Vancouver Train station to Canada Place, sort of

[kaell116]

On 8/27/2019 at 4:49 PM, ell52 said:

Not too much to share.  Taxis will be available outside the train station. It's a short cab ride to all downtown hotels as well as Canada Place (which is also downtown). The Vancouver downtown core is relatively compact, so cab fares should be in the under $20 CAD range, depending on location of hotel and traffic. Probably closer to $15. We are supposed to be getting Uber, so it might be even cheaper by next year. 

 

Are all cabs able to take credit cards or is it still cash preffered?

 

thx in advance (since trying to get this back on track, and I am doing the same thing in two weeks).

[ell52]

1 hour ago, kaell116 said:

 

Are all cabs able to take credit cards or is it still cash preffered?

 

thx in advance (since trying to get this back on track, and I am doing the same thing in two weeks)

Cabs are able to take most major credit cards. If you want to use a cc, make sure you confirm with the driver before you get in because sometimes they play "the machine is broken" card. If they see you start walking away, the machine will have a miraculous recovery.  

 

Information for all:  Here is a link --> to the  Taxi Bill of Rights - passengers set up by the BC Consumer Protection Branch in conjunction with taxi drivers and consumers.  It outlines expectations for passengers and drivers. There are links on the page to report complaints or concerns. 

Edited September 1, 2019 by ell52

[kaell116]

thx!

[scottbee]

On 8/31/2019 at 2:02 PM, martincath said:

I have never denied that the rules apply on the Canada Line - in fact if you read my last post more carefully you'll see I referenced precisely that fact when responding to your mention of new Expo line trains with luggage space.

 

As to your incorrect claim that no enforcement ever occurs, almost all of the occasions I've witnessed people being denied boarding were outside Yaletown-Roundhouse station c. 1pm, which is when I ride the bus up to St Pauls for my Diabetes clinic appointments. Most of those folks still had the airline tags on their one large suitcase or backpack, so the logical deduction is they'd just ridden the Canada Line in from YVR and wanted to head home or to temp accommodation further up into the West End - none of those folks were moving house!

 

If you think any organization the size of Translink does not have a fair number of jobsworths and general low grade 'I have a tiny bit of power and it has gone to my head' types then I have a bridge to sell you 😉  Given that the wording of the rule allows them to bump you for the mere perception of perhaps causing inconvenience I have no doubt that it does get applied unfairly as well as legitimately, but it does get applied.

 

Since buses have drivers while SkyTrain does not, I absolutely agree that the risk of enforcement is very low on the short Main-Waterfront hop; I'll even agree that at noonish someone with a big bag is probably not going to annoy other pax much at all so even if there was a Translink minion around they would quite possibly let it slide. But unless you're willing to cough up the costs incurred by anyone taking your advice who then does meet a Translink person willing to enforce the rules, you might want to rein in the hyperbole some - I'm sure there are many things that happen in the world you are perfectly willing to believe in though you've never experienced them personally, so why go whole-hog on the 'this never happens' stance when it definitely does?

 

I didn't say enforcement never occurs;  I said I've seen thousands of cruise ship passengers board SKYTRAIN lines with luggage, in front of transit staff, and I've never witnessed denied boarding due to luggage.  (I've seen it for bicycles in rushhour, and all sorts of other reasons, including my favourite, someone with a shopping cart).

 

And I will reiterate, that a cruise passenger, with luggage will have no issue with that luggage on Skytrain outside of rushhour (although they may need to stand near the end of a car on an Expo Line train).  The only time it would conceivably be an issue is into downtown from 7-9a and leaving downtown from 4-6p

 

Buses may be a different matter, but I've ridden the bus from the airport with luggage, and it really wasn't a big deal, although on a busy downtown route, the driver does have the right to deny boarding (which you say you've witnessed).  I don't ride the Translink buses as much as you do in the downtown core, so your experiences may be different.

 

But again, Skytrain -- with luggage -- won't be an issue for anyone, especially if you don't try to do it during rush hour.

 

 

 

[martincath]

Sorry this is continuing folks - another example of why CC allowing Private Messaging would be a very good idea...

