Getting around Vancouver

[LienusLateTips]

Firstly I'd like to say DO NOT GET A CAR. Car rentals are expensive, gas hovers around 1.60/Litre or US$6.25 a gallon, and traffic is terrible. Inside Vancouver city limits there are no significant stretches of highway. Highway 99, the major route linking Vancouver to Interstate 5 and the northern areas of BC, turns into a surface street upon entering Vancouver.

 

Instead of building highways in the 60s and 70s, we built good transit systems, due to our hate of roads. We now have the world's longest fully automated metro network, and North America's 9th largest metro system. Supplementing this we have a frequent bus network around the city, getting you to where you need to go. 

 

 

 

 

YVR Airport

I assume most of you will arrive via the airport. There will be the usual taxi stall, and a rapid transit link.

To ride the SkyTrain, follow signs to "Train to City." It is clearly marked around the airport. Once you arrive at the station, buy a ticket, or a Compass Card. The Compass Card is a tap card with a refundable deposit of $6, and will allow you to transfer from bus to train without a new ticket. It also allows you to load passes, and gives you a discounted fare. If you do buy the ticket, hold onto it! Once you tap on, you need it to exit the station. Once you leave the station, you need it to transfer to another train or bus.

 

There will be a additional $5 YVR surcharge when buying tickets from the three airport stations. This was introduced to fund the SkyTrain expansion to the airport.

 

Popular Destinations

Richmond Centre area: SkyTrain to Bridgeport, change for a Richmond bound train. Ride to terminus.

Richmond Oval (LTX Venue): SkyTrain to Bridgeport, change for a Richmond bound train. Ride to Lansdowne Station for a 10-15 minute walk westbound on Lansdowne Road, or ride to the terminus for a bus ride on the C94 bus route. Please note the C94 is infrequent, and may change to the "414" once LTX happens.

Vancouver Downtown: Take the Canada Line to the northern terminus.

Vancouver Oakridge: Take the Canada Line to Oakridge-41st Station.

Vancouver UBC: Take the Canada Line to Olympic Village, transfer for the 84 westbound.

Burnaby Metrotown: Take the Canada Line to Langara-49th, change for the 49 bus eastbound.

Burnaby Brentwood: Take the Canada Line to King-Edward, take the 25 bus eastbound.

Coquitlam Centre: Take the Canada Line to Broadway City Hall, change for the 99 B-Line, change at Commercial-Broadway for the Millennium Line, ride to Coquitlam Central Station, or Lincoln Station.

Surrey Newton/Whalley: Take the Canada Line to Bridgeport, transfer for the 351/352/354 Southbound, transfer at South Surrey Park and Ride for the 321 northbound.

Langley: Take the Canada Line to Bridgeport, transfer for the 351 Southbound, transfer at 152nd St and 24th Ave for the 531 Northbound.

 

Stanley Park: Take the Canada Line to the northern terminus. Transfer for the 19.

Kits: Take the Canada Line to Vancouver City Centre, transfer for the #2 bus.

Green Timbers: Take the Canada Line to Vancouver City Centre, cross the street to the Expo Line entrance, transfer to Expo Line, take to King George Station.

 

Amtrak/Bus/Via Rail

For those riding coaches or trains to Vancouver, you will likely arrive at Pacific Central Station. This is less than half a block away from Main Street Science World Station on the Expo Line. Once you arrive at the station, buy a ticket, or a Compass Card. The Compass Card is a tap card with a refundable deposit of $6, and will allow you to transfer from bus to train without a new ticket. It also allows you to load passes, and gives you a discounted fare. If you do buy the ticket, hold onto it! Once you tap on, you need it to exit the station. Once you leave the station, you need it to transfer to another train or bus.

 

Popular Destinations

Richmond Centre: Expo Line to Granville, cross the street to the Canada Line entrance, take to southern terminus.

Richmond Oval (LTX): Expo Line to Granville, cross the street to the Canada Line entrance, ride to Lansdowne Station for a 10-15 minute walk westbound on Lansdowne Road, or ride to the terminus for a bus ride on the C94 bus route. Please note the C94 is infrequent, and may change to the "414" once LTX happens.

Vancouver Downtown: SkyTrain to Waterfront

Vancouver Oakridge: Expo Line to Granville, cross the street to the Canada Line entrance, take to Oakridge 41st.

