Vancouver Sky Train

[CJMini]

Looking for information…we will be arriving in Vancouver for Alaska cruise.  Taking the Canada Line and would like to know the closest station to the Blue Horizon hotel?  Maps have indicated Vancouver City Centre.  Just want to make sure.  If correct, would we purchase a day pass to Canada Place but exit at the Vancouver City Centre stop?

 

Thanks,

CJ

[martincath]

33 minutes ago, CJMini said:

Taking the Canada Line and would like to know the closest station to the Blue Horizon hotel? 

Yes, City Centre is closest - it's an almost perfectly flat 1km route to walk, you can use pretty much any street to cut over to Robson from W Georgia (although I would recommend walking at least a couple of blocks on Georgia, to avoid the pedestrianized block between Howe and Hornby behind the Art Gallery, as it is often chock full of temporary stalls making it a hassle to walk through - if you stick to Georgia until you hit the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, any left from there to Bute is fine, you'll walk the same distance... Jervis onward and you overshoot the hotel!)

 

Day Passes don't require a location - they operate across all three zones every day, so only have 2 prices these days (regular fare and Concession for kids & seniors). If you're only planning to head downtown to the hotel, or even take 1 or even 2 rides somewhere else, better to just pay for your fare separately each time... Day Passes start saving on the 4th trip around downtown, and that's only by a few cents -even if it's a weekday when the fare inbound from YVR is 2 zones, so a Day Pass wins by about a buck and a half on that 4th trip, or breaks even on the third trip if you take another 2 zone ride to e,g, North Van by Seabus.

 

Even regular tickets only break it down by zone, not by stop, so you cannot book any kind of ticket to <Insert Station> you can always travel freely within the zone(s) you paid for for 90 minutes between boardings and then as long as it takes to get to where you're going. So if, for example, you ride into town from YVR (<30mins), walk to hotel (~15min with bags), check-in and drop bags, you could jump on a bus outside, or even walk back toward the pier and hop on a Seabus (~25min walk from BH) as long as you tap the last entry gate before 90mins from when you first tapped your ticket to enter the system back at YVR. So that same 2 zone ticket could get you all the way over to North Van to enjoy Lonsdale Quay without buying a second one - and if you stayed until after 6:30pm everything becomes 1 zone regardless of day, so the fare coming back would be cheaper.

 

And all of this 'which zone(s) do I need to buy!?' stuff is irrelevant if you just tap a credit card or smartphone with a card in a virtual wallet on the gates - the system will do the math for you, so for folks who don't qualify for Concession rates it's the same price for less work and no time wasted... also note that if you buy a ticket of any type, even a Day Pass, at the YVR station (or tap to enter) you will be billed the $5pp AddFare for inbound travel - Day Passes only save you the AddFare if they are bought elsewhere.

 

If you want to avoid the AddFare you can buy an old-school Day Pass at the 7-11 inside the airport - this is still ~$2 more expensive than a 2 zone fare with AddFare though, so unless you plan at least one additional use of transit the day you arrive, don't waste your time!

[CJMini]

Martincath,

You have come to my rescue once again. 
 

SkyTrain has been intimidating on planning this trip because there are four other adults with us (plus 10 yr old granddaughter who is free).  As uncomplicated as the “tap your credit card instructions” you have provided, husband wants to pay for everyone.  So, it seems the kiosk would be the better option and allow him to pay for several tickets at one time.

 

I so appreciate your time and effort in answering my question!!  I have this feeling “it’s going to be like herding cats”…so if I lose my patience I will still have your excellent instructions and will promptly tell everyone “here’s how you do it and I’ll meet all of you at the hotel.”   😂

 

Thank you, 

CJ

[martincath]

1 hour ago, CJMini said:

... husband wants to pay for everyone.  So, it seems the kiosk would be the better option and allow him to pay for several tickets at one time.

Yes, if it's all going on one card you'll have to use the kiosk! If you tap the same card over and over, it only bills it once so everyone else is fare-dodging 😉 It's been ages since I actually bought an individual ticket, thanks to the reloadable Compass card, but if memory serves during evenings/weekends if you try to buy a multi-zone fare the machine won't let you, so it's just how many tix are Concession (>65) or regular (13-64). Also, I think you can 'buy' a free child ticket just so they have something to tap and a wee souvenir - if not, make sure someone taps and lets the kid walk through right in front of them, as the faregates close pretty quick to minimise the chance of someone tailgating you through for free.

 

However, just so you have the comparison at hand, with 6 adults and a kid you might consider 2 cabs instead unless you were coming in early enough to be able to reuse a DayPass efficiently... with AddFares on top, SkyTrain does not save much cash (more on weekends with 1 zone pricing) as a cab is only CAD$37 to the EXchange. Four adults and baggage can be tricky in a Prius, but with 3 grownups per car and the kid taking the middle seat in one, they should be comfy enough even if no vans roll in.

 

Note that you'll need a car seat for DG on many AK excursions unless she is rather tall and heavy for her age (even schoolbuses up there, a fairly typical vehicle for tours, require boosters installed if there's a seatbelt to enable attaching them); technically 'professional drivers' like cabbies are exempt from requiring car seats here in Vancouver, but they're also not allowed to charge you for car seat install/removal time even on metered fares when you choose to use them.

 

Of course, if you've chosen excursions that don't need car seats to avoid bringing one, transit's the safest option even if it doesn't save much. Recco for travel with a little'un is to board the front of the train at YVR (the back if you see it roll in - it reverses a few minutes later) so GD can pretend to drive the train! Or in my case, justify pretending to drive the train myself by instead pretending I'm sitting here for the benefit of my nephew... 😉