I was eight when they were building Nanaimo station and my mom owned a convenience store near by. I attached a yellow milk crate to my bike and sold cold drinks and water to the workers building the line for $1 a pop. Made bank as a kid in 1984.

Fun fact: SkyTrain was free to ride when it first opened in 1985 and was free all the way through Expo 86. They didn’t start collecting fares until Jan 1987 and it was by honour system with no turnstiles built into any of the stations. The first fare gates were finally installed in 2012. Prior to that, the cost to install gates was more expensive than the lost revenue from fare evasion.

11:34 haha Reece has been spotted 👀

I can’t believe you didn’t write an over the top song to go along with your ad sponsor

It's a really big shame the Scarborough RT wasn't expanded. It could've became very similar to the Vancouver Skytrain and would've helped reduce traffic congestion heavily in Scarborough.

Our Skytrain system runs so efficiently that Vancouverites totally take it for granted.
   Until it breaks down.
( fortunately, this doesn't happen very often. )

   The next major project will be running the Skytrain along the Broadway corridor up to UBC, which is badly needed.

We got one in Honolulu. Fully automated and everything. None of the youtubers are talking about it right now, but there's gonna be a big expansion in 2031 that's gonna be a game changer.

I'd also like to add that the Canada Line was prominent use of an alternative contracting method, PPP (public private partnership). Which worked really well there... and then has failed more than it's worked ever since.

Man, SkyTrain is so incredible. Not only can you ride it to great Chinese food, but it can make night turn to day in the blink of an eye!

As a local, thanks for the video I definitely learned something.

True Story: The Canada Line is considered to be somewhat of a failure. Its short trains were over capacity almost immediately, and the short platforms mean it's hard to upgrade to longer trains. It's not "proof" that smaller train work, it's an example of how you shouldn't diverge from a working formula. There's a reason why Translink has never attempted to expand or copy the Canada Line.

All we need is a high speed rail from Hope into Vancouver and hopefully bc rail gets proposed and approved so we can connect Squamish and Whistler to the north shore via train

Regarding the advertisement you saw in the tunnel, each tunnel advertising system is made of 360 vertical LED lights to create smooth in-motion videos. The advertising systems use sensors that detect incoming trains to automatically display full-motion videos as they enter the Dunsmuir tunnel. It kinda reminds me of the art installation Masstransiscope on the NYC Subway. It was installed in the 1980s in an abandoned station called Myrtle Ave on the Manhattan Bridge subway tracks on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line. The artwork consists of 228 hand-painted panels on the front side near the train and the painting on the far side. The inside is illuminated by fluorescent lights. You see the work through the slits and the light reflects off the painting and back through the slits.

As much as we like elevated trains, others may not like them for noise and aesthetic reasons which is a shame. Modern trains are quiet, and if they really cared about noise pollution, they'd be against so many cars in their city too since cities are noisy mainly due to cars. Even with the noise of the old rail structures in Chicago, people not only choose to live close to the El, developers rush to build high-density buildings immediately adjacent to stations. If the noise was unbearable, the almighty Real Estate marketplace wouldn’t be putting condos and luxury or mixed-income rental apartments along El lines all over Chicago. And a modern elevated line can be just as aesthetically cool as one underground!

But yes, elevated trains are a great way to do grade-separation! Even in suburbia, you can get elevated rail built! The LIRR's Babylon Branch underwent a huge elevation project between the 1950s and 1980. The Babylon Branch was electrified in 1925 between Jamaica and Babylon. The Babylon Branch portion of the Montauk Branch is completely grade separated with bridges over all intersecting roadways. NYS Route 231 and the Meadowbrook Parkway are the two exceptions to this, the tracks pass under these roadways. But it wasn't always like this! When it got its start in the 1860s as part of South Side Railroad of Long Island, it was all grade crossings, and this became a problem as more people moved to the south shore of Long Island, and Sunrise Highway was built along the right-of-way which made the tracks an exceptional hazard, resulting in a ton of political pressure due to the population density and the number of representatives in the area. Yes, SUBURBAN POLITICIANS wanted the line to be elevated! A mega project was launched in the 1950s to elevate the stations, with the last station along the branch to be elevated was Massapequa Park in 1980. To supplement NYS Route 27/Sunrise Highway, there is parking to lure people off the highway and different NICE and Suffolk Transit buses serve the stations as well, with stations like Freeport, Rockville Centre, Babylon, and Amityville being served by multiple routes. Seasonally, SCT runs the 15 route between Babylon station and Robert Moses State Park (which also serves Captree State Park) for beachgoers! The former 1885-built Wantagh station building was preserved and moved just north of the station in 1966, becoming the Wantagh Preservation Society's Wantagh Museum which also has a 1912 parlor car donated by the LIRR!