Vancouver UBC: Take the #3 to Broadway and Main, transfer to the #99 westbound. It'll probably be better if you go to the SkyTrain ticket machines and buy the ticket/card.

Burnaby Metrotown: SkyTrain to Metrotown Station

Burnaby Brentwood: Expo Line to Commercial-Broadway, change for the Millennium Line to Brentwood Station

Coquitlam Centre: Expo Line to Commercial-Broadway, change for the Millennium Line to Coquitlam Central or Lincoln.

Surrey Newton/Whalley: Expo Line to Surrey Central, transfer to the 96 B-Line for Newton.

Langley: Expo Line to Surrey Central, transfer to the #501/502. There is a infrequent #503 express service.

 

Stanley Park: #19 to Stanley Park. It'll probably be better if you go to the SkyTrain ticket machines and buy the ticket/card.

Kits: Expo Line to Burrard, transfer to the #2 bus.

Green Timbers: Expo Line to King George.

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

I'm just gonna put this out here:

 

If you find yourself late at night needing to grab something to eat and it's past 12, No 9 Restaurant is open 24/7. It's a mixture of somewhat authentic and bastardized western versions of Chinese cuisine. Get off at Lansdowne Station and it's close to the BestBuy there. If you want to know any recommendations based on cuisine, we can probably find you one. 

 

The 620 bus takes you from Bridgeport Station to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal if you wish to take the ferry towards Victoria or Nanaimo (though if you do want to visit these cities, you owe it to yourself to rent a car for that). That bus also stops in front of Tsawwassen Mills if you wish to visit that mall. 

[ItsMitch]

You guys don't have Uber up there? wtf

[dizmo]

Haha, I find the popular destination choices kinda hilarious. Oakridge is an old persons/high end mall, and why on earth would you give people directions to Whalley or Newton?! Counsel members for those districts have said themselves that Air One might as well be their own helicopter it's active in their neighborhoods so often.

Your gas is a little off. $1.60 is only $6.04 per gallon, and adding US in front of it makes it seem like that's in USD....which it's not.

 

You should also mention that you can get a refund for whatever value is left on the card at the Chinatown office. Though, any value over $20 will be done by cheque.

1 hour ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

I'm just gonna put this out here:

 

If you find yourself late at night needing to grab something to eat and it's past 12, No 9 Restaurant is open 24/7. It's a mixture of somewhat authentic and bastardized western versions of Chinese cuisine. Get off at Lansdowne Station and it's close to the BestBuy there. If you want to know any recommendations based on cuisine, we can probably find you one. 

 

The 620 bus takes you from Bridgeport Station to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal if you wish to take the ferry towards Victoria or Nanaimo (though if you do want to visit these cities, you owe it to yourself to rent a car for that). That bus also stops in front of Tsawwassen Mills if you wish to visit that mall. 

Truth. They also have excellent congee. Oh how I miss the food of the GVRD.

Getting into Victoria by bus isn't so bad from the ferry terminal though. For those that can't/don't want to drive. It's definitely a 2 day trip though, day trip would be pretty pointless.

15 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

You guys don't have Uber up there? wtf

The cabby's have a strong stranglehold on Vancouver. Honestly, you're probably better off taking the skytrain and walking anyway. Vancouver is a tiny city, and everywhere is easily reachable relatively quickly by transit.

[Canada EH]

I say YES DO GET A CAR, you can find great deals on weekend rates. Plus they upgrade you all the time. I go for Enterprise, the Hyundai model, then they upgrade you to Jeep Patriot. $25 for the weekend, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!

 

Vancouver aint that hard to figure out how to get around.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh

 

Just look at London England

 

 

 

The three rail lines of Vancouver are nothing

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

I say YES DO GET A CAR, you can find great deals on weekend rates. Plus they upgrade you all the time. I go for Enterprise, the Hyundai model, then they upgrade you to Jeep Patriot. $25 for the weekend, CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!

I'd still take the Hyundai 

 

Also how dare you not insult our proudly crappy transit system w/o showing the Tokyo system...

 

[Canada EH]

15 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

showing the Tokyo system.

Yes I thought about it, but it required too much work

[Daniel Z.]

24 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Yes I thought about it, but it required too much work

Shanghai and Beijing are pretty big too. Nice post, I don't have much to add because I'm from Abby.

