paulhillsdon.com

This is the follow up to an earlier post detailing what made me change my mind about safety issues on SkyTrain.

As I said in the former post, I used to be anti-turnstiles and considered safety concerns at SkyTrain hyperbolic and mostly due to perception. Now that that has all changed, here’s a few ideas that I feel would make our transit system much safer. 

Turnstiles with 1 attendant at each station

The real problem with safety *on* SkyTrain has to do with undesirables getting onto the system so easily. Turnstiles solves this problem because it creates a barrier (both figuratively and literally), encouraging only legitimate usage of the train. 

Furthermore, turnstiles require at least one attendant to be there at all times in case there’s issues with the gates. This ensures that there is a staff presence at each station, and will make people feel safer because they know someone is always there (unlike the current roaming structure). If the attendants end up “adopting” one, or a few, stations as their regulars, it will also create a sense of community for users. 

Flexibility with frequencies

What I encountered the other day with a completely empty train could be resolved by adjusting the train frequency. Now, I know, the great thing about SkyTrain is very consistent frequencies. For example, trains come at least every 4 minutes at late night! It’s odd though, considering how TransLink tends to play with frequencies much more on the buses to increase efficiency. That is to say, it’s not like they’ll run 1/3 full buses every 10 minutes over half an hour period - instead they’ll just run one full bus every 30 minutes. 

So why not explore this option for times when safety is a real issue (usually late nights)? Why not reduce the SkyTrain service on Mondays to Thursday between 10 and 11 to every 10 minutes? Then between 11 and 1 to every 15 minutes? 

On Fridays when things are busier, maybe increase the frequency a bit. Play with the frequencies to fit the actual demand - this ensures that there is sufficient ridership on the trains to reduce safety concerns. 

This suggestion was made at one point during a 24/7 SkyTrain service discussion I was having. The point was made that having 24/7 service didn’t mean running trains every 6 minutes from 1am to 5am. It could be as simply as running one train every 30 minutes or hour! Besides, there wouldn’t even be enough demand to warrant such high frequencies that late at night. 

Playing with frequencies would make more efficient usage of the trains, reduce maintenance costs, and improve safety on the system. 

Stations as Community Hubs

Considering how much money we’ve paid for SkyTrain, it’s actually quite absurd that we haven’t utilized this expensive infrastructure to it’s full capacity. Transit oriented development around these parts is a relatively new thing unfortunately. Our SkyTrain stations should be the hubs of urban communities. 

This model has never really been fully implemented yet, but half baked versions exist at Metrotown, Edmonds, Gateway, Brentwood, and Joyce. For example, at Joyce, what I refer to as the most successful attempt yet, they built an urban village in the south east corner of the station on former industrial land. This brought in a wealth of legitimate users to the station, as well as a handful of shops and community amenities like parks and recreational space. Joyce also has community gardens below the SkyTrain guideway, and a community policing station nearby. 

Building urban communities around our SkyTrain stations makes much more efficient usage of the infrastructure, brings in more legitimate transit users (good for safety), and is a possible solution to the affordable housing problems. We need to be densifying around stations, and also locating community amenities like gardens, parks, sports fields, libraries, rec centres, pools, police stations, and more near or at the stations. 

CPTED the system

CPTED stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. It’s a series of design protocols that enhance safety and deter crime. For example, different light intensities or light heights can have different effects on safety. The same can be said for bushes and trees. 

The Expo Line stations were never built with CPTED. As we look at making substantial upgrades to the stations, CPTED should be implemented in every which way possible. 

Furthermore, there’s a ton of minor improvements that could be made at the stations to incorporate some CPTED principals without requiring millions of dollars. For example, the metal grate walls could easily and relatively cheaply be replaced with glass. Thankfully the terrible lighting is current being upgrading to a CPTED standard. We should also be looking very carefully at the existing foliage at the stations, and perhaps replant most of these areas - improving safety and beautifying the stations at the same time. 

A comprehensive media campaign 

There are vast swaths of both transit riders and non-users that simply have no idea that SkyTrain has some great security features already (i.e. the yellow boxed secure zone, the silent alarm, the real time communiqué with SkyTrain control). TransLink has kind of been pushing this more recently, however handing out mini safety guides and whistles isn’t enough. The major media corps should be publishing guides for SkyTrain safety in their papers. Maybe TransLink should look at doing full paged ads in Metro and 24, highlighting a safety feature each week. Customers need to be better informed and this will help with the heightened perception of crime on the system. 

