It really would have been nice if the YVR-Canada Line was able to run 5 car trains by now. Unfortunately, due to inept transportation planning in the BC part of Canada, the stations were only designed to accommodate 2.5 car trains.
A 2.5 car train fits right in with a 3 lane Lion Bridge that was never augmented with parallel BRT and LRT train tunnels.
Backwards Vancouver and backwater BC, are some of the best places in the world to see inept multigenerational transportation infrastructure.
No office tower in Vancouver has eve been permitted to have a 40th floor.
https://skyscraperpage.com/b106925/vancouver/the-stack
https://skyscraperpage.com/b63/vancouver/royal-centre
https://skyscraperpage.com/b5828/vancouver/b5
https://skyscraperpage.com/b66/vancouver/park-place
https://skyscraperpage.com/b64/vancouver/four-bentall-centre
https://skyscraperpage.com/b65/vancouver/the-scotia-tower
https://skyscraperpage.com/b98113/vancouver/the-exchange
https://skyscraperpage.com/b67/vancouver/toronto-dominion-tower-at-pacific-centre
https://skyscraperpage.com/b41476/vancouver/b6
https://skyscraperpage.com/b100729/vancouver/vancouver-centre-2
https://skyscraperpage.com/b7191/vancouver/200-granville-square
https://skyscraperpage.com/b68/vancouver/three-bentall-centre
https://skyscraperpage.com/b6162/vancouver/320-granville
https://skyscraperpage.com/b60/vancouver/harbour-centre The office floors don't even get above 28. https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/vancouver/harbour-centre/4144 If the Harbour_Centre office floors had continued right up to the base of the flag-pole, it would be equivalent to 40 stories. However, the revolving_restaurant is more equivalent to 35 floors. With the height to the tip of the antenna as being 177.1 m (581 ft), the flag could be considered to be at the equivalent of 48th floors. But there are no floors in the flag-pole.
Had the flag-pole or antenna not been built, the Harbor Centre would have been slightly shorter than the original height of the tallest Giza_pyramid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza "Initially standing at 146.6 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the world's tallest human-made structure for more than 3,700 years." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#Pyramidion_and_missing_tip
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=117075754&page=1
Only 2 buildings in restrictive Vancouver have been allowed to be taller than the Cairo_Tower and the Space_Needle. Only 1 building in Vancouver has been allowed to be taller than the Calgary_Tower.
Vancouver is about implementing short buildings, short trains and narrow bridges. Since the multigenerational power structure can't build a wall around the city to keep people out, the next best thing is to symbolically take a small scale approach to things. Thus, its very difficult for proper BIG city stuff to get built in backwards Vancouver.
BC is 23 times larger than Switzerland, yet it doesn't even have the population of one CH.
Despite Canada being the 2nd largest nation in overall area, it has less than half of 1% of the worlds population. Thus, Canada is but a spec of the worlds population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emSr9NLwfT4
Unfortunately, the Broadway+Subway will only open with the potential of 5 car trains, not 10.
Unfortunately, the YVR-Canada+Line wasn't even designed to have 5 car trains, only a potential of 2.5 car trains, someday.
Of course the Massey+Tunnel+replacement wasn't designed to have an LRT and BRT section. Thus, in addition to the basic 3 lanes each way, there will be an express bus lane that might also be for other HOVs.
A separate BRT section would be beneficial since BC doesn't want to run 24hr trains. Thus, when the LRT is shutdown for maintenance, a 24hr BRT line could still be running. Unfortunately, part of the BC Mind Virus is backwards thinking and inept infrastructure planning. Of course there is still no official plan to have LRT from YVR to the Tsawwassen Ferry terminal anytime soon.
https://www.vmcdn.ca/f/files/via/images/historic-images/vancouverarchives/stanley-park-100-years-1920s-entrance.jpg;w=960;h=640;bgcolor=000000 A nice wide public walkway. Unfortunately, due to a lack of a proper big city vision, no 4-6 lane wide right of way was ever established through the park.
https://stanleyparkvan.com/stanley-park-van-road-stanley-park-causeway.html
The 3 lane wide option was never followed-up with a lower 3 lane tunnel. So, instead of 3 lanes each way, everything is funneled into just 3 lanes.
https://council.vancouver.ca/000203/pe3.htm Thus, no need to have a bridge designed to be strong enough to have at least two 3 lane decks.