6 minutes ago, scottbee said:

I didn't say enforcement never occurs;  I said I've seen thousands of cruise ship passengers board SKYTRAIN lines with luggage, in front of transit staff, and I've never witnessed denied boarding due to luggage.

 

On 8/31/2019 at 1:18 PM, scottbee said:

There isn't a single transit employee that will give you a hard time about traveling with luggage on any of the Skytrain lines (or buses).

You can keep retconning your posts as much as you like Scott - but claiming you didn't say what you did when it's right there in an earlier post on the same thread...? A few minutes Googling about Translink service refusals will bring up some frankly horrifying tales of how spuriously the rules are interpreted - bus, SkyTrain, or Seabus; Expo or Canada Line; the rules are the same on all and Translink employees vary from delightful to utter a**holes just like everyone else on the planet!

 

While one suitcase at off-peak hours will most likely be no problem, what about folks who are heading for a longer cruise, especially Trans-Pacific and into the tropics, potentially bringing outfits for everything from winter to summer? Given Amtrak has extremely generous luggage allowances - two decent size suitcases carried on PLUS two very big ones checked - there are people who choose to use it precisely because they are bringing a lot of bags and the extra baggage fees on a flight from Seattle would be hefty! Even with good spinner luggage it's not easy to control two at a time, let alone more - personally I'd rather share a carriage with a bottle-collector's shopping cart than someone trying to maneuver two suitcases simultaneously...

 

This argument continues only because you keep stating definitively that people will be fine when the rules simply do not guarantee that. You say that you personally have never seen anyone being bumped off SkyTrain for trying to board with luggage - I believe you... but even if you rode it 2x daily for your entire working life you haven't seen more than the tiniest fraction of total rides so your dataset is both far from definitive and most likely weighted heavily to peak travel times if you're a commuter.

 

There IS a risk of enforcement, and the economy of a short SkyTrain ride vs. a cab to the pier or a downtown hotel is minimal - even a solo traveler is going to be spending maybe CAD$10 extra to take a cab and four people might actually save money cabbing. For a couple coming in from, say, the Metrotown Hilton, or AirBnBs way out in the 'burbs, I'd absolutely be willing to consider that taking Expo/Millennium lines to the pier - provided it was done well outside rush hour - would be rationally worth the very low risk of enforcement compared to a $30+ cab fare. But we're looking here at just maybe saving enough for a beer for a solo traveler, a coffee each for a couple, and a shared bag of chips for a trio!

 

I just don't understand why you're pushing SkyTrain quite so strongly from Amtrak. Surely you can see that even the most rudimentary application of common sense dictates that modifying your so-far-completely-definitive statements to include a fudge-factor would be a more sensible way to go? Simply add an 'almost certainly' and maybe even 'without an excessive amount of luggage' next time and we can avoid this nonsense in future.

[scottbee]

4 minutes ago, martincath said:

 

This argument continues only because you keep stating definitively that people will be fine when the rules simply do not guarantee that. You say that you personally have never seen anyone being bumped off SkyTrain for trying to board with luggage - I believe you... but even if you rode it 2x daily for your entire working life you haven't seen more than the tiniest fraction of total rides so your dataset is both far from definitive and most likely weighted heavily to peak travel times if you're a commuter.

 

 

You keep trying to twist what I'm saying out of context, so I'll offer up the following thought.

 

If you can be kicked off Skytrain for having luggage, why did they run it to the airport? and why did YVR airport authority pay hundreds of millions toward the project

 

The rules say you CAN be kicked off for blocking exits etc with too many belongings (such as luggage), however in 10 years of riding skytrain daily, I've never seen someone kicked off due to luggage.  Of course that's only 10 years of daily experience.

 

 

[martincath]

5 minutes ago, scottbee said:

You keep trying to twist what I'm saying out of context, so I'll offer up the following thought.

 

If you can be kicked off Skytrain for having luggage, why did they run it to the airport? and why did YVR airport authority pay hundreds of millions toward the project

 

The rules say you CAN be kicked off for blocking exits etc with too many belongings (such as luggage), however in 10 years of riding skytrain daily, I've never seen someone kicked off due to luggage.  Of course that's only 10 years of daily experience.

