Author: larrabee

An employee at Burnaby Transit Centre found a bus token among his father’s memories of his time as a driver at Oakridge Transit Centre in the mid-1960’s. He knew that Jack McKenna has an association with us, so he asked if Jack could find out about the token. Jack sent me the accompanying photo. I had seen one before but had no idea about the history.

Whenever I get a request to delve into transit history in Vancouver, I immediately turn to Michael Taylor Noonan, Rob Chew and Angus McIntyre who are all interested and involved in the collection of archives that we have at the museum. Angus drew Dale Laird into the conversation, and we ended up with an interesting tidbit about the bus tokens that circulated at that time.

There will probably be a newsletter article in the near future as quite a bit of history was discussed. I’m only giving you the “tip of the iceberg” here. Some of my information in this blog is from the discussions that followed and I may not have all the dates correct.

In 1959, BC Electric, which operated the transit system, decided to modernize by installing Grant Fareboxes (aka Grant Money Meters) in the buses. These new fareboxes could count the coins as they were deposited by assigning a different sound for each coin denomination. Along with this innovation BC Electric introduced bus tokens that could be purchased at a discount. There were only two types of tokens: one for regular adult fare and one for students that could only be used during school hours.

In 1965, BC Hydro became the operator of the bus system and they wanted to review the idea of fare zones and concession fares. At that time these blue plastic tokens were introduced. You can see a very small letter “C” on the token and those tokens became the first concession fare for children. More about the age restrictions and the cost of the tokens in a later TMS Transfer Newsletter article.

My question was “why plastic?”. They were a bit like poker chips and made no sound when they were deposited in the Grant Fareboxes. They also didn’t fit in the driver changers. They were sold in a small paper bag with four tokens. Was it because the fareboxes couldn’t be programmed with a special sound for a 3rd bus token?

I was able to report back to Jack McKenna that the plastic blue token was from 1965 and that it was for a child fare. It was very interesting to see the email discussion among our four historians. They uncovered a lot of memories of what it was like as a driver handling money while BC Hydro experimented with fare zones and concession fares over the next decade into the 1970’s.

We are proud members of Heritage BC

Heritage Week is an annual event that takes place during the third full week in February. It celebrates and showcases local heritage across the province.

This year, Heritage Week: Pastimes in Past Times celebrates the many ways people spent their leisure time throughout history, exploring how these activities have contributed to the cultural fabric of today. February 17 – 23, 2025

https://heritagebc.ca/events-activities/heritage-week/pasttimes/

We are very proud of our association with the TransLink Police Blue Eagles Community Cadets which is a program for kids between the ages of 12 and 15. They learn about Indigenous Culture and policing as well as life skills.

Pictured here with Evan Russell (second on the far left in the visi-vest) who is our liaison with the group on one of the many outings where we provide transportation. You’ll notice that we even programmed the name of the youth group on the destination sign on #9753.

When we acquired our 1996 New Flyer D40LF bus (#9753), we quickly found out that different generations of that bus might look identical but in fact they are quite different in many ways. Parts are not necessarily interchangeable. Those buses came with many variations of powerpacks and wildly different electronics.
Over the years, we have always taken up the opportunity to get bus parts if they are offered, especially if we could access buses that are designated for scrap. Over the years we have referred to these occasions as “Parts Raids” which sounds nefarious but is always done with the permission of the owners.
Our New Flyer D40LF is now 29 years old, parts are difficult to find and in fact we can’t even buy many of the parts we need from the original bus manufacturer. We were very lucky and grateful to Coast Mountain Bus Company last summer when they gave permission for Parts Raids on the final generation of the D40LF’s. We were able to get seats, body panels and glass but engine parts, electronics and accessories were not compatible with our bus.
We were particularly interested in heater fans. There are 8 fans in the roof unit that feed air for the bus heaters and defrosters. During the Christmas Lights Tours we discovered that only 2 fans were working on #9753. None of the later generations had compatible fans.
Enter Sue Walker. From our network of bus spotters, she found a New Flyer D40LF (former CMBC #7432) at the Vancouver Fire Department Training Centre. A compatible bus! However, it was in really sad shape as the Training Centre used it for rescue and victim extraction exercises. After some research, Sue found a contact at the Fire Department and after many follow-up emails and phone calls she got permission for a Parts Raid. We are very grateful to the Vancouver Fire Department for the opportunity. And it wouldn’t have happened without Sue’s unique way with people.
Sue turned the project over to Jason Sharpe who arranged assess to the bus. He talked to the Training Centre about “ground rules” for going on VFD property and what parts we were allowed take off the bus.
We were given February 3rd for access, and we were greeted by the first winter snowstorm of the season. Every window on the bus had been smashed and most of the interior was thrashed. It was minus 3c that day as Jason and I arrived at 9am. We worked on the bus for 6 hours and patiently removed electronics, front and side destination signs, two sets of seat frames half of the rear door and the most important haul: all 8 heater fans off the roof. As the wind blew snow flurries throughout the bus and our feet and hands nearly froze off, I think we got what we needed. To give you a good idea of the condition of the bus, when the VFD Training officer first showed us the bus he said “As you can see, we like to wreck stuff”.
We are very grateful to the VFD for their assistance. This Parts Raid will help keep our 29-year-old bus on the road for many more years.