As Babylon was the first to get M1s (the M1s were designed with ATO and could handle 100 mph; though ATO was never used in service and trains only achieved 80 mph in service due to track and signal limitations; they also got the LIRR to upgrade its third-rail supply from 650 V DC to 750 V DC to take advantage of their performance) in 1968, this also prompted the LIRR to build high-level platforms (all stations on the electrified portion of the LIRR got high-level platforms between 1966 and 1968; the diesel stations wouldn't get high-level ones until the 1990s)! And doing all of this paid off, as the Babylon Branch has remained among the busiest LIRR services, with 11,931,725 in 2023! Riding a Babylon Branch or Montauk Branch train on the Babylon Branch portion of the Montauk Branch lets one watch the cars go by on Sunrise Highway as the train zooms above, with the train as a reminder to cars that it is the faster option!

Another interesting fact about the Babylon Branch, the Babylon Branch's Merrick station is home to the grave of Roxey, the unofficial LIRR mascot. Roxey arrived at the LIRR in 1901, just one year after the Pennsylvania Railroad had paid 6 million for a controlling interest in the LIRR. Roxey became the LIRR mascot after he found his way to Garden City Station on a train. Roxey was beloved by railroad crew and passengers and held an official pass to sit wherever he chose while train hopping. On several occasions, the LIRR dog traveled with President Theodore Roosevelt in his private car to Oyster Bay and visited the President’s home at Sagamore Hill. Well-wishers often treated him to a meal of turkey or steak from a restaurant. He survived being run over by a train in Freeport and suffered a broken leg after being hit by a car. In that case, the LIRR president paid the vet bills. After years of traveling across Long Island, he passed away in 1914. Loyal commuters continue to freshen his water bowl where he lies in rest next to Sunrise Highway at Merrick Station. At Mineola on the Main Line, there is a statue that honors both Roxey and Bessica Raiche, the first woman in the United States accredited with piloting an airplane solo (using a biplane she and her husband built in their Mineola home)

Skytrain (Vancouver) Skyline (Honolulu) REM (Montreal) & Copenhagen Metro are considered to be an ALM (Automated Light Metro)

Bicycling as a commuter, I really enjoy the bike paths/green spaces that occupy the land directly beneath the Skytrain.

elevateds are so awesome I wish we had them in every city. seems like a cheap and easy way to build a bunch too

As a born n raised 604 - I still love the mark 1's classic sound n feel... nough said.

There are a few Innovia Metros in other parts of the world! My personal favourite is the Kelana Jaya Line in Malaysia, but they've also been used in the AirTrain JFK and the new Riyadh Metro among others.

The Nanaimo bar actually has a dubious city of origin; the first recipe with that name was published in Vancouver. Additionally, at Joyce-Collingwood, most of the older development is actually located in the opposite direction. Lots of slightly shorter buildings (5-15 stories) were built in the other direction when the warehouses and industrial buildings were demolished. Joyce Street from Vanness to Kingsway is really the pioneering area.

The TOD at Oakridge is technically "still being built" but its worth noting that the density and the mall predate the station, they're just rebuilding the old mall, the province also deserves plaudits for TODs, as they've started to mandate them around stations and bus loops.

The Expo Line also runs down former streetcar lines, following Kingsway, which is imo the main reason they put it where it is. It's very interesting to look at the old maps and see where new and old stations line up.

Overall, an excellent video, hope you enjoyed your time here!

3:19 That motor noise though 🤤