Crime data online

Truthfully, I have absolutely no idea about the crime that goes on, either on SkyTrain, or around the stations. All I know is what the major media decides to report. So I might hear about a stabbing at Edmonds one day, but never about the cell phone or purse snatching rate. Making sure this information is consistently updated and readily available, in an easy-to-understand GUI, will also dramatically affect the perception of crime. The website could look like Google Analytics for example, showing the data in various forms such as graphs, percentages, pie charts, and even a map view. Crime stats should be taken from not just what happens on SkyTrain, but also mixed with the data from respective RCMP detachments and police departments of the municipalities, taking into account crime from 800m around the stations.

I’ve been taking SkyTrain regularly for two years now, and I’ve never once seriously felt scared for my safety until last night. Putting that into context, realistically, it says the system is quite safe. However, that doesn’t mean improvements should not be made to ameliorate the transit experience for all users. 

Maybe it was because I was going westbound at midnight on a Tuesday night Millennium Line train, a situation I’ve never been in, but three things happened last night that made me reevaluate my position on turnstiles and staff numbers. Up until yesterday, I had been a vocal opponent of turnstiles (cost to benefit ratio was too low), and I thought having more staff at stations was just a waste of money (considering how lazy most of them are). Here’s what made me change my mind. 

1. Dead, empty SkyTrains. From Braid to New Westminster, there was two other people on the train with me - a very low number and enough to make me start to feel uncomfortable. See, it’s all about the ghost town effect. I feel safe walking around at night downtown because I know I’m going to see a few people each block. It’s the eyes on the street that make me feel protected. However, in the ‘burbs, where everything is eerily quiet and nobody is around after 10; that’s when I get freaked out. Anybody could pop out from a bush! If something happened, I seriously doubt anyone would come help. 

That’s what happened on the SkyTrain. Normally returning eastbound on an Expo Line train, there’s at least 5 random strangers with me. We have a collective sense of protecting one another from creepers or hooligans. Once you go lower than that, it starts to get unnerving. 

After New Westminster, I was completely alone on the train until Patterson. It was soooo scary! See, any weirdo could’ve hopped onto my train (and these were the MK I trains, so no walking from one end to another). I would’ve been stuck on the that train with this person until the next station. Anything could’ve happened and I had no exit strategy! 

What was even more nerve-racking was stopping at a completely empty Metrotown station at night. That never happens!

2. Troublemakers. At Patterson, two rowdy teens ran up to my train as it was stopping and starting banging on the doors. Freaked the hell out of me, considering the likelihood of them joining my empty train and me being stuck with them till Joyce! Luckily, they hopped on the third car instead. 

Once I got off at Joyce though, there they were again. Bouncing up and down and tagging walls, just as the female SkyTrain attendant wasn’t looking. Very alarming stuff - especially after hearing a story from my female high school counsellor that made her hate the SkyTrain: one night she and another lady got stuck on a train with a bunch of wild teenagers that starting roughhousing on the car - leaving herself and the other woman fearing for their lives in the corners.

3. Creepers. Rather than the teens joining me at Patterson, this old guy with a trench-coat came onto the train. Seemed normal enough and besides, he was on the other side of the train. He starts looking around and I assume he’s trying to find a good seat. Then, he starts coming my way. Walking slowly, scanning the ground with his feet. Brushing aside papers and garbage. He makes eye contact. He’s close now and I’m scared shitless. Trench-coat. Maybe he’s a pedo, maybe he’s a murderer, maybe he’s a psycho. I just don’t know. He continues scrounging the floor. Oh my god - I’m stuck on here with him until the next station! 

He sits down in the middle of the train and pulls out a Bible-looking book. I see crosses hanging from his pocket and neck. Woo - maybe he’s just a weird religious guy. The next station is… Joyce. Okay, I’m finally here. Why is he getting up? This is my station not his. The door opens and he’s not moving. Oh my god, he’s waiting for me to go - maybe he’ll grab my bag, my wallet?! I quickly rush past him and towards the stairs. 

I see him scan the station then get on the eastbound train. Weird. Maybe he’s just a scrounger - trying to collect lost items of value off the train. Still, he’s crazy creepy! 