In Vancouver and backwards BC in general, its very difficult to build infrastructure for long-range future capacity.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Stanley_Park_Labeled_Aerial_Map.png
After several generations, Stanley_Park has remained as a provincial gateway to backwater Vancouver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park#21st_century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Highway_99#Vancouver
While no one was able to stop the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal from being built, too many people still don't want Greater_Vancouver to have a proper big city train and highway link between West_Vancouver and Downtown_Vancouver.
Fortunately, the BCMV never made it to Sydney, NSW and SF, CA. Thus, their CBD or downtown has good rail and highway links.
However, it was almost like part of the Vancouver MV made it to Auckland, NZ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Harbour_Bridge#Clip-ons_(1967%E2%80%931969)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Harbour_Bridge#Alternate_proposal A parallel bus, bike and train bridge should have been built decades ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Harbour_Crossing,_Auckland#2023_Waitemat%C4%81_Harbour_Connections_proposals
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/waitemata-harbour-connections
https://infrastructurepipeline.org/project/additional-waitemata-harbour-crossing
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2026/05/27/build-this-brilliant-bridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cvuthXbTDQ
This is the type of intercity train that could link some BC cities like Victoria with Nanaimo, Vancouver with Abbotsford & Chilliwack. Kelowna, Vernon & Penticton. Kamloops and Prince George. Prince Rupert & Kitimat with PG. Unfortunately, with the slow mindset and backwards approach to things in BC, it might not happen for a very long time.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-villages-plan-rejected-city-council-decision
Vancouver is a very small city in area. Indeed, Vancouver, Paris, Boston and SF, are all less than 50 square miles in city area. Despite the City of Paris being slightly smaller than the C of V, Paris has 3 times the city population. Apparently, physics is different in backwards Vancouver than it is in Paris.
Unlike provincial Vancouver, Paris is still allowed to have some wide streets and a better road system overall. Plus, with so many interconnecting train lines, its easier to get around cosmopolitan Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver The city has a land area of 115.18 km2 (44.47 sq mi)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver#Geography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_Park,_British_Columbia It is located on top of Little Mountain approximately 125 metres (410 ft) above sea level
https://en-ca.topographic-map.com/map-vzkpm2/Little-Mountain Little Mountain, elevation 125 m (410 ft)
Of course L.Mt. is shorter than Montmartre , because everything has to be shorter and smaller in provincial Vancouver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District 2,878.93 km2 (1,111.56 sq mi)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Mainland 36,303.31 km2 (14,016.79 sq mi)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris 105.4 km2 (40.7 sq mi)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris#Geography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montmartre It is 130 m (430 ft) high
https://www.unjourdeplusaparis.com/en/paris-insolite/plus-haut-point-de-paris it is in Montmartre that the highest point of the capital is located, culminating at 130.53 meters above sea level. That's 428.25 feet, so something in-between 428 and 430 feet above sea level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Paris 814.2 km2 (314.4 sq mi)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele-de-France 12,012 km2 (4,638 sq mi)
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-solars-trolley-bus-enters-service-september-2026
Unless there is a regional plan to build proper bus-bridges, the bus system will have too many many bottlenecks and chokepoints on the mostly narrow bridges.
The 4 lane Cushing+Bridge in Calgary was too narrow and congested for efficient east-west fast buses. So, a parallel bus-bridge was constructed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_Avenue_SE_(Calgary)#17_Avenue_Transitway
Stubborn, backwards Vancouver refuses to follow what Calgary and several other normal cities have done. Fortunately, the Vancouver Mind Virus never reached Calgary.
While a 25m lap pool is OK for North Vancouver, its a joke for Vancouver.
https://www.dnv.org/parks-trails-recreation/new-community-recreation-centre-lynn-creek
https://www.hdrinc.com/ca/portfolio/delbrook-community-recreation-centre Delbrook is also only 25 m.
