{"id":21707,"date":"2013-06-18T13:50:55","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T20:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=21707"},"modified":"2018-02-23T14:34:15","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T22:34:15","slug":"vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver is a rapidly growing city with increasing demand for more efficient, more reliable public transit. \u00a0Since the success of a temporary street car line during the 2010 Olympic Games, Vancouverites have been wondering about the possibility of bringing back the Vancouver street cars. Most recently this article<\/a> caught our attention and we thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the evolution of Vancouver\u2019s original public transit system, and try to imagine if it could be re-incorporated into the current system.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"CVA<\/a>
The No. 25 in the Burrard Inlet after losing control in 1909.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beginning in 1897, the street car was king of Vancouver transportation. At its height in 1914, 232 BC Electric vehicles roamed the streets of our city.\u00a0 The dark green painted wooden two-man cars carried passengers to all corners, and the rail lines of the Interurban brought passengers to and from New West during the day and supplies from farms overnight. The system also included the No. 25 which trudged up North Vancouver\u2019s notoriously steep-hilled Lonsdale Ave, with only a few incidents of cars rolling back down into the water, and West Vancouver\u2019s Blue Bus, which is the oldest continuously operating bus company in North America.<\/p>\n

\"VPL<\/a>
The original street car barn at Main and Prior, 1894.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BC Electric was a truly local company, building all its own cars out of a bus barn at Main and Prior, eventually upgrading to a larger facility at Main and 14th<\/sup>.\u00a0 The original wooden street cars were so expertly built that many ran through the entire life cycle of street cars in Vancouver, which amounts in some cases to 50+ years of service. Two of the most famous cars came from Montreal design plans which boasted an open air roof. The open-roofed cars became famous for conductor Teddy Lyons, well known for his terrible yet hilarious puns, who entertained passengers along the route. Passengers were also greeted with singing school children at stops and the opportunity to purchase a photo of their journey from photographer Harry Bullen.<\/p>\n

The 1920\u2019s would bring the beginning of big changes in transit. At midnight December 31st<\/sup>, 1922 master mechanic George Dickie switched the entire system from left-hand drive to the North American adoption of right hand driving, leaving many Vancouverites to wake up to a state of confusion. No accidents were recorded, but there wasn\u2019t a lot documented about the overnight switch. <\/p>\n

\"CVA<\/a>
The new PCC steel construction Street Cars.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 20\u2019s also saw the creation of \u201cThe Buzzer\u201d a small publication still found on transit vehicles today, and as a blog<\/a> on Translink\u2019s website. It originally held schedules, company updates, local events, and even a joke or two. The biggest change came when many of the cars were updated\u00a0 from all-wood two-man operated to fancier single-man operated steel vehicles with cushioned leather seats. The cars got a colour upgrade as well, trading in their forest green exterior to a new cr\u00e8me and red scheme.<\/p>\n

The elaborate expansion came just before a decline in ridership caused by a combination of growing automobile popularity, the Depression, and then two world wars which forced the transit system into hard times. Faced with declining profits, an aging fleet of mostly wooden cars, and a growing city in need of efficient public transit, BC Electric made the decision to switch to trolley buses, an idea borrowed from Seattle. Expanding routes would be less expensive without having to lay rail, and the vehicles themselves were quieter and cheaper to run as they utilized the company\u2019s ownership of electrical lines. The last streetcar rolled off Hastings Street to many tears on April 24, 1955 after 65 years of service.<\/p>\n

\"CVA<\/a>
Hand-tinted image of a 1904 street car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So where do you stand, Vancouver? Are street cars just a quirky part of our history, or can they be successfully incorporated into our modern system?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more about Vancouver\u2019s street car history:<\/p>\n

The Transit Museum Society <\/a>
\nThe Burnaby Museum<\/a> has an original tram car on display
\nOne of Vancouver\u2019s best known ghost stories<\/a> resides in the Tram at the Old Spaghetti Factory<\/p>\n

For more on the modern street car debate:<\/p>\n

Scout Magazine – June 2012<\/a><\/p>\n

The Tyee – March 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

Globe and Mail – February 2010<\/a><\/p>\n

City of Vancouver’s Transportation 2040<\/em> Transit Plan<\/a><\/p>\n

All images from the Vancouver Public Library Digital Archives. Research from The Greater Vancouver Book<\/em>, Chuck Davis, 1997.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vancouver is a rapidly growing city with increasing demand for more efficient, more reliable public transit. \u00a0Since the success of a temporary street car line during the 2010 Olympic Games, Vancouverites have been wondering about the possibility of bringing back the Vancouver street cars. Most recently this article caught our attention and we thought itContinue reading “Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6073,"featured_media":21712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11233,35,40],"tags":[254,270,11608,3,11474,240],"class_list":["post-21707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-spacing","category-transit","tag-heritage","tag-history-2","tag-neighbourhoods","tag-public-space","tag-street-cars","tag-transit-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vancouver is a rapidly growing city with increasing demand for more efficient, more reliable public transit. \u00a0Since the success of a temporary street car line during the 2010 Olympic Games, Vancouverites have been wondering about the possibility of bringing back the Vancouver street cars. Most recently this article caught our attention and we thought itContinue reading "Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-18T20:50:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-23T22:34:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"435\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/\",\"name\":\"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-18T20:50:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-23T22:34:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg\",\"width\":435,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"VPL 43141 1954\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Vancouver\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78\",\"name\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation\"},\"description\":\"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver","og_description":"Vancouver is a rapidly growing city with increasing demand for more efficient, more reliable public transit. \u00a0Since the success of a temporary street car line during the 2010 Olympic Games, Vancouverites have been wondering about the possibility of bringing back the Vancouver street cars. Most recently this article caught our attention and we thought itContinue reading \"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Vancouver","article_published_time":"2013-06-18T20:50:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-23T22:34:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":435,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/","name":"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars - Spacing Vancouver","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg","datePublished":"2013-06-18T20:50:55+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-23T22:34:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/06\/VPL-43141-BCE-Car-barns-1954.jpg","width":435,"height":550,"caption":"VPL 43141 1954"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2013\/06\/18\/vancouver-transit-the-era-of-street-cars1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vancouver Transit: The Era of Street Cars"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/","name":"Spacing Vancouver","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Vancouver Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/797bfce94a2b2dafd99b99390ecdbe78","name":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2a11fd7363cd6b773c87118c743ecd67?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation"},"description":"Vancouver Heritage Foundation is a registered charity that is dedicated to supporting the conservation of the city\u2019s heritage buildings through education, public awareness and granting activities. VHF activities are open to everyone with a special emphasis on members of the public with an interest in the city\u2019s history, building owners, related professionals and related organizations. Activities include workshops, lectures, tours, publications, and granting programs to paint, restore and maintain designated heritage properties. VHF actively fundraises through donations of cash, securities, property, and planned gifts to grow an endowment fund to protect heritage buildings in perpetuity.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org\/"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/author\/vancouverheritage\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21707"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31309,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21707\/revisions\/31309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}