False Creek streetcar service cancelled
Posted June 28, 2012 6:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER(NEWS1130) – The Downtown Historic Railway, which is the interurban streetcar line that operates between Granville Island and Olympic Station at False Creek, will not be operating this summer.
The season has been cancelled due to a lack of city funding.
The line is owned by the City of Vancouver and operated by volunteers from the Transit Museum Society (TRAMS).
Dale Laird with TRAMS says the old interurban streetcars needed some work this year, and the city wasn’t prepared to double its annual funding to around $100,000.
He explains major costs this year include hydro static testing for air tanks, the cleaning of internal components and a replacement triple valve for car 1207 which could cost as much as $20,000.
“For so many people, it’s such an enjoyment. It’s such a tourist attraction. It provides a service, particularly on Canada Day and any other when there’s a special event on Granville Island connecting to the Canada Line,” he tells us.
Laird feels bike lanes are getting too much attention. “It just doesn’t seem fair to me to say you’re giving people a choice (bicycles) without giving people a choice for all the other types of transportation that would be available.”
He’s urging people to write to the mayor and council.
Laird says in the past, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (which operates Granville Island) put up some money, but it hasn’t replied to a request for funding this year.
He’s appealing to private donors to step up and keep the streetcars going, and more.
“I’m putting out the appeal in a big way to get the track put back to Science World. Maybe we could do a deal for some naming rights. I hope I’m not speaking out of turn, I haven’t run it past the city yet!”
The Downtown Historic Railway has been operating since 1998 and was supposed to eventually be extended to Stanley Park through Chinatown and Gastown.
Calls to the City of Vancouver were not returned by the time this story was published.