Given your familiarity with the Canada Line (I recall your excellent 'photo journey' from some years back which I am sure was extremely helpful to many people) I know that you are perfectly aware there are different trains on it Scott - trains specifically designed to have space to put luggage that does not interfere with the aisles, exits, and wheelchair spots. But if someone tried to take an enormous amount of luggage that did spill over onto seats etc. I'm sure that they would also risk getting bumped.

 

You're obviously unwilling to acknowledge any possibility whatsoever of luggage on Expo being problematic so it's pointless continuing to convince you; I guess "I've never seen it happen so it cannot ever happen" trumps all logical arguments🙄

[scottbee]

4 hours ago, martincath said:

You're obviously unwilling to acknowledge any possibility whatsoever of luggage on Expo being problematic so it's pointless continuing to convince you; I guess "I've never seen it happen so it cannot ever happen" trumps all logical arguments🙄

 

I'll just leave you with Translink's own words off twitter

 

[martincath]

3 hours ago, scottbee said:

I'll just leave you with Translink's own words off twitter

Oh dearie me... The first tweet that says no restriction is simply wrong - the bylaws I linked to way above specify luggage as a potential reason to give someone the boot, so obviously there does come a point when you have too much and it's deemed to cause a problem. Maybe 'RR' just ran out of characters so could not clarify 'as long as it does not interfere with safety/block other pax' or maybe they simply made a mistake. Given how many posts on CC involve correcting the erroneous info of travel agents, cruiseline CSRs, etc. it shouldn't be difficult to grasp that individual employees can and do get stuff wrong. A tweet from an individual from 8 years ago that disagrees with an official Bylaw? I don't think you are anywhere near naive enough to genuinely believe that 'RR' is correct in this situation even if they did have the reins of the twitter account for that shift...

 

The second, newer reply, actually fits just fine within the rules I already quoted - my point has never been that luggage is inherently banned because it is luggage, but simply that there is nowhere to place a big suitcase on Expo line trains such that it will not get in the way! On a seat? Interferes with other pax's ability to sit in that seat. In the aisle? Prevents folks from standing or passing through the aisle. At the entrance? Blocks people getting on and off. There may not be a designated size limit per individual piece of luggage, nor an exact number of pieces that is explicitly allowed or not allowed - it all comes down to whether or not the Stuff is deemed by any Translink employee as breaking the aforementioned bylaw.

 

Name a spot on an Expo train where large luggage can be 'kept out of the way' so it does not interfere Scott - you can't, because there is no such space - in years to come if they add luggage racks or underseat storage that will no longer be the case, but right now only the space under your legs/on your lap is legitimate 'out of the way' storage and neither is adequate for a large suitcase (even if you're strong enough to sit a big, heavy suitcase on your lap those seats are not wide so the case would still impinge on anyone sitting in the next seat). 

 

Fact - it IS against the rules to block passenger space with Stuff, specifically including luggage, so all we're quibbling over is the frequency of enforcement of the rules. I say it's rare, you say it will never happen... well, anything is possible, but since only one employee ever for as long as Translink exists needs to enforce that rule just once against any person with luggage for you to be wrong, I really think the odds are stacked against you. You already stepped back from claiming there's no such rule to saying it did exist but was never enforced on buses or trains; then you stepped back again to defend the position that only SkyTrain never enforces the rule and never will; is it really that much more of a step to acknowledge that you cannot guarantee a lack of future enforcement on SkyTrain?

 

You have a very large number of trips under your belt and you've never seen it happen so yes, it's safe to say enforcement over luggage is very low - but are you really going to stick to your guns on a matter that you have absolutely no control over whatsoever? Unless you've been keeping major stuff under your hat you don't run Translink, you don't train their staff, you don't write their bylaws and therefore you have no influence in how their employees are going to choose to enforce their policies. I just don't get it - I certainly haven't always agreed with you but I always thought I could see where you were coming from, and this is genuinely flummoxing me.

[Vexorg]

I don't know if it's still an issue now, but in my experience the Skytrain fare vending machines can be finicky about accepting US debit cards (this was before chip-and-PIN was common on US cards though.) If you're traveling with a single carry-on you'll probably be OK, but much more than that and you might have issues.