Getting from Vancouver to Harrison Hot Springs via Chilliwack (bus and transit)
This past Monday, I facilitated a workshop on “Sparking Conversations Around Our Research with Online Tools: Using Social Media to Raise Awareness of Research Findings” to a group of researchers with UBC’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics. The workshop took place within the framework of a retreat in Harrison Hot Springs (British Columbia). It was really cool to talk to fellow academics on how they can use social media to advance their research agenda, and more importantly, to inform the public about all the cool stuff they’re doing. I had also wanted to check out Harrison Hot Springs (heard great things).
Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to get into the spa nor to the springs. And also sadly, I couldn’t stay, not only because I didn’t have the budget to stay but also because I had to come back to Vancouver.
Since I couldn’t attend the full workshop, and I lost my drivers’ license, I had to take public transit and the bus system to get to Harrison Hot Springs. I had in the past used Canada’s interurban bus system, which I found incredibly dismal. I was NOT looking forward to the trip, but I had already committed to facilitate the interactive workshop so I decided to take the Greyhound and then the Agassiz-Harrison Transit System.
To say that it was an adventure altogether, as for the easy drive that it would have been (1 hour and 45 minutes), it was a trip that altogether spanned from 6 am (when I left my house) to 11 am (when we got to Harrison Hot Springs). By the end of the trip, I was ready to not take a bus ever again. It was possibly one of the most annoying commutes I’ve ever had.
That said, I made two new friends and thus I can’t complain. Since I searched Google and everyone seems to assume that you will drive to Harrison Hot Springs, here are my notes of how I got there without a car:
- From the Main Street Skytrain station, the Pacific Central Station (1150 Station Street.
The station is open from 5:45 AM to 9:00 PM and from 9:30 PM until 12:30 AM), take the Greyhound to Chilliwack (I left at 6:45 am to arrive into Chilliwack at 8:15am- ish - From the interurban bus depot in Chilliwack, walk across to the bus stop right outside Walmart in Cottonwood Mall. It will drop you off at Main and Princess (almost any route will take you there). They don’t have an Information Centre right at the bus depot so don’t expect that!
- From Main and Princess (it’s where all buses converge, and it’s close to an abandoned, former Safeway facility), take the 11 Agassiz-Harrison Transit System. Buses operate once an hour, so make sure you’re there on time. I took the 10 am
- Kilby Historic Site (Harrison Mills, BC)
- Rowena’s Inn on the River (Harrison Mills, BC)
- Travelling from Vancouver to Victoria by public transit and ferry
- My growing dependency on transit in the Metro Vancouver region
- Google Transit – Vancouver – link love
The bus ticket from Chilliwack to Harrison costs $ 1.50 with the transfer, and $ 3.00 without. Overall, it was an interesting adventure, but next time I go to Harrison Hot Springs, I will go by car. Not kidding. Sorry, environment, suburbs are to be driven.
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How did you lose your driver’s license?
[...] doesn’t own a car. He also recently lost his driver’s license. So, he decided to take the bus to Harrison Hot Springs. The Greyhound bus took Raul from Vancouver to Chilliwack and then it took two additional buses [...]
This is so interesting. I’ve always been curious about how one might get to Harrison Hot Springs by bus. Here’s a link that details my road trip–by car–to the public thermal bath at Harrison the other week: http://bit.ly/dfUlRP
thank you.. this helped me..