Call it a Festivus miracle — TransLink is looking at extending SkyTrain hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The regional transit authority announced late last week that a feasibility study has been given the green light, with results expected by mid-2018.
Prompted by calls from councils across the region, the police and the public, the study will focus on three areas: best practices in other cities, balancing service delivery versus maintenance requirements and looking at other options altogether such buses, ride shares and more taxis on the streets.
The talk since last week’s announcement has largely gone something like this: “Don’t bother with the study, just do it.”
It’s not that easy, according to TransLink spokesperson Chris Bryan.
“We have a very limited window of time for our crews to do maintenance — every hour is needed,” he told the Courier via email. “The study into extended hours will look at what the trade-offs would be to provide more service on Friday and Saturday nights, while ensuring we retain all the maintenance hours we need to keep the system safe.”
SkyTrain’s parent company, British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC), needs roughly 1,500 hours of track maintenance each year. Extending SkyTrain hours could eat into 450 to 500 of those hours, Bryan said.
That maintenance includes everything from rail replacement and track inspection to cable replacements and rail grinding, which ensures the smoothness of rides along the lines.
“We would have to make up the time do this work somewhere,” Bryan said. “Also, any time a railway changes its maintenance approach, the relevant regulators will need to review the plans to ensure the system is kept safe.”
Bryan couldn’t provide dollar figures around what the feasibility study will cost, but did confirm that money will come from the existing BCRTC operating budget.
The Courier asked the city for comment around preferred service stop times, but city communications staff referred that question back to TransLink. Bryan noted those details won’t be known until the study is complete.
The city’s rapid transit system ran until 2:15 a.m. during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Currently, the service ends between 1 and 1:30 a.m., while most bars close between 2 and 3 a.m. Bryan said the demand for SkyTrain travel dropped significantly after 1 a.m. during the Games.
“Providing the extended service required a significant increase to pre-maintenance and inspections of the trains and the tracks to get ahead of the normal maintenance requirements,” he said. “Even with this proactive work, we required significant maintenance catch-up once the Games concluded.”
Between the three routes — Millennium, Canada and Expo lines — SkyTrain service covers an 80-kilometre span, making it the longest, fully automated transit system in the world.
@JohnKurucz
Note: This story has been updated since first posted.