Of course the Vancouver Aquatic Centre rebuild with only a 25-metre pool, not matching its former 50 m. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-councillor-approve-aquatic-centre-funding-1.7565385
"What happens when a city completely ignores a binding voter decision and spends 65% more taxpayer money to deliver 50% less of what was promised?" https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/vancouvers-vac-50meter-pool-betrayal-legal-crowdfunding/
Pay more, get LE$$, that's the backwards BC way.
https://www.canadianarchitect.com/vancouver-aquatic-centre/
The space & building was there for several decades with a 50 m clearance.
https://www.actonostry.ca/work/current/vancouver-aquatic-centre
Yet somehow, the new building will only have a half-length pool.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-aquatic-centre-court-injunction-9.7245890
Think small and build small, because its backwards Vancouver.
NV
V-BC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_Crossing , https://trimet.org/tilikum Its not just a great bus and bike bridge.
The Oregon version of the Tilikum is so much better than any BC version, but it doesn't have to be. BC should be able to build first rate stuff as well.
https://www.cntraveler.com/activities/portland/tilikum-crossing This fantastic MAX-LRT and streetcar bridge is great for Portland. However, such a wonderful bridge almost seems impossible for Vancouver & Victoria, or anywhere in backwards BC.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tilikum+Crossing+Bridge
Of course the Victoria, BC (Saanich) version will be watered down.
https://roninearthworks.ca/construction-news/tillicum-bridge
https://victoriachamber.ca/government-local/new-trail-crossing-at-tillicum-will-ease-commute-time/
A Burnaby and Richmond Tillicum Bus and Bike bridge would be a great transportation link.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tillicum+St,+Burnaby,+BC
There isn't even a South+Boundary+Rd bus and bike bridge in the works. Yet, the transportation planners claim that an efficient regional express and BRT network can be established. Its just another watered down BC joke.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Victoria+Bridge
Of course a bus and bike bridge makes sense in Brisbane & Calgary. That's why they aren't allowed in backwards Vancouver.
https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1e98dkr/the_busway_victoria_bridge_living_up_to_its_name/
Vancouver is so lacking with bus and bike bridges. Its an ongoing part of the+missing+element in transportation planning in BC.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eleanor+Schonell+Bridge
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kurilpa+Bridge
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Neville+Bonner+Bridge
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Goodwill+Bridge
While Queensland is on the same planet as backwards BC, it might as well be on a different world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_Bridge 3 lanes each way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clem_Jones_Tunnel (CJT) 2 lanes each way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clem_Jones_Tunnel#Public_transport
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Story+Bridge
The+Missing+Element in backwards BC.
In contrast, Vancouver is stuck with a 3 lane LGB, with no parallel bus, truck and train tunnels. If visiting Vancouver from Brisbane, or almost any Australian city or town, you will be shocked. While Australia is allowed to have 3 big port cities on the Pacific Rim (Mel Syd & Bris), Canada has taken a Half-A$$ED approach.
While the Port_of_Prince_Rupert has a lot of potential, most of it remains as a watered down front.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Prince_Rupert#Conversion_to_an_intermodal_terminal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Harbour_(British_Columbia)#Facilities
https://gvha.ca/deep-water-terminal/terminal-information/ V-BC has potential, but its also so scaled back or watered down.
Despite Victoria wanting to remain as a quaint provincial backwater, it should eventually become a proper port city like Wellington. https://www.centreport.co.nz/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentrePort_Wellington#Containers
Port of Vancouver, BC.
The Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges provide a 12 lane Gateway crossing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges#Duplication
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Gateway_Bridge_aerial4.JPG No problem in Queensland.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gateway+Bridge Its tough enough just to get a 6 lane bridge built in BC, let alone a 12 lane crossing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_Canal_Bridge (SCB) Its a 12 lane crossing.
While Brisbane and Seattle are both on the Pacific Rim, backwards Vancouver, BC might as well be on another world. Brisbane and Seattle are allowed to function like proper big port cities, because they aren't hindered by anything like the VMV, or the Backwards BC Mentality.
If such a 12 lane crossing was allowed in Greater Vancouver it would mean that there could be 2 BRT lanes, 2 HOV lanes, 2 truck lanes and at least 6 general traffic lanes. However, the backwards BC approach is to funnel everything into just 2 or 3 lanes each way.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/george-massey-tunnel-new-replacement-cost-timeline-update
Of course with all the extra delays costs, there still won't be an LRT tube and no HOV lanes. While the new tunnel will be 4 lanes each way, there should have been an extra section for 2 LRT tracks and 2 rapid bus lanes. BC has a problem providing 24hr rapid rail transportation, so 24hr BRT is essential.
