Hummingbird604.com » Translink

It’s cheaper for me to buy a monthly @Translink bus pass

Raul — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:00:30 +0000

Photo credit: Stephen Rees on Flickr.

This past month (June 2011) I did a little experiment of my own. I knew I would be travelling over 60% of the time throughout the month, so I did not buy a monthly bus pass ($81 for One Zone), and instead I only bought packs of 10 bus tickets ($21 per book of 10 FareSavers). As of the time of writing (June 26th, Sunday) I can confirm this was a really stupid idea.

Despite the fact that I was in Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria, Parksville, and Montreal for the better part of the month, I am so incredibly dependent on public transit (Skytrain, Seabus and Canada Line) that I will need yet another 10 pack of FareSavers given how frequently I use transit. That will make it equivalent (well, in fact more expensive) than having just bought a monthly pass ($84 vs $81).

Photo credit: Stephen Rees on Flickr.

You almost always need to do this kind of exercise to see if you are getting any value out of the transit system. I am, and quite a lot. I bus back from the gym to my house, I bus to the university, to my office downtown, I shuttle quickly on the Canada Line and do short trips (e.g. Waterfront to Yaletown and back) to meet with clients, or all the way to Broadway/City Hall. So, overall, I get more value for my money, even if I’m travelling out of Vancouver, if I buy a monthly bus pass. Guess what I’m going to do next month when my Mom comes to visit?

On @Translink and promoting the vote on buses/Skytrain/Canada Line

Raul — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:02:29 +0000

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know that I spent the better part of the past 2 weeks complaining that EVERYWHERE (by transit) had visible digital displays (on the Canada Line TVs, Skytrain LCD displays, buses’ front displays) saying “Go, Canucks, Go“. I complained that this year’s Federal election could possibly be course-changing for Canadians, and that we needed help to increase voter turnout. So I asked them if they could change their signs to “Go, Vote Now” or “Vote Today”.

Photo credit: Paul Kimo McGregor on Flickr

I contacted my friend Erin McConnell who works for Translink (I also asked Ken Hardie on Twitter, and he was kind enough to respond to my concerns). I am posting in its entirety Erin’s response (with permission)

Thanks for the email – I want you to know that since we first saw your tweets, we’ve been talking about your idea internally. In a word, yes, we absolutely would love to promote voting and think your idea is terrific. Unfortunately, the remedy isn’t easy or cost-effective. As I understand it, when we bought the electronic display system we had the opportunity to have the company that supplied it pre-program it with some “fun” messages like Go Canucks Go, Go Whitecaps, etc.

At the time, we didn’t think about using the screens to promote voting – instead, we focused on sharing excitement around larger sporting events as so many customers take transit to the games. We’ve since looked into whether or not we can program in new messages (like Vote Today!) and we can, but the cost is substantial – more than $15,000, not including people hours, which is formidable – we would have to program the system and each of the buses manually. The time component is so great in fact that cost aside, it’s not something we accomplish before voting day.

But I was serious when I said we like the idea. Apparently we are able to go and re-program the system at key points throughout the life of the technology. As a result, we’ve slated the voting message to be programmed as an option at that point so we can use it going forward. In the meantime, we’ll be tweeting and reminding folks to vote on Monday and we’ll also be putting reminders on the SkyTrain station TVs, which will reach a lot of our customers.

Ken Hardie’s tweet to me and Diamond Isinger also mentioned this:

RT @kenhardie: @diamondisinger @hummingbird604 – Yes! Vote Today will get big-time play on SkyTrain screens on Monday.

I’m really pleased with Translink’s approach to listen to customers and the fact that they addressed my concern ASAP. And for the love of God, if you are Canadian, and of legal voting age GO VOTE ON MONDAY.

Be part of the plan! (Translink consultations)

Raul — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:30:38 +0000

It’s no secret to anyone that I’ve previously criticized Translink (I have no qualms about it and I stand by my words). Constructive criticism, of course. However, this time, instead of criticizing I’m going to praise their “Be Part of the Plan” campaign. I know for a fact that Translink has been trying (with varying degrees of success) to listen to the public and learn more about how to engage. While sometimes it would seem as though Translink forgets that we, the tax-paying citizens of British Columbia, are paying their salaries, kudos should be given to them for trying. And while I may get upset when the bus/Skytrain/Seabus service is not particularly good, I understand that there’s always room for improvement.

While I am very definitely NOT impressed with the Participation Guidelines I think asking for the public’s input is at least one step in the right direction. I’d be delighted to talk with Translink about ways in which they can improve their social media strategy (although I am not sure how receptive they will be). I also know many local members of the social media community whose opinion would be very valuable to Translink’s communications and public consultation team (Stephen Rees, Erika Rathje, Paul Hillsdon and Karen Quinn Fung come to mind).

More importantly, be part of the plan!. Get involved! Speak up about the issues you think need to be addressed! I would also encourage you to attend one of the public consultation events that Translink has planned for the Transport 2040 Plan. It’s YOUR future. Provide feedback on it!