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So there’s my story. Those three experiences over one night have completely changed my opinion of safety both around and *on* SkyTrain. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post with my ideas on how to improve this horrific safety situation. 

As you may or may not know, TransLink has been in the process of updating it’s main technology services for a few years now. For example, they upgraded the CMBC’s radio network to improve correspondense between drivers and central communications - at the same time this upgrade allowed for GPS or Auto-Vehicle Location technology. They are also currently upgrading the CCTV systems on SkyTrain, including digitizing their storage mechanism from good ol’ videotape to something a bit more 21st century. While I don’t have the scoop on all this “under-the-hood” improvements, I’ve got some new and interesting info. 

One of the more visible tech additions of late has been the installation of AVL (aka: GPS), APC, which is Automated Passenger Count, and the audible annunciators. All three are relatively cheap. The technology is part of the communications system and is thus installed. These other technologies that it enables, such as dynamic displays, are currently under installation.

Thanks to all TransLink staff that helped procure this information! 

Auto Vehicle Location or AVL

AVL is the central part of Coast Mountain Bus Company’s new TMAC communications radio system. Thanks to the technology in this new system, a whole host of functions are now possible:

•  real time fleet tracking for operations and customers
• Computer Aided Dispatch
• improved emergency response
• off-line performance analysis
• on board annunciators and dynamic displays

The real time dynamic displays are on about 600 vehicles right now, with installation to be completed across the fleet by fall. 

Automated Passenger Count or APC

APC is being installed on 15% of the bus fleet, which translates to about 200 vehicles. The deployment decision varies based on bus and service type. The installation is complete and was paid for under the Capital Budget. APC will continue to be installed on 15% of new expansion buses. APC was studied for implementation on SkyTrain, but there are no immediate plans for installation. 

Audible Annunciators

The annunciators that are currently being installed at the same time as the AVL dynamic displays occured to due to several reasons: TransLink’s Access Transit Strategy, improved customer service, following industry best practices, in addition to a Canadian court case that required stops to be audibly spoken for the blind (in this case, the annunciators allow the drivers to worry about one less thing).

The annunciators will be installed across the fleet by fall. 

SkyTrain CCTV

SkyTrain’s Closed Circuit Television system is being modernized as we speak. The storage system is being converted from videotape to digital and will be complete shortly. The cameras themselves will be upgraded in 2009/2010. 

My friend has just upgraded from publicizing his writing on Facebook Notes to Blogger, and his initial post will blow you away with it’s tongue-in-cheek review of everyone’s dearest automated rail - our lovely SkyTrain. Here’s a few snippets:

The Millennium Line stations can be sorted into three different categories: girly names, excessively long names, and other. The “girly name” group encompasses stations like Sapperton, Braid, Rupert and Renfrew — stations at which no self-respecting man will ever disembark the train, for fear of total emasculation (in the event that this occurs, the revoked manliness can be restored at the hyper-masculinely-named Holdom, a title which evokes images of pure, raw, ball-grabbing maleness). The most egregious of these offenders is Rupert, which in a little known coup was named in tribute to TransLink B.O.D. member David Unruh’s love of the ursine scarf aficionado.

The Canada Line is the nearest it’s been to completion in eons — aeons, even — and I intend to be the first one aboard to soak in the Richmond-bound delight when the cherry pops in 2009. Never again will I be stuck in that all too-common position of thinking “I have twenty minutes to get to Lulu Island before my sugar sculpture collapses, but no means by which to get there.”

Check it out in it’s entirety at Hearts in the Margins!

As we all know, transit in Vancouver is woefully underfunded. Unlike with BC Transit systems across the province, the provincial government isn’t required to give a penny to TransLink. As such, TransLink has to cover all operating costs with three options: fares, property taxes, and the gas tax.

Historically, the provincial government paid all capital expenses of building the two SkyTrain lines. However, with the Liberals in office, they’ve lessened the province’s bill by requiring TransLink to pay a portion of the construction of new rapid transit lines. For both the Canada Line and the Evergreen Line, it amounts to $400 million each. Huge expenses when you consider TransLink also has to pay other, less PR worthy capital expenses - such as the expansion and upgrade of our region’s bus network.

At the cost of about half a million each (standard low-floor diesel buses here), TransLink could have bought 1600 buses for $800 million. That’s more that the whole, existing fleet!