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, JDE said:

gas hovers around 1.60/Litre or US$6.25 a gallon

That's wrong on two levels.

 

First, as @dizmo said, $1.60 CAD/L = $6.06 CAD/Gallon.

 

That works out to $4.68 USD/Gallon with the current exchange rate. Still damn expensive - for example, this recent article says average prices in Seattle are $3.26 USD/Gallon - and that's considered somewhat expensive.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/gas-prices-shoot-up-for-the-summer-in-washington/281-545453165

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

I say YES DO GET A CAR, you can find great deals on weekend rates. Plus they upgrade you all the time. I go for Enterprise, the Hyundai model, then they upgrade you to Jeep Patriot.

I mean... yeah I'd also stick with the Hyundai. You'll be saving a ton on gas. I'd only accept an SUV upgrade if I needed the extra cargo or 4x4 capabilities.

[Egg-Roll]

2 hours ago, SC2Mitch said:

You guys don't have Uber up there? wtf

I don't take uber here. IMO it's no safer than Taxis, not always cheaper, and sometimes longer than a taxi waiting time...

 

For BC They were smart and banned it forcing Uber to prove a case, might still be banned for some time too...

https://globalnews.ca/news/3953228/uber-taxi-industry-hearings-vancouver/

 

IMO driving regulations in N.A. are way too lax to permit the average joe to drive another one w/o special training(which Uber basically does).

Not to mention your next Uber could be full of weed smell... A smell a Taxi driver would turn away the past fair due to it.

 

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

Yes I thought about it, but it required too much work

I'm going to assume you are referring to putting both up.

 

Tho this site shows how bad we are at making subways... (A tiny bit outdated)

https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/lifestyle/heres-how-tiny-torontos-subway-system-is-compared-to-other-subways-around-the-world

[Daniel Z.]

15 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

That's wrong on two levels.

 

First, as @dizmo said, $1.60 CAD/L = $6.06 CAD/Gallon.

 

That works out to $4.68 USD/Gallon with the current exchange rate. Still damn expensive - for example, this recent article says average prices in Seattle are $3.26 USD/Gallon - and that's considered somewhat expensive.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/gas-prices-shoot-up-for-the-summer-in-washington/281-545453165

I mean... yeah I'd also stick with the Hyundai. You'll be saving a ton on gas. I'd only accept an SUV upgrade if I needed the extra cargo or 4x4 capabilities.

I've seen gas at Bellingham around 2.50 usd. You americans have it lucky

[flya00]

If anyone gets stuck off YVR onto bridge take HWY 99, I always take it to get to airport.

[GDRRiley]

18 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

That works out to $4.68 USD/Gallon with the current exchange rate. Still damn expensive - for example, this recent article says average prices in Seattle are $3.26 USD/Gallon - and that's considered somewhat expensive.

Not for cali gas right now normal in CA is 3.70-3.80.

I do just love out special gas that results in us paying .50-1.5$ more than the rest of the country \s

to @Egg-Roll

That list doesn't have BART WTF, why?

Edited June 5, 2018 by GDRRiley
added more

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 minute ago, flya00 said:

If anyone gets stuck off YVR onto bridge take HWY 99, I always take it to get to airport.

What? 

[flya00]

Why not, well George Massey Tunnel is a joke but um yeah.

Edited June 5, 2018 by flya00

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, GDRRiley said:

That list doesn't have BART WTF, why?

Too tiny  The whole point of the sites post was to insult the TTC Map, so by putting BART in it would show there are "worse" systems out there based on stops.

 

Plus ridership there is lower than the TTC's along with every other listed on that site afaik. On Wikipedia you're another 10-20 lines below than TTC at 25% zoom with #1 being just below the url on my computer.

[GDRRiley]

1 minute ago, Egg-Roll said:

Too tiny  The whole point of the sites post was to insult the TTC Map, so by putting BART in it would show there are "worse" systems out there based on stops.

 

Plus ridership there is lower than the TTC's along with every other listed on that site afaik. On Wikipedia you're another 10-20 lines below than TTC at 25% zoom with #1 being just below the url on my computer.

it isn't tiny it just isn't well understood

[dalekphalm]

10 hours ago, Daniel Z. said:

I've seen gas at Bellingham around 2.50 usd. You americans have it lucky

Bellingham Washington? $2.50 USD per Gallon?

 

Your comment confuses me (I'm Canadian).