John Day talks about the acquisition of the Flyer D700 buses and the beginning of the “FastBus” service. John was a consultant for the Transit System at the time:

The Flyer D700’s were ordered by BC Hydro pretty much at the time that the first NDP government was elected in August 1972. The new government didn’t have its transit plans started at the time of the order; Hydro management just went and bought 60 of them. There was some thought that it was to curry favour with the new government.

Why were these buses bought when the fleet was already big enough to serve the existing system? It was to make a start on converting the trolley coach lines to diesel operation. Whoa, said the government, not so fast. The Bureau of Transit Services was created early in 1973 and that idea was stopped. Instead, the new buses were used for service expansion into unknown territory, starting with the Tri-Cities area and the eastern part of the District of North Vancouver. The new buses bounced around the system a bit, including a few assigned to Pacific Stage Lines, but eventually all ended up in Kensington depot, which served the new Coquitlam/PoCo/Port Moody routes for many years before the PoCo depot was built.

The D700’s had a relatively short life on the system as they tended to fall apart. The power units from these buses were later moved into the bodies of the prematurely-retired Flyer E800 trolley coaches, to create the “triesels”, which created new-ish buses out of old. 2649 preserved by TMS was one of those.

Looking back, it is amazing that the buses were delivered so promptly, as were the buses ordered by the Bureau for the suburban expansion, these being the “FastBus” units from GM. These were transit specifications (T6H5308N) souped up for highway operation with Super-V transmissions and comfortable, forward facing bucket seats. The first suburban routes were implemented in August 1973, just one year after the government changed, which was quite an amazing feat considering equipment lead times as well as scheduling and even bus stop construction requirements.

Okay, even more for those that don’t know. The FastBus concept was a little different from today’s RapidBus routes in that the FastBuses usually did local work on some part of their route, usually the outer ends. The idea of routing limited stop services via a series of nodes (focal points) was a new one. It was a sneaky precursor, on purpose, to the rail based system we have today, with major focal points being established in locations which now house busy stations (e.g. Lougheed). Some FastBus routes (e.g. 980 Barnet) replaced Pacific Stage Lines routes while others (e.g. 933 Lougheed) were entirely new routes, running where BC Hydro had not.

I was personally involved in the design of some of the first routes. The Coquitlam local service was designed one Saturday afternoon after I drove around the district and jotted down some notes (though to be fair we had a pretty good idea beforehand as to where the routes should go). The routes have changed considerably as the area has become more populated and developed, but we had to start somewhere.

Photos kindly provided by TMS

TMS was represented by Bryan and Rhonda Larrabee and Evan Russell at the Transit Police Blue Eagles Christmas Celebration where Evan was awarded the Exceptional Support Award. Evan is our point person with the Blue Eagles as TMS provides transportation to the youth group. Evan schedules the drivers and works out logistics with the Transit Police. It’s a working relationship that we are proud to be involved with. Congratulations Evan, the award is well deserved.

The event was their annual Christmas Celebration at Britannia Community Centre in Vancouver. In attendance were members of the Blue Cadets youth group, family members, sponsors and volunteers. A delicious turkey dinner was served with a celebration cake and gift bags for everyone as well as a surprise visit from Santa.

The Blue Cadets are youth between the ages of 12 and 15 that have an opportunity to develop leadership skills while learning about Indigenous culture and policing through the Metro Vancouver Transit Police Blue Eagle Community Cadets program. Led by Indigenous Liaison Officer, Constable Kirk Rattray, the program gives young people the opportunity to:

• Work in a team environment
• Help their community
• Explore various career options
• Take part in a variety of activities
• Strengthen physical and mental health
• Meet strong Indigenous role models
• Increases physical fitness and confidence

Partners include: Vancouver Police Department’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenous Relations Section, the Vancouver Aboriginal Policing Centre, the Surrey RCMP, Surrey Police Service, Options Community Services, Surrey Crime Prevention Society, Surrey Schools, and TD Canada.