Anyways, I’m on this topic because I was thinking about the cost of our road infrastructure. We tend to think of roads as far cheaper, because it basically amounts to laying tarmac on the dirt. When we think transit, we think about either the vehicles or the new infrastructure (aka: railways) to be built or obtained. The problem with thinking this way is we remove the vehicles from the road’s equation. That is to say, we must also incorporate the cost of buying a car to drive on the road. Just as a railway is useless without trains, so too is a road without cars (not completely true, but let’s just go with it for the argument’s sake).

Now, let’s take the recent widening of Fraser Highway through Surrey from a variable two laned road, to a consistent four laned highway. The expansion has taken place over a number of years, with funding coming from all sorts of partners, but the total cost is $45 million. Now, for most that follow the news, seems like a fairly cheap price for what is a road expansion that spans across Surrey (total of 13km). Certainly, when the number is under a $100 million for roadway expansion; well that number is a whole lot smaller than the billion dollar + Canada Line.

But let’s factor in the car now. Let’s say about 60% of Surrey’s population owns and drives a car - this is factoring in both kids and transit users. That goes from 400,000 people to 240,000.

Now, let’s assume about 2/3rds of these drivers own used vehicles - about an average cost of $4000. The other 1/3rd own/lease new vehicles for an average of $20,000. So, 160,000 people at $4000 each comes to $640 million. The other 1/3 at 80,000 people times $20,000 each comes to $1.6 billion!

Total cost for the drivers: $2.16 billion.

And that’s the cost just every few years. Cars get replaced over time with new ones and the investment cycle restarts.

Now, obviously, this calculation is rather skewed. I mean, it’s not like I took the total cost of road infrastructure over the years. Especially in a place like Surrey, where you would probably go to multiple destinations that are already poorly served by other transportation options, a car seems like a good investment.

My runaround point here is that our perception of the costs of road infrastructure aren’t realistic. Now, imagine if the public put their money completely into public transit. That would mean that the system would have over $2 billion to play with for expansion - every couple years. That means we could have four new SkyTrain lines in a decade - four times the rate we’ve been building the system. That’s over 1,000 new buses every year. That’s 16 LRT lines!

Just imagine what the system would be like with that kind of annual funding. People wouldn’t need cars - you’d be able to get here, there, and everywhere - all on well funded public transit.

The difficult part is transitioning the funding mechanism from roads and personal vehicles to a public transportation system…

I was going through the South of Fraser Area Transit Plan today, and I was reminded that, given the choice of what rapid transit services they wanted, almost all residents South of the Fraser turned down SkyTrain.

According to the document, TransLink reps gave residents colour coded lengths of tapes to place over a regional map as part of a visioning process. The length of this tape was based on a reasonable estimate of the budget TransLink would have for expansion.

• 1 piece of SkyTrain = 5 pieces of BRT
• 1 piece of LRT = 3 pieces of BRT
• 1 piece of BRT = 1.5 pieces of Frequent Bus services

Now, let’s examine the outcome of this visioning process.

SkyTrain

There was very little agreement for this expenditure, primarily because of the cost and the limited penetration into the South of Fraser that results by spending all available capital on this type of rail. Most participants started out with SkyTrain but then began to understand the tradeoff between service single corridors versus creating a network of services.

LRT

There was more agreement on this investment with a number of corridors being highlighted. However, overall, the network remains thin because rail takes up the majority of the budget. Most participants picked out corridors shown in previous transit strategies such as King George highway and 104th Street in Surrey of Fraser Highway from Surrey to Langley. The Southern Rail (Interurban) corridor was highlighted in Workshop but it did not appear in the other 24 maps. Interestingly, there was limited support for the northern section of the line.

BRT

The network and the level of agreement for Bus Rapid Transit echoes the market research. It is interesting to note that as the budget is spread among les expensive alternatives, the network that can be created increases both in scale and popularity. Respondents seemed to understand the concept of the B-Line as Bus Rapid Transit and were interested in extending a similar network throughout the region, including to Abbotsford.

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Now, take the above into the context of almost a year or two ago, before the Provincial government decided to invest $4 billion into our transit system.

With this change, I think it’s safe to say that we have a slightly larger budget now. When taking this into account, I think choosing to develop at least one of the major transit corridors in the SoF region as LRT would be a smart move. There are numerous advantages to choosing rail over bus, despite what some would tell you.

