Vancouver sky train

[labgalbella]

Does anyone know if you can use a Visa chip credit card to pay for skytrain? They mention a tap card to pay..Does a chip card work? Thanks

[scottbee]

2 hours ago, labgalbella said:

Does anyone know if you can use a Visa chip credit card to pay for skytrain? They mention a tap card to pay..Does a chip card work? Thanks

 

 

 

Firstly, just because it causes some confusion, Skytrain refers to ALL of the subway system in Vancouver, if you're headed to/from the airport, you want the Skytrain "CANADA LINE".

 

As for cards, they need to be tap wireless, not just chip, in order to just tap at the gate barriers (no need to buy a ticket).

 

have a look for a little wireless icon on your card:

 

 

If you don't have that, you can still use your credit card to buy a ticket from the ticket machines.

 

Few US issued credit cards have the wireless tap at this point, the US banking industry seems to be about 5-8 years behind the European/Canadian one with respect to this (chip has been standard for 10 yrs here)

 

 

 

 

 

[labgalbella]

On 12/26/2007 at 11:24 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

Thanks so much. I called my credit card company about this and they were clueless. When we buy out of the machine will it tell us how much it is to the pan Pacific from the airport?

[scottbee]

1 hour ago, labgalbella said:

Thanks so much. I called my credit card company about this and they were clueless. When we buy out of the machine will it tell us how much it is to the pan Pacific from the airport?

 

Depends on the day of the week.  Weekdays it will $4.25/ea, weekends $3/ea.

 

From the cruise terminal walk one block ahead slightly to your left, IGNORING the tempting "SKYTRAIN" escalators, as they take you to the wrong platform (it leads to Expo Line). At Cordova St, turn left, walk a block and a half, and Waterfront station is the big brick building on your left.  Once inside, turn immediately left for the "Canada Line" to the airport

 

[martincath]

Extremely thorough reply from Scott - but reverse the directions at the end OP, since you are coming from the airport to the hotel rather than vice versa.

 

[labgalbella]

Thanks for all you help for a newbie!

[scottbee]

20 hours ago, labgalbella said:

Thanks for all you help for a newbie!

 

Two things which I'd like to amend my statement;

1) There's an extra $5 charge LEAVING the airport, so fares are 8 or 9.25

2) don't follow the above map for getting TO the station, use this map for getting out of the station.  And use the other exit.

 

When the train pulls into Waterfront, turn back toward the direction that the train came from.  Don't go down the  tunnel into Waterfront Station itself.  Follow the signs "Way Out - Granville St", and then you'll get out at Granville & W.Hastings.  Turn left on W.Hastings, walk one block, turn right, walk two blocks to Canada.  This is both downhill and less walking than exiting via the main station complex.

 

[labgalbella]

Thanks again

[stunned]

scottbee, 

   We are going to stay at an apartment on Nelson Street, is walking with luggage from the sky train Waterfront station easily doable to this location?  Thanks.

[martincath]

13 hours ago, stunned said:

scottbee, 

   We are going to stay at an apartment on Nelson Street, is walking with luggage from the sky train Waterfront station easily doable to this location?  Thanks.

Scott doesn't seem to be checking the boards this weekend - but I doubt his answer will vary much from this one: what cross-street on Nelson, and how far can you walk with your bags?

 

Like most of our 'east-west' streets Nelson runs almost the full length of the core, almost 1.75 miles - and at its closest point still needs well over half-a-mile walking down Granville or another north-south street from Waterfront. So if you can walk 3 miles with your bags, the answer is definitely "Yes, it is walkable" - if you cannot walk t least 3/4ths of a mile, the answer is definitely "No, it is not walkable" - but if your limit is somewhere between it depends where your apartment is.

 

The good news is that you will have good sidewalks, safe neighbourhoods, pedestrian crossings, no highways, and minimal hills anywhere on the potential route, so the only criteria are distance and what the weather is on the day.

 

Scott would also almost certainly point out that for anywhere on Nelson getting off a stop early at Vancouver City Centre station will save you more than half of the southward walk from Waterfront including the small uphill part; if it's at the east end of Nelson then Yaletown-Roundhouse station may be even closer. Either way, sticking the address into Google Maps means you don't need to tell the entire internet where you are staying, plus you'll know within seconds instead of waiting for someone else to respond. Google even tells you the elevation gains and drops if they're at all significant, and allows you to virtually 'walk' the whole route using Streetview so you can get familiar with landmarks.

 

 

[stunned]

It is between Hornby and Burrard Streets 

[martincath]

31 minutes ago, stunned said:

It is between Hornby and Burrard Streets 

That would be the Electra then (other side of Nelson is the enormous Wall Center complex of hotels & offices) and at bang on a half mile from VCC I'd walk it. NB: this building is a landmark, used to be the HQ for BC Hydro our local electricity supply company made up of very open office space, it made quite the architectural splash when it first opened in the 50s not just because of the unusual shape but also because all the desks were within 15 feet of an exterior window so it was a very airy office space at the time.

