New Buses for TransLink

During my Christmas break back in Vancouver (Port Coquitlam to be exact), I have noticed the presence of new buses decked in the colours of grey, black, blue, and yellow, in contrast to the existing ones which are mostly white in colour. Also citizens in Downtown Vancouver got a sneak peek at the next-gen trolley buses servicing mostly on routes 5 (Robson) and 6 (Davie), which are highly popular with tourists.

There were a few things I have noticed when I was in these new buses:

1. Most of them run on compressed natural gas, though some of them still run on diesel (which drew TransLink -- the transportation authority responsible for all municipalities in the Greater Vancouver Regional District-- a lot of criticism).

2. Since only the Port Coquitlam bus depot has natural gas pumps and related maintenance facilities present (someone please correct me if this is not the case), most of the new buses therefore ran along major routes in the Northeast Sector, New Westminster, and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows (though the small fleet of new diesel buses are serving other areas such as Burnaby and Richmond).

3. The seats are not as comfortable as the ones on previous generation buses, though they offer better back support. The steel based seats however do provide cleaners a faster solution in removing the large amounts of graffiti, which I admit is a huge problem (at least compared to buses operated by the Toronto Transit Commission).


4. The new trolley buses (pictured above) seemed to offer more standing space compared to older-generation trolleys. Good to see TransLink in finally addressing the needs of the disabled by introducing low-floor replacements to the current ones that are over 20 years old. Also the trolley poles on the new buses are apparently less likely to fall off. Scenes like the pic to the left are not funny to bus operators, passengers, pedestrians, and motorists (as both buses blocked the intersection of Howe and Robson during one afternoon rush hour).