A 10 lane version of an Alex_Fraser_Bridge with a provision for LRT, could have been completed a few years ago. However, just because some people didn't want a bridge crossing that part of the river, the plan was scrapped. The result is more cost and delay in what should have been completed a few decades ago.
If ever a proper LRT and rapid bus crossing can be built parallel to the new tunnel, then that 8 lane tunnel could still have 3 general lanes each way, plus the 4th being an HOV lane. A parallel LRT and rapid bus needs to be built between Richmond and Delta so that there can be an efficient connection between YVR and the 2 ferry terminals.
Something like a Tilikum_Crossing between Richmond and Delta should have already been built decades ago, but there just isn't proper transportation planning in backwards BC.
Either an extension of an improved YVR-Canada Line, or an LRT like the C Train or MAX_Train. Since such a train won't be running 24 hours a day, there would need to be a Rapid bus_crossing as well. Such redundancy is important, especially if there is an occasional problem with the train. A Streetcar_Crossing would also be nice, because the Skytrain, LRT and BRT can't go everywhere. Where as express and local buses and streetcars can fill in the gaps.
Of course more bicycle and footpaths can be a great improvement.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Richmond-Delta+Tunnel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T2bL1YPEVY
In contrast, unless Greater Vancouver builds a regional network of BRT bridges, it will mostly just be another half-assed transportation joke in backwards BC.
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/rapid-transit-projects/bus-rapid-transit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWLEBhbdt8
If it were possible today, the KEEP VANCOUVER SMALL AND BACKWARDS people would still not permit any building to be a 3rd of the height of the CN_Tower. (CNT) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CN_Tower#Height_comparisons
The Harbour_Centre opened just over a year after the CNT, and is just under a 3rd of its height. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbour_Centre#Height
Unfortunately, The Vancouver Mind Virus (VMV) was able to ensure that the Canada_Line Stations aren't even quite a 3rd of the length of the 152.5 m Montreal Metro stations.
Even the North-Shore mountains aren't allowed to be as tall as the mountains north of L.A.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Shore_(Greater_Vancouver)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/LA_San_Gabriel_Mountains.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Mountains#Gallery
Whether you are from Toronto or Chicago, LA or SF, Melbourne or Sydney, you might be shocked as to seeing how scaled down or watered down Vancouver is. Yet, the City of Paris, despite having a slightly smaller land area than Vancouver, can fit so much more inside. Boston and SF are only slightly larger in area than the City of Vancouver, yet they can also fit in so much more.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-aquatic-centre-injunction-request-denied
Its sad that a building from 1974 wasn't designed to be able to last for at least a century. The, KEEP VANCOUVER SMALL AND BACKWARDS crowd wins again. The new facility won't have a 50-metre lap pool, it will be reduced to a 25-metre pool.
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/06/24/denied-injunction-vancouver-aquatic-centre
In Vancouver, just give up on a building that's barely half a century old, but in Europe things are built to last.
Why Does It Take 144 Years To Build Sagrada Familia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKdTVBjz_s
Especially, the pyramids in Egypt an in other parts of the world.
Vancouver is such an unusual and backwards city with its inefficient and congestive approach towards transportation infrastructure.
Getting rid of the streetcars and interurban trams was utterly foolish! Fortunately, such MADNE$$ wasn't adopted in Melbourne, SF, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and New Orleans.
Just because a no freeways mandate was chosen for Vancouver, the streets should have been kept wide enough for busses as well as other vehicles.
https://movementyvr.ca/the-case-of-vancouvers-nine-missing-bus-lanes
Despite most of the Vancouver bridges being too narrow, some bridge lanes were removed, because the city wasn't interested in building parallel bike bridges.
Since most of the bridges are so narrow, there isn't enough room for proper express bus lanes. Of course the city isn't interested in building parallel bus bridges next to the narrow bridges.