 

When it was converted to condos though, the added interior walls were not exactly thick - the many rental suites here through AirBnB and various small 'condo hotel' companies frequently have noise mentioned in reviews, and are a mix of legal and illegal (there's no specific Bylaw against short-term rentals as most of the owners rent out their units - awkward shapes and thin walls make for many non-resident owners renting their units rather than living in them). Probably a very low chance of enforcement even if your particular apartment is an illegal AirBnB due to mostly transient neighbours.

 

The building has not been renoed since the change to condos in the late 90s, so I'd bring earplugs for sleeping and expect noticeable wear & tear in common areas and low-end Ikea furnishings across the board unless you're lucky enough to actually be in someone's primary home they only rent out when on vacation - but it is a very striking building from the outside in a very good location for wandering around.

 

Historically the 'O Canada' heritage horns that now live on the roof of the Pan Pacific hotel used to be here until BC Hydro moved to their new HQ, when the building sat vacant until it was changed to condos (given the unique building, there was no way anybody was getting approval to demolish and rebuild on the site - but the weird shape meant it was also impossible to rip out the interiors and just keep the facades).

 

Unfortunately the condo board seem to have consistently taken the cheapest options for repairs & maintenance, which was partly behind the last thing the Electra made the news about - a toxic chemical leak in 2010 when they tried raising a sunken terrace with expanding foam instead of 'mudjacking' it properly. This lead to all residents and offices being evacuated for almost a week, and many lawsuits against the chemical suppliers, contractors, and the condo itself - despite the odds of any residual chemicals being vanishingly small it's also a factor in why so many owners rent their units rather than living there. Not trying to scare you off - you'll ingest more toxins from car exhausts in the city than from inside the Electra! - but it's another interesting chapter in the story of one of our cooler buildings.

[stunned]

Martincath, 

Thanks for all this info., definitely something to think about.  Do you have any suggestions where to stay that isn’t real expensive, hubby doesn’t really want to stay at a hostel.  I really appreciate your feedback.

 

 

[martincath]

2 hours ago, stunned said:

Martincath, 

Thanks for all this info., definitely something to think about.  Do you have any suggestions where to stay that isn’t real expensive, hubby doesn’t really want to stay at a hostel.  I really appreciate your feedback.

The YWCA Hotel is always my go-to recommendation for anyone on a budget - it's owned by the YWCA but is not a hostel, though they do have some rooms which share bathrooms and cost even less. Their regular hotel rooms are twins or doubles with en suite showers like 'normal hotels' - and the huge shared kitchens make it very easy to make your own brekkies, picnic lunches, or even a whole sit-down dinner if you really wanted to. By this cruise season the new tower will be opening, so even more rooms (which is good because usually they are sold out throughout the summer, this has always been among the most popular and well-reviewed hotels in the city).

 

Next-best hotel deals are likely to be on smaller, older, no-frills properties like the Buchan or the older wing of the Victoria, or else a 'blind bid' on a hotel using Priceline etc. One of the great things about Vancouver for visitors is how small downtown is, and that almost all of our actual hotels are in the downtown core - it makes it trivially easy to be sure of getting a good location on a 'blind' bid. If you choose a minimum * rating of 2.5 or more, there's no chance of being in anything other than a clean, safe, convenient hotel - and if you go 4* or more you even remove any chance of a hotel in the Entertainment district on Granville Street, all of which are 3.5* or less. Not that it's unsafe - but with late-licensed clubs and bars kicking out their patrons between 2 and 4am after SkyTrain has stopped and only Nightbuses are running on reduced schedules, there tends to be a lot of drunken tomfoolery in the area while folks get takeout food and wait for taxis and buses for quite some time. If you're a group or family, Condo Hotels can be work out to a great price per-person too compared to multiple rooms in regular hotels - Rosedale on Robson, Times Square Suites, Sunset Inn & Suites would be on the list of popular condo hotels, where the whole building is run as a hotel even though it's an apartment building rather than a traditional 'just rooms' hotel with separate restos etc.

 

When it comes to apartment rentals the key thing to be aware of is that while in theory AirBnB type short-term rentals now have a framework that enables them to be done legally (until less than 2 years ago, only folks with actual hotel/guesthouse licenses could legally rent for less than 30 days) but because we have an incredibly tight housing market the laws were written to try and protect available rental units for long-term residents, not tourists looking to save a buck on hotels. They require that only your actual primary residence - the place you live for at least 6 months plus a day per your tax returns - can be rented out as a 'whole home' rental. That means any Host who is renting their property for 6 months or more a year, or with 2+ properties listed, remain definitely illegal - and we now have enforcement officers and agreements in place with AirBnB to help find the cheaters and shut them down. If you rent one of these and the owner gets caught, you have nowhere to stay and may get no notice of the closure - and any AirBnB insurance is rendered worthless as the Host who signed the contract lied therefore breaching it...

 

Renting just a room inside someone's apartment or house is pretty much always legal - as long as there's a business license on the AirBnB listing you can safely assume it's OK, and of course because your Host actually lives there too it's likely to be up-to-code for fire safety etc.!

[scottbee]

21 hours ago, stunned said:

Martincath, 

Thanks for all this info., definitely something to think about.  Do you have any suggestions where to stay that isn’t real expensive, hubby doesn’t really want to stay at a hostel.  I really appreciate your feedback.

 

 

 

+1 for YWCA Hotel (it's not a hostel). Good location, inexpensive.