The Canada Line is undersized. And maybe that’s a good thing.
As this Buzzer pic of Canada-Line construction at City Centre illustrates, there are more stairs than escalators. Typically there are about two or three flights in a station – and a lot of people use them. Mostly for going down, of course, but frequently to avoid the line at the escalator.
I notice a lot of people walking up the escalators too – sometimes even the line on the right, where normally people stand for the trip. Peer pressure, I’m guessing.
How much fitter are we as a people now that more us of are integrating a little extra effort into how we move around? How much is this additional fitness worth?
Money was saved on cutting back the number of escalators on the Canada Line. Are we saving even more in health-care costs because people are using the stairs instead?
Yes, I believe that this is an additional benefit of public transit. It applies to people walking (and ocasionally running) to/from bus stops as well. I’m not saying it’s a huge benefit, but every little bit helps.
i guess i’m happy to not have as much energy wasted on those pesky elevators.
i think it’s interesting, too, that we’re asking folks to get a little bit of exercise, but not too much, because the motorized rapid transit train is going to take you ridiculous distances with no more effort on your part.
spend billions to allow (force?) people to travel underground by motorized transport, but next to nothing to allow people to travel aboveground with their own power.
It may be good for healthy, able-bodied people, but the stair-heavy station design is a real barrier to accessibility for people with mobility impairments. For a wheelchair user, many stations require two or even three very slow elevator trips, interspersed with long hallways. For a cane user, or just seniors with arthritic knees, the stations take much longer to navigate than an expo line or millenium line station. The up escalators are a longer walk, and there is usually no down escalator, giving you the choice of stairs down or a long walk to an elevator. Obviously the major goal for ridership has to be luring those able-bodied people out of cars, but the new station design feels like a real step backward in universal accessibility, which in the rest of the system Translink has made great strides in promoting.
…until they have to add more cars to the trains…
Remember that Metrotown, one of the most heavily-used stations on the E-line only has 1 up escalator. King George also only has 1 up escalator.
What do you think why people in Europe are generally healthier than us North Americans?
Stairs… this is one of the simple things that no one thinks about. Just imagine all of the European cities with 3 and 4 storey walk up buildings without elevators. And then think about how many times a day people walk up and down those flights of stairs… hm… maybe there is something about the way we build our cities and design our buildings?
I never saw anyone taking stairs in my 3 storey walk up apartments building in Vancouver. Everyone always took the elevator, and there wasn’t one person over 50 living in my building!
I agree with Brooke completely, and am totally incredulous at the deployment of the old Euro-fitness excuses. Maybe we’d be hardier still if we gave up central heating and indoor plumbing.
Station design throughout the system, Canada, Millenium and RAV lines, are all a disappointment to the user. The escalators don’t always work, and the demands on the knees can be a major irritant. Going up a long flight in hot, humid weather isn’t a recreation, it’s a downer, if you’ll pardon the term.
But the biggest problem is the small platform size. With any size of crowd the station platform begins to feel insecure, as though one could easily be jostled onto the track at any moment. I am especically shocked at the narrow eight and nine foot widths of the Canada Line stations.
I use the West Coast Express daily and those platforms are also narrower than what’s ideal, and when passengers already waiting decide to chat in clusters, the next passenger along has to walk outside the yellow line. No matter how many times train crews sound the whistle or make PA announcements, people still end up walking out into the danger zone. It’s only a matter of time.