Category Archives: 2010

Survival Guide to Transit in Vancouver – 4 Kamikaze Tips

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j0443328 Lets face it .. we’re all going to be cranky if we have to wait two hours to board a Canada Line train or stand at a bus stop as we watch the full buses pass us by. A little preparation may help you to avoid the bottlenecks or at least cut the time you spend waiting. Don’t rely on their being Transit personnel providing information.

Kamikaze strategy is going to be required for you to cope with the transit gridlock.

  • 1st Kamikaze tip

Install the Translink iPhone app. This handy utility displays what transit options are available from your location as well as the schedules at your stop.

  • 2nd Kamikaze tip

Do your research before you leave. Use Google Maps to discover all the transit options available. The Canada Line may be lightning fast, but not if you’re delayed boarding. Check the bus schedules and routes. Have at least two alternative routes. Print out the map if you’re unfamiliar with the area you’ll be travelling to.

  • 3rd Kamikaze tip

Get away from the congested area. I learned this lesson in Italy. The guide book mentioned there may be “rotating strikes” in the Italian train service. We were stranded for half a day in a crowded hot station when a train finally arrived. It wasn’t going anywhere near our destination, but we used our rail pass to get Pisa, where we were able to get a train to our destination. It was the scenic route, but we arrived only an hour later than we’d planned. If the Canada Line stop is packed, consider taking the train one or two stops in the opposite direction to a less crowded stop. City bus stops are often two or three blocks apart, walk to one or two stops up the line. Consider taking a less travelled route to your destination.

  • 4th Kamikaze tip

Arrive early, take in the sites, have a leisurely lunch near your destination and then walk. Leave later, chill and let the crowds thin.

Breathe .. it is what it is ..

Bonnie Sainsbury a Social Media Strategist and Principal in Duet Media. She uses transit and car sharing to get around town.

Train YOUR Perspective

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These days, with all the changes in street traffic and lane allocations for our upcoming Olympic guests, I have been enjoying the variety of people-watching opportunities on the Canada Line.

Sunday, on a train headed south to Richmond, I was in the front car.  The very front seats (with a great big window) were occupied by a family of four: two engaging young children and their parents.

The little boy was very observant, sharing his impressions of what he saw, first in the tunnel and then out in the clear as we bridged the river and had a view.

As the train ran south along Number 3 Road, his father added the observation that – having driven this route many times- it was odd to see it from this higher level,  from which many of his landmarks did not appear, or were not visible in their usual way. His perspective had shifted and with it, his sense of where he was, too.

Isn’t it interesting how often in life we change our positions, usually without realizing how that has changed our view?

How have you trained your perspective?  How has it trained you to respond?  What does it take for each of us to really change our view?  Have you trained your perspective, or has it just trained you?

Survival Guide to Transportation – Vancouver winter of 2010

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j0443328 A car is your worst choice the closer you get to an Olympic event, or the Vancouver downtown core. Find out road closures from the Venue Are Road Closures site from the City of Vancouver. Most closures start on the 15th of January 2010.

Bicycling in Vancouver in the winter wouldn’t be my choice of transportation, but for those hearty souls, Getting Around Vancouver by bicycle.

Public transit is going to be the method of transportation during the first three months of 2010.  Translink operates the public transit, which includes 3 skytrain routes, buses, a ferry between North Vancouver and Vancouver. The Westcoast Express train service connects the outer suburbs with downtown Vancouver. Two private ferry companies (False Creek Ferries and Aquabus)  service the area from Kits point up to the Olympic Village.

An article in the Vancouver Sun suggests waits of 2 hours could be possible at popular skytrain stations.

Check Survival Guide to Transit in Vancouver for tips to access transit information before you leave.

Bonnie Sainsbury a Social Media Strategist and Principal in Duet Media. She doesn’t own a private automobile, she used transit and car-coops to get around the city.

Does your New Year have a name?

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Several years ago I made a decision to ‘ignore’ the whole idea of New Year’s Resolutions. Like many of my friends, I had made them before….with varied and suspect results….and decided to bypass the disappointment (in myself) by simply eliminating the exercise.

However, as each new year approached, I was reminded that there needed to be a focus or a direction to my life, and that ‘just same old…’ was not enough.

Last year, 2009, I had a concept – and it worked: I gave my year a name. I called it My MBA YEAR. No, I did not go back to school in the conventional sense, though time, effort and money were involved. What I did was invest in learning some very specific skills that would make me a more valuable asset to everyone with whom I ever work. MBA for me stood for “My Business, Accelerated”. I travelled, I studied, I brought back absolutely current approaches and wove them into what I already knew….and the more I learned, the more my business did accelerate! Yahoo. Do I stop now? No, of course not, but I have achieved a new level of traction in my business life that I want to apply in other areas.

So this year, 2010, has a name, too. It’s my Y2ES year (reallly, YES with a little 2 above the Y). This year I am going to be actively looking for ways to say Yes 2 Expanding my Space. Now, that doesn’t mean I am looking for real estate, though that could happen too. What it means to me is that I am going to enhance my experience of life in terms of available opportuniities; that could mean new places and spaces, new people, new activities, new ?. It’s not about throwing out everything I already enjoy in my life – and everything about taking it all up a notch (or two!).

I will keep you posted. In the meantime, you might want to think of a name for your new year too. Let me know, when you do. As to next year, I already have an inkling about a name or two. Stay tuned. Happy New Year to you.