Guerrilla Giving

Arbutus Corridor

We love trains!  Via, Amtrak, Sky-train, Streetcars, anything that rolls on rails.  

So, we got pretty excited upon hearing the news that two modern streetcars from Brussels are on their way to Vancouver.  The Bombardier made Flexity trams will run on the Olympic demonstration line between the Athletes Village and Granville Island from January 21st to March 21st.  Did we mention that it will be free to ride the line? 

The real question is whether this is the beginning of something bigger and better—a comprehensive downtown streetcar system to connect Granville Island with Chinatown, Waterfront Station and Stanley Park.  Maybe another line from downtown along the Arbutus corridor to Marpole. 

The city’s been sitting on this vision for years.  Hopefully the demonstration line will whet people’s appetite for this sustainable, convenient and fun means of transportation.  If you’ve ever taken a streetcar/tram trip in Portland, Toronto or Europe for example, you know what joy it is to go by train. 

If you found today’s Guerrilla Gift along the old Arbutus Corridor train tracks, we hope you enjoyed your walk, bike ride or jog.  Maybe, just maybe you heard the faint sound of a train whistle calling from the past, or drawing us into the future. 

BTW, have a look at this great post called “A Streetcar Named…Revival” at Planning Pool–especially the neat video about the history of Vancouver streetcars and their possible revival in the future.