Translink

I just hate you Translink… we waited for so long with a stroller to get in, then the driver refuses us and finally 15min later two buses arrives with one empty…
Check your line ups at some stops, check all the people getting in for free, GET OUT OF YOUR OFFICES AND OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE REALITY OF YOUR CLIENTS.
We are buying a car to stop using Translink because we just can’t take it anymore more.
It has nothing to do with the bus drivers, but everything to do with your people in the office making stupid decisions.

For those of you who didn’t get the memo, paying bus fare is optional. As you get on the bus, just look at the driver and say, «can I get a ride». Note as you do this you must keep walking as you won’t be asking as much as your telling the driver YOU will be taking the ride.
I cannot tell you how much it irks me to see how many free rides Translink gives away. On a 15 minute bus ride, I counted 15 people ask the driver for a ride. Those were the only ones I could see. That number does not include the people that used the rear doors for their free ride.
That is a loss of $ 41.25 in 15 minutes a loss of $ 165 after an hour. Yikes! This is
What will Translink do about the loss?
Besides the optional fare, the buses always appear to be filled to capacity. At this time (7pm-​ish) the busses run late or early or in clumps. Clumps meaning often you’ll see three buses in a row that are on the same route, miss any of them your screwed!
I’m looking forward to the warmer days, there will be less bussing and more walking in my future.

Recently I bought a 3 zone monthly pass ($ 201)and was double charged. Called my bank and they said since vendors can refund the money to call them. Called and they agreed that they had double charged me but wouldn’t refund me. They would give me my next month or give me a cheque in 4 weeks. I recently found out that they can refund via the debit system but they choose not to. They steal your money and keep it for a month to gain the interest and than give you back your money. You may not think it’s much but doing that 100 times and you have 20K… keep doing it abd you have a hell of a lot more. I ended up having to go back to my bank and putting in a greivance against them. I may have to wait 15 days for the bank but it’s still quicker than waiting for the Translink @$$es.

Getting you from A to B is usually hit using skytrain but at times there can be excessive delays using the 20 route.
Why I rated this review 2 stars was the 2 sour encounters that I had with bus drivers in the past that I berated and belittled and belitted me.
The first time, I didn’t have the right addfare.
The second time, while I was showing my buspass he spotted an old faresaver in my wallet and confiscated it. I wasn’t even trying to show it.
I can’t wait for automated buses.

Fix the ticket machines at the airport or replace the awful broken ones. and please stop wasting tax payer money

4.5 stars for Vancouver!
I am comparing this municipal public transit experience to Toronto, California’s San Francisco, Silicon Valley and San Diego, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland.
2 stars for drivers friendliness! This past 8 days, I took Translink with 1 toddler and 1 baby in a stroller on a daily basis and the bus drivers announce my stroller and kindly asked other passengers to make room. Great accessibility!
When I inquired about directions, or the right stop to get off I got very helpful replies, too. It might seem obvious, but it is not.
The drivers often announces important connections at specific stops, such as SkyTrain.
Puncuailty — check! +1 star
Cleanliness — check! +1 star
Great network/​connections — check! +1 star
The pricy fare ($ 2.75 per adult, as of June 21, 2015 — 2.5 year-​old & baby were free) is really the only downside. But if this is what keeps it going, I gladly paid it.
WAY TO GO TRANSLINK!

I’m going to give 5 stars because I don’t want people to not take transit and revert to driving. However biking may be your best choice. Just avoid getting hit by cars… somehow…But really, it deserves a 1 star.
Bus drivers, in general, are pretty rad. No qualms there.
Service– in the downtown area, pretty decent. Leave downtown even a step, and it turns to Horse $!*&. Waiting 20 – 30 minutes for a bus has become a regular affair. And then there’s the transfer to another bus because they decided that a certain bus shouldn’t head to a large bus station anymore. oh, another 15 – 20 minute wait. So, um…40−45 minutes to go maybe 6 – 7 kilometers? I could’ve walked home in that time. Yay for exercise!
Rat Pack controlling the whole shindig– What do you do aside from accruing money from self made Long Term and Short Term Incentive Plans? You know the skytrain broke down a few times, so if you could many set aside some of your money to fix it… that would be great.
Police– overpriced fare checkers. (why ticket the homeless, humble hipsters, or senior citizen? Yep, because the homeless have a secret bank account where they keep extra money to pay for tickets and hipsters have rolls of bills tucked under their plaid shirts and army boots). Ok, these are very superficial things, and there’s more to policing than that, I“m sure… at least I hope so. Really, it’s not about the money, it’s about this sense of entitlement that everyone seems to have opinions about.
All in all, pretty superficial problems to our Transit system. But, unfortunately, the people controlling the whole thing can’t quite catch the concept of social responsibility.

