Posts Tagged vancouver
The joys of public transit
If the geotagging on this post worked, you can see that I started writing this post somewhere between SkyTrain stations 29th Avenue and Nanaimo in Vancouver. I take the SkyTrain every day to and from work, and it’s great.
Sure, I bitch about it every now and then, particularly when it gets delayed, but all in all I really like SkyTrain. Never mind the financial advantages of public transit over driving, never mind the environmental benefits of public transit over driving, I like it because it’s stress-free!
Compared to driving, that is. A few nights ago we were driving from Langley to New Westminster, which means crossing the Fraser River at some point. I had two options: Highway 1 over the Port Mann or King George Highway over the Patullo Bridge. They’re replacing the Port Mann and reconfiguring the freeway, so construction delays are inevitable. King George Highway has a lot of traffic lights and the Patullo always seems to have a lane closed for unknown reasons. We picked the Port Mann.
Mistake.
Traffic was horrible! Backed up for miles from the bridge (to 176th, to put it into context for locals), we hit maybe 40km/h. And it’s like this every day. How do people put up with it? How do people stay sane?
Contrast that with my daily commute: I walk down to the bus stop (leisurely and exercise), catch a bus (get to sit down while the bus zooms around), drop Elizabeth off at daycare, catch another bus (get to catch up on Twitter and Facebook), transfer to SkyTrain, walk to work (more exercise). It takes about an hour and forty minutes to get from home to work. Yes, it takes a while, but I get to sit down and relax on the bus and SkyTrain. While on the bus with Elizabeth I get to interact with her face-to-face. I get to read news on the way in. I get to post things to Twitter. I get to draft posts for my blog. I get a nice walk in at either end, and I can stop for coffee if I want to.
I don’t have to worry about other drivers. I don’t get stuck in stop-and-go traffic. I don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot. I don’t have to worry about paying for a parking spot.
Given my options, why would I want to drive?
Oh yeah, here’s a funky map of the geolocation of this post. Fun.
Posted from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Getting around
In Hawaii Alice and I shared a car. Our monthly loan payments on it were about $350, insurance was about $125, and gas was about $250. Add in maintenance and we were spending, say, $850 a month to get ourselves around.
Moving to Vancouver meant leaving the car behind, as it would have cost about $3000 to ship it up. We found an apartment close to a SkyTrain station, which makes it easier to get around. Transit costs us about $100 a month each.
But what about those times when we need to buy something big, or if we want to go where transit sucks, or if we want to go to Vancouver Island? Enter car sharing. We’re members of the Co-operative Auto Network. Whenever we want a car we go to their website, find a nearby car, and sign it out. We pay $3 per hour and a few dimes per kilometer. Given how infrequently we drive, this is ideal.
Last month we made a couple of big trips so my Car Co-op bill was higher than normal, about $175. Alice’s was lower. All told we spent about $425 on transportation last month, about half of what we regularly paid in Hawaii!
Side note: if you live in Vancouver and want to join the Car Co-op, let me refer you. There are financial incentives for both of us!
iPhone 4 launch in Canada
Today the iPhone 4 launched in Canada. I decided to stop by the Vancouver Apple Store in Pacific Centre to check out the action.
People were lined up outside Pacific Centre, down Granville Street almost to Denman. Apple Store employees were generally milling about. One was handing out iPhone 4 cupcakes!
Inside Pacific Centre the line to the Apple Store was just as long. People had started lining up at 1 in the morning for this!
When I got to the front of the line the store was already open, before the mall’s normal opening of 10am. People were being let in one at a time to buy their new shiny toys. The benches at the front were set up with the new iPhones, and the banners and advertising was already up.
After spending 20 minutes hanging about, I got bored and checked out. I didn’t get a cupcake.
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