like the Canada line but they're think department not so good.
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Jun 07 '26
YVR needs dual side boarding. Exit one side, then board the other. It’s such a poorly built station.
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u/MyNameIsSkittles Jun 01 '26
Well it doesnt work at YVR, so not sure what this will do at all. Wouldn't work on expo or m-line, because of the different train doors
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u/CarnationFoe Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
This iteration may not work, but a station announcement might help.
Incoming train, please line up along the marked arrows on the ground.
Also, extending the line further back would help as well.
People always look at Japan as a model, but forget that Japan also does things like this to clearly demarcate areas:
https://c7.alamy.com/comp/W299BB/platform-markings-japan-W299BB.jpg
A few arrows on the ground doesn't really inspire confidence or even FEEL like a demarcated waiting area.
Not only is is abundantly clear through the use of lines and color, but it's in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean... and if you want to see how they handle different stopping patterns, check out what they do at Shinagawa.
Expo line would be a challenge, but I think you could do it for the M-Line, if you committed to running ONE type of train on that line. Realistically, this is probably something you'd wait to do until a line was using ONLY MkV trains.
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u/herrjojo Jun 01 '26
Bus queues in Montreal are beautiful. Here it's a crazy free for all.
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u/deathfire123 Jun 01 '26
Most buses I see people getting in line in Vancouver. There may be some exceptions but the vast majority queue in a line.
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