Furthermore, TransLink has a terrible reputation for stalling upgrades or expansions years after they were necessary. Obviously, the B-Lines have been a success. However, if you don’t meet initial success with quick expansion, typically through providing more buses, the whole experience diminishes in quality and convenience quite rapidly. Just try riding either the 98 or 99 B-Line and you’ll quickly find out that they pale in comparison in terms of definition as “rapid transit” beside our SkyTrain system. The routes get stuck in traffic, the bus doesn’t have much of a premium interior, and you can never get over the simple fact of overcrowding.

I think the SoF area has a prime opportunity here to convince Mr. Falcon to redirect the money in place for SkyTrain expansion in Surrey to provide us with at least one LRT route - and heck, throw the rest of the millions into more buses for our future BRT routes - so we can avoid having to stand for 45 minutes on the Fraser Hwy.

During the Surrey Mayor’s State of the City address, while discussing transportation in BC’s second largest city, Dianne Watts said:

“I for one am a firm believer that instead of SkyTrain expansion in Surrey we should be looking at At Grade Rail. At Grade Rail is significantly cheaper, easier to build and much more aesthetically pleasing than Sky Train. Surrey cannot wait until 2020 for improved rail transit. At Grade Rail can be completed much faster. I have great confidence in the potential of At Grade Rail, and I am currently having City staff analyze this option so that we can move it forward.”

This is a terrific move on the part of the Mayor. It great to know that she understands the added qualities that LRT presents to Surrey over SkyTrain - not just cost efficiency per km, but also aspects like the streetscape asthetics.

While I understand the reasoning for SkyTrain to UBC and to Coquitlam, I am a vehement supporter of the development of a new rail transit network based on LRT. Surrey is in the perfect position to be the beginning spot for this new network and will set the city apart from the North of Fraser’s transportation planning of the past few decades. It’s saying “We will chart our own path, learn from your mistakes, and build the best rail transit we can”. And that rail transit will be based on LRT!

Hopefully Surrey City Council will take a nod from Vancouver, and continue to push forward on the Heritage Rail Project. It would be a fantastic business case for LRT South of the Fraser if we can have a demonstration up and running in the next few years!

Good job Dianne! You just got my vote for November!

Is there a worse possible headline a party could get? It’s a blatant showing that politicians are “better” than the general public, and have to “go to the streets” to get the public’s “real thoughts”.

WTF?

Shouldn’t they already know what the real problems are? That’s what their job is! And if they are in fact going to start knocking on doors, or riding SkyTrains, then why do they need a friggin press release? Have the NDP sunk so low that not only do they not realize what transit riders go through everyday, but they have to get some type of attention for trying to understand what the issues are?

And why the hell is the transportation critic from Esquimalt anyways? Doesn’t Carole James have any sense of organization or leadership to know that she should put someone from the Lower Mainland on such a high profile ministry? Why isn’t Adrian Dix covering transportation - I’m sure it would raise his profile much more so than beating the dead horse that is the health ministry.

F**k politicians who don’t even have the capacity to understand what the public goes through. And f**k policitical parties that are such cowards that they can’t even find one problem to hound the Campbell government one - of which, they are *tons*.

I hate BC politics.

Combining two of my favourite loves - “Thriller” and rail transit. Sure, we may have SkyTrain parties, but nothing can beat this flashmob.

[via SpacingToronto]

Dave left a comment on my Transit Metropolis Vancouver post, challenging me to take it beyond a vision and to figure out if it is viable as a real plan, and how much it would cost. I didn’t quite fulfill that exact challenge, but combined it with the latest SkyTrain expansion plans in Surrey, and came out with this.

It’s a 14 paged document outlining what LRT is, why we shouldn’t build SkyTrain in the South Fraser area, and how much it would cost to build three LRT lines out here.

Surprisingly enough, the final estimate, based on a cost of $24 million per kilometre, three LRT lines totaling 100km in the South Fraser area could be built for $2.5 billion.

Considering that the SkyTrain extensions, tentatively set for completion between 2020-2030, will likely total nearly $5 billion by then, with only 22.7 kilometres of rail rapid transit.

I think the business case is clear. Check it out [PDF] and let me know what you think in the comments! :)