I am a world traveler and have have used municipal transit systems in many major cities. Trans-​link has all their bases covered with bus stops within a few steps from your threshold and everything converges at the waterfront station. Very Clever. But what I like most of all are the friendly drivers. On the other hand, San Francisco comes in dead last for friendly drivers. Good job Trans-​link!

THE WORST. Vancouver has outgrown our outdated, expensive, and unreliable transit service. They keep raising prices and decreasing service which makes using transit unbearable. It’s a death spiral that translink can’t seem to get out of. If transit is convenient, reasonably reliable, and cost effective more people will use it and fares can go down but we seem to be doing the complete opposite which is truly baffling. Try catching the bus to UBC, North Van, West Van or anywhere along Burrard or West Broadway, I promise you’ll regret it. After 6 years of relying on transit I’ve totally had enough of Translink and the terrible service it comes with.

I live very close to the skytrain near Edmonds station and I have been requesting track maintenance for 4 weeks without any responses from Translink /​Skytrain customer service. The westbound track causes the train to shriek, scream and squeal for approximately 400 metres for the past couple of months. The westbound trains pass by every 2 – 3 minutes. This means we, the residents of 2 condo complexes, cannot have doors and windows open if we want to be able to hear each other talk without yelling or hear the radio or TV. Nor can we spend time outside socializing or relaxing.
In their online customer service report Translink specifically asks if you require a response to your report and then, if you say yes, asks for your email address. I requested a response to each of my reports and provided my email address. To date, I have filed 4 reports requesting track maintenance/​service and have received no response from Translink to any of them. Nor has the track been fixed/​serviced.

⁴⁵⁄₁₀₀
Okay, well, there seems to be two postings, one in Vancouver and one for Metrotown, so I will review Metrotown and share my thoughts on public transport here.
One evening I arrived at Metrotown heading downtown and dressed to impress. The Translink dude, was just leaning up against a post watching the action. I had a change purse full of toonies I took two out and put them in. The toonies were promptly spit out by the machine. This happened about TEN TIMES, before the Translink employee came and said «Can I help?» At which point he took a toonie and rubbed it on top of the machine. I kid you not! Laughing, I said «Oh, is THAT the secret! And took my coin and did the same. Well, eventually I gave up and just got my change purse out to find a coin that the machine likes. Then, hooray! «Your ticket is printing…» reads the machine. I can now continue travelling on the Skytrain waiting for those scary Transit police that come along yelling «Tickets, please!!» WTH??? Am I in an Indiana Jones movie? Lets just hire an attendant to work the gate, and another to be on the train before there is some freak accident and there is no Translink employee around.
I use the Skytrain to get downtown and sometimes take a bus as well. I do like that one ticket is good for 2 hours, so you can do a return trip or stopovers. But I still think the system is getting screwed with this whole honesty thing.
Has this every happened to you? You send a text that says «Leaving Columbia, should be there soon» then, suddenly you notice the car start to sway. No. NOOOO, you think, but it is too late. Instead of the Millennium line you are on the Expo line headed for Surrey. Arghhh : — /​
So many improvements can be made, the System is hard to use if someone has not shown you. it is easy to become confused. If Vancouver wants to be the greenest city in the world they have a long way to go. The first step needs to be improvement in infrastructure and transit
As for companies and other grandfathered agreements that are receiving free transit ride, well I believe now the only people who should receive free transit are those that have purchased condos in or closely around the skytrain. There of course would be criteria in place to determine who is eligible for the program. I say any new condo owner close enough to a station should receive one year free transit,
edit: Gotta a really cool pic today, the «guts» of the ticket machine. When I asked the technician why it does not always take my toonie, he replied that for best results insert the coin with the head to the right. Sorry it’s fuzzy…

After getting out of Silvercity Cineplex at 1am, The mall was closed, so I had to walk all the way around to the skytrain platform… waited there and find out there is no more skytrain going to Joyce Collingwood station (westbound).
So I went to the bus stop and waited for the Translink (#19). The only bus going that way. Needless to say, the bus was pretty clean and the driver was friendly for it being 0130am.
Anyways, at Joyce, the bus turned left instead of right (to Joyce Collingwood station). So I got off and walked a few blocks to my relatives house.
But if it wasnt for that bus, I might have had to walk in the rain for a quite few miles.
I was able to use my pass from the Skytrain and since it is considered 1 zone after 630pm, the price was $ 2.50.

