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After a significant absence from the streets of Vancouver, the street car has returned courtesy of the City of Vancouver, Bombardier, and Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles. Two Bombardier Flexity street cars are now operating on a 1.8 km stretch of track between Granville Island and the Olympic Village Canada Line station (Cambie Street and West 2nd Avenue).
I was finally able to get a chance to ride the street cars on what is being called the Olympic Line. The cars are 32 m long and feature five doors on each side along with large picture windows to provide an unobstructed view. The really neat thing is that the cars have low floors, basically riding only a few centimetres from the ground, which makes it easier to board and alight, especially for those who have strollers or use a wheelchair.
The trains are actually one long articulated car which can navigate sharper curves and winding streets, like those in older European cities. Digital displays on the side and ends of the cars make it easy to advertise the line or destination. The two cars on loan are designed with a silver, bronze and carbon black livery and carry the Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles logo.
Inside, there are unique seating arrangements, including seats that face the aisles, row seating, fold-up seats and larger bench-style seats. Standing passengers also have the added luxury of holding on to leather straps that are attached to the stanchions. There’s plenty of room for everyone on-board!
Security cameras are mounted along the ceiling along with two display screens that are positioned over the aisles to announce upcoming stops and route maps. Buttons on the stanchions allow passengers to alert the operator to stop the train at the next platform. It’s pretty much like a bus, but one that runs on rails.
The ride is really smooth and quiet, even though the train doesn’t run very fast (wouldn’t say more than 30 km/h). It’s only a 3 minute journey between Granville Island and the Olympic Village station on Cambie Street, but it gives you few minutes to enjoy the ride and the sights of the community in between.
Hopefully this experiment will allow street car service to return to the city and offer an alternative mode of transportation around False Creek and into the busy downtown core.
The Olympic Line is free and runs between 6:30 am-12:30 am PST until March 21st, 2010. Additional photographs are available on Gallery.
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