Translink, social media and the issue of instantaneous updates on Twitter

Raul — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:48:26 +0000

I am not an expert in transportation like Stephen Rees or Paul Hillsdon, whose analyses on Translink (the Greater Vancouver transportation system, fully named the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority) and its performance are always very interesting to me. However, I *am* always interested in how government agencies use social media tools (I am also interested in how universities and other higher education institutions use social media tools, but that’ll be a post for later – Beth Kanter, I haven’t forgotten about you, I swear).

Translink as a transportation authority has a really weird governance structure. I dare you to read Translink’s About Page and actually understand WHO is responsible for WHAT. Yes. I know. Confusing. But whatever. As a transportation authority of a major urban region, I kind of expect Translink to provide excellent service. I won’t bore you with stories of how many times a bus driver has started his/her bus and shut the doors on me despite the fact that they have seen me run. I won’t describe how many issues arose with buses and the Skytrain because of extreme climatic conditions. Those are detailed elsewhere on the internet.

What did make me scratch my head a bit was this tweet sent by the writer of The Buzzer Blog (who recently joined Twitter, and with whom I’ve had a few exchanges over email) to Tris. The reason why I was puzzled is because I certainly think that an organization the size of Translink SHOULD have enough staffing to handle Twitter AND a blog. Heck, I know DOZENS of organizations whose Twitter AND blogs are handled by one single person.

I do understand that Twittering does take time, but truth be told, there are MANY ways in which Twitter updates of transit conditions. Fortunately, more Translink staff is getting on Twitter, including Ken Hardie (Director of Communications of Translink). However, Ken – if I may give you a piece of advice – careful what you tweet. Once it’s out, it’s out. Yes, I’m referring to this one.

Upcoming events – Skytrain Security Unconference

Raul — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:00:36 +0000

My friend Karen Quinn Fung is helping Translink organize the Skytrain Security Unconference this coming Saturday. Unfortunately, I have a gazillion things to do, so I won’t be able to attend, although it would be great if people did, particularly because this is a first attempt by Translink (as far as I know) to reach out to people using non-traditional media (aka social media).

I would understand if people brought up issues beyond the scope of the actual unconference (like, you know, issues with regards to transit police, or the need for more Skytrain wagons, etc.) but it would also be nice if people stayed on track. I also would like to note that while I have great expectations for attendance, I wouldn’t be surprised if not many of the people who SHOULD be attending didn’t attend, particularly because of potential issues related to liability, secrecy and confidentiality. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people who may not be in a position of power within Translink that should be talking about these issues of security and stuff.

Overall, I really would like to encourage my readers to attend and wish Karen all the best with this endeavour. I also would like to ask if any of you attend, please fire me an email and I’ll reproduce your notes (fully credited of course!) here if you want. Or just drop a comment here or on Karen’s Skytrain Unconference blog (linked above).

My growing dependency on transit in the Metro Vancouver region

Raul — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:14:05 +0000

This past month (May), for reasons that I will not get into here, I had to buy bus tickets and spent over $60 on tickets alone. Admittedly, if I had known that the bureaucratic issues were not going to be resolved by May 2nd, I would have bought a traditional bus pass. Unfortunately, I didn’t and ended up feeling trapped. Yes, trapped is the word. I had to ask my friends to come to my stomping grounds (the Main St./Mount Pleasant area).

Moreover, when I had to head downtown, I had to be very strategic about where I was going and how many events I attended in a day. Fortunately, the week that I attended Launch Party IV, VIDFEST, Convergence and Third Tuesday I also happened to be downtown, so it wasn’t all that bad. All this comes to just remind me how dependent I am now on my bus pass and on transit in general.

I fixed these issues last Thursday, and even though I am not attending lots of events, I have been feeling incredibly free. Just the mere fact that I can commute everywhere within the Metro Vancouver area without feeling trapped by the confines of my geographical area (as I was before, not having my bus pasS) has made me gain a new appreciation for the need for appropriate transit.

I rarely talk about transit or local politics or these kinds of issues as there are many other bloggers in the Metro Vancouver area who do it (of course, admittedly, I may disagree with many of these bloggers’ views, but I still think that we need them). But for example, some local bloggers who talk transit in a much better light than I do are Stephen Rees, Karen Fung and Paul Hillsdon (who by the way is running for council in Surrey).

Despite the fact that my blog is pretty personal, I think it is important for me to highlight some issues that are of relevance (at least, to my personal life!) – and one of these is the need for good transit. I have become very dependent on a good transit system, and I am pretty good at navigating it. The other day, JT and I were roaming around Vancouver and Burnaby, and I was the one giving directions. Why? Because I’ve used the system for so long and so frequently that now I know many of my routes.

I do wish that we had a better system, including (but not limited to)
- that Translink got their act together with a line that goes through 16th Avenue,
- that Cambie hadn’t been decimated the way it was,
- that the board was more transparent and accountable,
- that the rest of the Metro Vancouver was as well covered as some of the downtown areas,
- that the fares weren’t as high (I dare Metro Vancouver and Translink to offer such low fares as those offered in the Mexican transit system),
-….

Now, the question goes to YOU. What things are in your wish-list for the Metro Vancouver transit system and for Translink?