It could be my terrible experiences with Halifax public transit or the fact that I live on five incredibly good bus routes, but I’m generally a pretty big fan of Translink. Sure, it’s not cheap but nor is running a car.
I’ve ridden at least four or five buses per day over the last 2.5 years and I could count on one hand the number of bad experiences I’ve had. Mostly, it’s when the driver is so visibly angry that it makes everyone on the bus intensely uncomfortable, or when the driver lets a less-​than-​lucid person onto the bus who then proceeds to collapse in the aisle.
Overall, Translink drivers are friendly, buses are approximately punctual, and rarely does a bus just not show up. Yep, Translink could be a whole lot better, but it sure could be far worse.

Ok I think I will be more than fair in saying translink, is for the the most part, reliable. The skytrain comes quite often, and the buses come really frequently during peak times, and every 15mins until about 9pm when they come every 30mins. And if you happen to be in a small neighbourhood its every 30 as well. I have had more than my fair share of run ins with this service, once the entire skytrain system shut down and I was one of the lucky ones that were stuck at a station, others were stuck in the middle of the tracks for over an hour. Not a fun time. The buses are early or late, and rarely on time, and there are times when they just dont show up. The skytrain itself runs fairly smoothly, and not literally because its definitely a bumpy ride closer to main and stadium. The transit people are becoming seen more frequently as security and such, and more than once I have seen police patrolling the areas. Security is still questionable because you are supposed to be able to push the yellow strip and someone will be there within minutes, this isnt true I have witnessed it, it took a long time, I think 4 stops? It was a while ago. And if you ever have to listen to an announcement, I hope you are good at understanding garbled crackly voices, because the speaker system is terrible. The rates, dont get me started, they are horrendous. They have a day pass, tickets (1,2,3 zone or consession-​for students in highschool and under or the elderly, this gets you all zones.), or monthly pass (same as tickets) to buy from the store or you can buy other types of passes from schools or discounted passes from work. To buy a one zone monthly is 72 bucks, and that gets you around any one zone. You can only buy it the last week of the previous month or the first… ill say 2 weeks of the month you want it for. Tickets for one zone are 19 bucks for 10, and are good for any one zone as well, if you need to travel a second zone you can buy an add fare for 1.25 or use another ticket if you dont have cash, it sucks but it works. These get used up really fast so if you travel a lot the monthly is worth it for sure. The upside is, they dont expire so until you punch one in the machine, you can keep the same tickets for a year, then once validated, its good for 90 mins. The day pass is I think 9 bucks and you can go wherever you want for the one day. I really wish they had a week pass option, it would be a really good deal for those who are visiting, or are out for a special event such as the olympics???
If you are visiting or, like me need to know how to get somewhere off your normal route, the website is actually really good. They offer bus schedules as well as a trip planner where you can enter point a and point b and it will tell you all the places inbetween. When you search you can search by the time you want to leave, arrive, number of transfers used, etc.
I would also like to say, to the driver (male, dark hair, beard, really friendly) of the 130 Metrotown usually around 730−8am on thurs and fridays YOU ROCK! You totally make my morning. I usually chill out, and listen to the radio on my way to work but if you happen to be the driver, I dont even bother because you always are very conciderate, if someone is running for the bus you will wait for them, you say hello, good morning, make witty comments, and give me the news and weather forecast for the day, week, and weekend (depending on what day it is) completely makes my morning! Thank you! To the (female, dark hair) driver of the 123 New West Stn night shift you are awesome as well, always friendly and upbeat, always giving us a hard time :-) The look of surprise on your next victim makes my night. THANKS GUYS YOU GET A GOLD STAR! hehehe.

Once upon a time, our hero lived in a land where it was feasible to take public transit everywhere and owning a car was a choice. Translink has done a fair job of developing the bus and SkyTrain system in the GVRD to support the public needs of a shifting population to fast-​growing suburbs like Surrey. Major universities, schools, and attractions are fairly well served by TransLink, but smaller neighborhood routes sometimes require a 30 minute wait between buses. Overall, it’s a decent system that has been boggled down by public consultations and challenged by the need to build infrastructure to make the 2010 Olympics feasible.
However, change over the years has turned the system into a hub-​and-​spoke model; where direct routes once existed, now it takes a bus to a hub or a SkyTrain station and perhaps two transfers before getting to our hero’s intended destination.
PROS:
— An integrated system of buses, ferries, and rapid transit.
— Transit that’s friendly to handicapped persons.
— Most buses are equipped with bicycle racks.
— Cheap UPass program for post-​secondary students.
— Ever-​expanding SkyTrain system.
CONS:
— Exhaust fumes from using cheap diesel fuel gave union workers respiratory problems.
— A lot of fare skippers due to lack of turnstiles and 3-​door boarding on the 98 and 99 lines at major stops.
— Frequent fare hikes.