Since Vancouver is supposed to be a major, properly functioning city in Western Canada, the city should have pressed the designers of the first 2 Skytrain lines to make sure that all of the 80 m stations could gradually be extended to 152.5 m, the same as the 500 foot long Montreal Metro stations and trains.
Unlike the first 2 Skytrain lines, the Canada Line was only designed to ultimately have 50 m stations and trains. A 2 billion dollar line to YVR could have been designed in such a way that would have allowed it to look and function like a proper big-city passenger train.
A commuter train to the North Shore keeps taking a long time to be finalized.
https://northshoreconnects.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BIRT-Benefits-Assessment_Final.pdf
Think small and build backwards, or not at all.
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/national-sports/racism-is-a-risk-when-vancouver-hosts-world-cup-but-measures-exist-bc-ag-sharma-12361474 So, this is basically the same article repeated.
https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Rivalry_with_other_European_empires
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Expansion_and_colonial_conflict_(1707%E2%80%931783)
Despite its overall area, Canada has less than 1% of the worlds population. A global population that is mostly nonwhite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Consolidation_and_global_dominance_(1783%E2%80%931815)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Britain's_imperial_century_(1815%E2%80%931914)
For its first century, Canada was supposed to be primarily for people from Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Changing_status_of_the_white_colonies
That was the British Colonial Agenda, but eventually the British_Empire had to acknowledge that most of the worlds population is nonwhite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Decolonisation_and_decline_(1945%E2%80%931997)
There are strong arguments that Canada should be able to gradually contain a little more of the worlds population. Since a lot of the worlds population is from warmer areas, a lot of people might not like the Canadian Winter season. SW BC just happens to be the most mild part of Canada during the winter. The Lower_Mainland of BC and SE Vancouver_Island have been very reluctant to think big and build on a grand scale.
The Lions+Gate+Bridge and the Johnson+Street+Bridge are both classic 3 lane BC bottleneck-chokepoints. They are both fine examples of not wanting to build for a growing population on a world that is composed mostly of nonwhite people.
Toronto and Southern Ontario just never had the same level of small scale thinking as in SW BC. In fact, it the backwards BC approach to things just never caught on in Toronto, Melbourne and SF. They never got rid of their streetcars and trams like Vancouver and Victoria did.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lzvgg7/the_british_empire_at_its_territorial_peak_oc/
As Canada started to become more multicultural in the 1960s and 70s, predominantly White city councils in BC kept imposing a small-scale approach to things.
Will some people start to say that by keeping most of the world out of Canada is good for the environment? There are already some people that would like to use nonwhites as being too much of a carbon footprint and that Canada should never have 1% of the worlds population. This would be a very clever and sinister way to perpetuate the KEEP THEM OUT agenda.
The days of Canada being officially under a British Colonial, White authority management power structure are long gone. As of 2026, Canada has yet to have half of 1% of the worlds population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPlGQDpx4xg
While there could be a reasonable argument that if a subway or elevated line isn't expected to be that busy in its first few years, then just build half-size stations and run half-length trains. However, in the case of backwards Vancouver, what should have been stations that were designed to accommodate at least 5 car trains, were only designed for an eventual 2.5 car train. Thus, it will be challenging enough just to modify the incredibly short Canada Line stations to gradually accommodate 3 full-size 20 m cars, not just some 2.5 car joke of a train for a 50 m station.
Fortunately the Skyline_(Honolulu) stations can accommodate a 4 car train right from the start. Someday, with SDO a 4 car train could become a 6 car train.
If Selective+Door+Operation (SDO) can ever be implemented on the YVR-Canada Line then it can go from being a 2 car joke of a train to a 3 car attempt of a train. Then, once people got used to 3 car trains, an extra car could be added at both ends, thus allowing for a 5 car train.
Ultimately, the YVR-Canada+Line should have been designed as a proper big-city size train with 8-10 cars. There seems to be such a lack of proper long-term transportation infrastructure planning in BC. To just build a small-scale line as a symbolic demonstration of reluctance towards the Pacific Rim is so absurd.
Fortunately, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane never opted for such a short train.
There Is a Hidden City Under Seoul Nobody Talks About. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIewf8sOZ0I
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-yvr-airport-vietnam-south-america-routes-trade-goals
With such a provincial backwater approach to things, its taken this long for backwards BC to get around to this.
