Impressions of Four Cities

Although widely travelled, my wife and I have tended to overfly this area for more distant locations but with a strong interest in the development of the best public transport for Auckland and the frequent mention of Vancouver and Seattle in my daily read of the Auckland Transport Blog, I felt that it was time to check this out for myself.

Vancouver

We arrived first into Vancouver and moved straight from the Terminal Building to the Skytrain Canada Line platform and purchased tickets to Vancouver City Centre from the ticket machine . The line was elevated to Yaletown Roundhouse which gave us a great view but the last section was underground below the city centre. The fare was $9 per person and the ride was very smooth. It was 2.35pm in the afternoon and throughout the train almost all seats were taken, but we had no trouble accommodating our suitcases and nor did other airport arrivals. However we did not see any special suitcase racks such as you get on the Heathrow express and some European trains.

On another day (without bags) we rode the Expo Line, the full length from the Waterfront to the end of the line at King George – some 20 stops in total. Again, it was elevated on reinforced concrete piers, so after emerging from the city tunnelling the views were absolutely excellent. At one point it crossed the Fraser River on its own bridge for a spectacular view each way. This was a mid-morning trip and I would say the train was three quarters full with people, for most of the journey. The train emptied out at Surrey Central (19^th stop) where there was a shopping mall and few remained on board to the final stop at King George which seemed to be a big parking lot – presumably park and ride. Fare $5.10 per person each way.

One city station is directly below Macy’s Department Store and the Pacific Centre with its luxury shops, so travellers exit through these points. No wonder Precinct Properties are keen to support and benefit from Auckland’s Central Rail Link when it is built.

We also took the SeaBus to North Vancouver. This was a single level and very wide, fully enclosed ferry designed to cater for large numbers with a 15 minute journey time and a 15 minute timetable. Mid-morning it was only about half full.

Victoria – British Columbia’s Capital                           Population 330k

From Vancouver by means of bus to Tsawwassen, ferry through the spectacular island dotted waters to the ferry terminal on Vancouver Island at Swartz, from where we had a diversion to the wonderful Butchart Gardens and then to Victoria itself. Coming from the landward side Victoria is not impressive and looks very automobile dependent but the old town around the harbour is most impressive with marvellous buildings like the Empress Hotel and British Columbia’s Parliament House set on spacious lawn frontages looking on to the very walkable and people friendly harbourside. Some commercial buildings in the old town probably don’t have the commercial significance that they did 60 years ago as they have lost out to periphery developments, but they are attractive with some looking for a new function.

A local person told me that some form of railed public transport has been mooted for Victoria but nothing seems to happen because too many people think the population is not large enough and cars will do.

Seattle

We arrived by boat and shortly thereafter visited the 76 storey Columbia Centre which is considerably higher than the Space Needle built for the 1962 World Fair and allows a marvellous view:

Right along Seattle’s waterfront is the elevated Alaskan Highway Viaduct. Constructed in 1953 in reinforced concrete it is a three lane, two- tier structure with one level going west and the other east. This highway was earthquake damaged in 2001 and the portion through the city is to be torn down and replaced by a tunnel 2 miles in length but with only two lanes each way. A small section of the Viaduct has already been demolished but most remains open for vehicles in the meantime. TBM “Bertha” commenced tunnelling this year with a 14 month construction time envisaged.

All this has given Seattle a big opportunity to reconnect with Elliott Bay, as its foreshore is known and big plans are in hand to enhance the whole area as a people friendly place.

We used ferries on two successive days. A small ferry miscalled a water taxi, took us to West Seattle and back some 3 hours later. Then, as a day trip, the much larger Washington State Ferry took us to Bainbridge Island at the amazingly low cost of $US 3.85 for a senior, for the 35 minute trip. And all journeys back from the island are free. No wonder they don’t make a profit.

We did not use either buses or trains in Seattle but we explored 2 underground stations to watch the movements in the Transit Tunnel under 3^rd Street which is shared by diesel buses, trolley buses and light rail. The light rail goes all the way to SeaTac Airport at a modest cost. In the late afternoon there seemed to be plenty of activity, with more buses than trains passing through. I suppose it worked satisfactorily, although it seemed a bit weird with the two modes in the same very wide tunnel with ordinary kerbing and no rail platforms. Once again entry to the system at one of the stations, was through Nordstrom’s, Seattle’s most upmarket department store.

Apart from what I was told as the “rather useless monorail” there was also a streetcar route known as the Lake Union Trolley which went from the centre of town to freshwater Lake Union. We used this on four occasions and found it spartanly comfortable and a very satisfactory means of public transport. I think something very similar would be highly successful along our own Dominion Road as proposed in the Congestion Free Network.

In our limited experience, public transport in Seattle seemed a rather many modal mixed bag, which is probably the case for historical reasons, but I guess it works. There are aspects we could learn from Seattle and they are in a transition pattern at the moment, with big changes in prospect, following the demolition of the Alaska Highway Viaduct.

San Francisco

After arrival by air on a Friday mid-afternoon we took the Bay Area Rapid Transport (Bart) to the Embarcadero train stop near to the Ferry Building. It was a smooth ride, quick, not too crowded and with plenty of room for our bags.

One of the downsides of public transport is the threat of strikes. While in San Francisco Bart employees were threating to strike with potential dire consequences for commuters on the Oakland side of the harbour, because the Bay Bridge is pretty much at capacity with existing vehicle traffic. Fortunately, by Mayoral decree, a 30 day cooling off period was invoked at the 11^th hour, but the dispute is yet to be resolved.

We used the rattling old streetcars that run round to Fisherman’s Wharf on several occasions and enjoyed a couple of the famous cable car rides which I thought were expensive at $6 a time for comparatively short rides. And we used the ferry to visit Sausalito with America’s Cup racing yachts very much in evidence en route.

Ticket Machines

These were varied in operation – some gave change, some didn’t – some merely wanted you to use your credit card – some like Bart had variable fares depending on distance. There was the question of whether you could buy for two adults at one go or had to buy individually, senior fares and so on. As a 77 year old I didn’t find them particularly user friendly, especially as I was concerned not to delay other people while I figured it out. However, to be fair we did get some assistance from fellow travellers on occasion.

If you are a local you get to know the system but new methodology with each fare purchase can be challenging. I longed for the ease of London’s Oyster Card.

Architecture

Two observations!

As noted in this Blog, Vancouver certainly had many apartment buildings of up to 23 storeys in the area in which we stayed. I don’t think many were any higher than that. One thing that impressed me visually was that quite a number incorporated a warm red brick in a skilful way to relieve the stark monoculture concrete exteriors of so many taller buildings. Sometimes it solidified the base floors, or established main door hierarchy or sometimes emphasised the edges of the building as corner panels in the manner of quoins. It seemed to give a modern friendly face to these buildings rather than a modern grey coldness and this despite that they are on Pacific rim and subject to earthquakes.

Brick was also prominent in the refurbished warehouse district of Yaletown, now full of restaurants and all of this provides some visual warmth in a cold climate.

So bring back some brick, I say………………

In Seattle’s main street (3^rd Avenue) I was most impressed with the quality and solidity of most of the buildings. With solid stone bases they certainly weren’t going to fall over. And then just off the main street I noticed two or three that had been subjected to facadism of a sort. The solid base two or three storeys had been retained and the buildings extended upward but retaining design integrity with the base. And visually it worked!   I would not normally support facadism  but these did not look out of place.

Finally

We did not have one day of rain in the period we were away and enjoyed bright sunshine all the time. I know it is not always like that.  But just like the Blog my favourite city was Vancouver.

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