 

Unless you mean you pay $2.50 USD/L? That's typical of European prices, as far as I'm aware.

10 hours ago, GDRRiley said:

Not for cali gas right now normal in CA is 3.70-3.80.

I do just love out special gas that results in us paying .50-1.5$ more than the rest of the country \s

to @Egg-Roll

That list doesn't have BART WTF, why?

Cali is expensive, what can I say?

[BobbyPdue]

20 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

$2.50 USD/L? That's typical of European prices, as far as I'm aware.

It's €1,56ish per liter here in Stuttgart Germany on 6 June 2018 that's around $1.84 USD per liter. Why speculate when you can look it up online?

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, BobbyPdue said:

It's €1,56ish per liter here in Stuttgart Germany on 6 June 2018 that's around $1.84 USD per liter. Why speculate when you can look it up online?

Mostly because looking it up online are averages generally. Second, because I don't care?

 

Third, the person I quoted made a very confusing post, and didn't state where they were from. Either they're in the US, and they are paying very low USD/Gallon rates, or they're from Europe somewhere, and are mixing units of measurement that don't belong somewhere.

 

And besides, Europe is as diverse as North America. Just because you pay $1.56EUR/L in one city in Germany, does not make that price typical or representative of anywhere except the city you live in. I'm not about to randomly google 40 different European cities to see if it averages out

[Daniel Z.]

On 05/06/2018 at 6:48 AM, dalekphalm said:

Bellingham Washington? $2.50 USD per Gallon?

 

Your comment confuses me (I'm Canadian).

 

Unless you mean you pay $2.50 USD/L? That's typical of European prices, as far as I'm aware.

Cali is expensive, what can I say?

I'm Canadian too lol. I forget if it was Bellingham for sure, but some PNW city was like 2.50 usd a gallon.

[Canada EH]

Gas prices in Vancouver and area are highest in Canada. $1.45/liter (0.26G) which works out to roughly $6.50cad per gallon, which is $5usd per gallon.

https://www.gasbuddy.com/CAN - 1.25 - 1.46 CAD / L which is $3.70-$5usd/G

 

https://www.gasbuddy.com/USA - $2.60 to $3.73 USD / G which is nawwww not doing that conversion, I dont wanna know.

 

 

With the protesters in BC wanting oil and gas by rail instead of pipes, its only going to cost them more and more money. All the while they are driving their large vehicles and complaining about how high the gas pump prices are.

 

Petro-Canada had their refinery in Edmonton down for repairs and they ran into more problems to fix. I ran into a few gas stations pumps closed this past Friday, should be back up and running. I was on the road in Alberta and saw Gasoline Alley petro closed. So the article doesnt mention the deer closure.

 

http://canadianews.org/calgary/2018/05/30/303821-multiple-petro-canada-stations-in-calgary-running-dry-in-gas-shortage.html

 

https://www.ubyssey.ca/blog/living-in-a-post-post-malone-world/

 

I have spent thousands of dollars on Car2Go, I liked their first merecedes rental much better then the ones they have now. Yes even 6 footers can fit in it, though anyone over 6'7" may have a problem in the SHMART CAR as my ex used to call them.

 

This is Car2Go's home area where you pickup and drop of their cars, Smart Car peices of shit, or their mercedes benz's.

https://www.car2go.com/CA/en/vancouver/where/

Doesnt even come close to the party HQ arena for LTT.

 

EVO Share - Map is on main page, same issue.

https://evo.ca/

 

https://www.zipcar.ca/vancouver - Conquitlam or however you spell it

 

https://www.modo.coop/

https://www.modo.coop/map/

This might be your best bet. All depends on your needs.

 

I say the best is if you planned ahead you most likely could have gotten a weekend rental from Enterprise, Hertz, AVIS or any of the big ones for a decent price.

 

 

[LienusLateTips]

29 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

With the protesters in BC wanting oil and gas by rail instead of pipes, its only going to cost them more and more money. All the while they are driving their large vehicles and complaining about how high the gas pump prices are.

nononono these are seperate groups of people

[danieltien]

Is gasoline at Costco Canada any cheaper? It tends to be cheaper than most chains here in the States, plus you get 3-4% back if you use a Costco branded credit card.

[Peskanova]

That is not expensive gas , look the other way usa have cheap gas cause of taxes, you canadians have same level as all here in europe.