As we begin the new year, we’d like to just explain what has happened to the blog posts you may wish to re-read. As a Society, our mission is “preservation.” Sometimes the Internet can be quite the reverse — posts can disappear. (Though, I suspect those posts you regret may still be available deep inside the Goggle servers!) Because our blog posts often contain information which should be retained, every year we archive them and place them in our online library called TOPICS. There they are searchable, backed up, and always available. (You can search using the term ‘blog’.)
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.
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:
This week we were invited to attend the Richmond Transit Centre (RTC) Holiday lunch, so Angus, Lawrence, Matthew and I took #4612 to join the festivities. We were treated to a full turkey dinner and met many of the RTC operators, mechanics and staff. Lawrence fixed up the story boards and put them in the bus and we gave tours. A nice surprise was a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
It was an honour and a pleasure to be invited and of course our 1964 GM Fishbowl (#4612) was a big hit. We took the opportunity to photograph some of the remaining 9 Orions as well as one of the Santa Buses.
Of course Angus McIntyre knew nearly everyone and posed for several pictures himself.
Lots of transit talk and comparison of the Fishbowl with the current fleet. The non-ergonomic driver’s area drew a lot of comments especially from operators wondering what it must have been like to have no power steering, no adjustable steering wheel and seat. The advertisements in the bus were popular and Angus was more than willing to talk about driving in the old days.
“There was a gentleman that came by our Langley shop yesterday to pickup the last two bench seats removed from our D40LF during Jason Sharpe’s refresh project. He is doing a project of his own, but his involves a 1921 Ford Model T Runabout. The seats fit perfectly into the car. He was so impressed with what we do and who we are, that he gave us a small donation.” Definitely not OEM!
