Transit Panic Attack (Vancouver Style)

Yesterday I went in to Vancouver for the day because the walk-on fares are so cheap. ($8.70 until the end of the month. Thanks Gordon Campbell! I guess your stimulus package worked, well on me anyway.)

On the way in I realized that I was spending 9 hours of my day traveling to do the following:
1. A one hour lunch with three of my girlfriends downtown.
2. A much-needed half hour massage therapy appointment, also downtown.
3. A one hour coffee date with a good friend after he was finished work - downtown.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all. I actually don't mind all the traveling because all of these things were absolutely worth it. But it's incredible the amount of time it actually takes to get from downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria. It's literally 4 1/2 hours - drive out to the terminal, wait for the ferry, 1 1/2 hour ferry ride, then transit into Vancouver.

I read books, I write letters, I listen to music. It's actually pretty relaxing until something like this happens to you: The Transit Panic Attack.

Last night on the way home, I decided to get the 7:00 ferry back to Victoria. I had the bus schedule written out and it made sense to catch the 5:23 bus from downtown. This bus takes me to Ladner, where I have to catch another bus that takes me to the ferry terminal.*

So, I had given myself 15 minutes to connect with the ferry terminal bus at the exchange, I figured this was enough time.

Well, it wasn't.

At 5:46 we were only at Dunsmuir and Howe - that is basically only around the corner from where I picked up the bus. Judging by the amount of traffic and the fact that it had taken the bus nearly 10 minutes to go 2 blocks**, I was screwed.

All the way out to Ladner I was stressing, adrenaline was running, I was fuelling the bus driver on to run yellows, fly by traffic in the right hand lane and pass people (well, in my head anyway). I think the bus driver had the same thought process because he drove like a maniac and made up a lot of time on the highway.

I stepped off the bus, frantically ran towards the connection bus. Jammed my ticket in the reader and breathlessly muttered thanks to the driver as he closed the door behind me and peeled out of there.

If I had missed that connection, I would have had to stand around at the exchange loop in Ladner. Alone. In the dark. And cold. For an hour. Missed the ferry and had to wait until 9:00. Thus adding 2 more hours to my commute that I was already in the middle of.

Regardless, I'm doing it all again on Saturday.

And the Saturday after that.



*I still can't believe that Translink hasn't incorporated a bus that runs from downtown Vancouver straight out to the ferry terminal. I understand that it's necessary to stop in Ladner for connections to other desginations, but why tranfer?
**Don't ask me what I was thinking, I know Vancouver traffic at rush hour. But I trusted that Translink puts research into how long it takes to get from A to B at certain times of day. I stand corrected.