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New name for Broadway Line?

April 22nd, 2010 · 61 Comments

Until last week, I had only heard the rapid-transit line from Commercial to Broadway referred to as the Millennium Line extension. TransLink seems to be calling it now either the Broadway Line or the UBC Line.

We know those names will be replaced at some point with something more brand-y. How about suggestions? And we might really need two names if there is one that runs along the Arbutus tracks to the north of Broadway, as well as the Broadway line.

I was thinking Creme de La Creme Line, to capitalize on that famous phrase used by a Kerrisdale resident arguing at a city hall public hearing many moons ago against the city’s decision to designate the Arbutus line as a transportation corridor. But that should probably be reserved for any future rapid-transit line that runs south from Broadway on Arbutus.

The names we’ve had so far are so … I don’t know, like something dreamed up by an advertising company that’s never set foot in Vancouver. Expo Line, Millennium Line, Canada Line, Evergreen Line.

Los Angeles is no help. They’ve named their lines boring things like Orange and Red. I kind of like London’s names, because at least they evoke places or images: Circle Line, Picadilly Line, Hammersmith & City Line. New York? Well, they’re so world class they can name a train the D Line and it still sounds exotic. Paris is not that because they go by colours and then the names of the stations at either end of a line — geographically evocative, once more, but it only works because they have great names. So French-sounding! (La Defense-Chateau de Vincennes; Porte des Lilas-Gambetta) The sound of Commercial-UBC just does not make my heart race.

We need something with romance, something that evokes Vancouver, something people could write a song about.

Categories: Uncategorized

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  • Ron

    Please – not the Pacific Sprit Line.

  • Urbanismo

    Nor the phuccin’ CELEBRATION LINE . . .

  • Darren

    Wreck Beach Express!

  • some guy

    How about the 2010PacificSpiritGatewayTransportationLeagacyNowVancouverCelebration Line?

  • Joe Just Joe

    I can’t think of anything snappy as I left my coffee on the counter this morning.

    Just rename the whole line the University Line as it’ll connect Douglas, SFU (kinda), VCC, GNW Campus, and UBC. That way we can get rid of the stupid evergreen and millenium monikers.

  • Colin

    I agree with Joe…the whole line from Coquitlam to UBC (or Arbutus, if it only goes that far) should be one name. Not sure what that should be, but University Line works.

    For the possible Downtown to UBC LRT/Tram line that is being shown as an option…another name…maybe the Peninsula Line. After all, it could go from the downtown peninsula to the UBC peninsula.

  • Johng

    I’m with Darren. Sell this as the fastest way to Wreck beach. Hence, the Nude Line…..

  • MB

    I’d prefer to stick with the Millennium Line – UBC.

    Barring that, then Darren’s Wreck Beach Express gets my vote!

  • mezzanine

    Skytrain Lobby Express!

  • John

    Homeless Line?

  • Keith

    University Line.

  • Catherine

    My friend suggested the “Pants-Optional Line”, but I feel that unnecessarily restricts what I can do on the other three. Thoughts?

  • Dan

    With the whole just little question regarding financing still up in the air how about..
    The Pattison Line? The GE Express? The Giustra-Broadway Line? Or more likely, if Gregor is elected during the right period, The Green Line? Sustainability Line?

    UBC Line I dont like because its partial to one end of the line, we need something more all encompassing. How about an acryonom or something?

  • Matty

    Sunrise-Sunset LRT

  • Darren

    Some people would be aghast, but I think Dan is on to something. Sports facilities in particular have done well by selling their naming rights; why not raise money for transit that way? Telus Line, Molson Line, Coca-Cola Station….

  • Robert

    Banana Line because they’ll run in bunches

  • stinky

    Point Grey. Or Salish.

  • SV

    Hollyhock Line.

  • Bill Lee

    Courgette to zucchino line since council is a bunch of vegetables. That is west Courgette to easterly zucchino.
    Translink has this terrible for us, logical to them, of naming lines by their terminii. And they’ve detroyed any memoroy of what goes where by not pairing 20 and 25, Granville and Victoria names, and other such destruction of cultural zeitgeist.
    And they won’t run trolleys along Cambie.

    God should never have invented the diesel bus.

    The Evergreen lines is more important. People can almost afford to live there along the line.

    Anyway as we’ve seen with the naming of the third Seabus, committees choose blandness.

    Will a tram be able to flatten pennies or will they have track sweepers.

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought Of The Day

    “We better start calling garbage …garbage, instead of refuse. The same way, we should start calling this Broadway Line…The Money Wasted Line instead of it really is…a Kitsilano Zipper Line.”

    And Frances,
    “We need something with romance, something that evokes Vancouver, something people could write a song about.”
    Boy, how I wanted to stay away from this subject. But with so much material…This? How can I put it, weak? Very weak. When one starts looking for romance in a transit line, that kind of wraps up the case for lifelessness. ‘Nuff said.
    However, let me be the first to put it in rhyme for the future anonymous musician; anybody please feel free to add to it.

    THE CIRCUMCISION LINE

    “I‘ve missed my Circumcision Line connection,
    My baby’s waitin’ for me on the train,
    To the Wrecked Beach, nakedness perfection,
    I took the 98 B Line instead.”

    (to be continued)
    Throw in a “Baby, Oh, Baby” here and there and you’re Golden. No, wait, Platinum!

    “THE CIRCUMCISION LINE”
    Think about it, for a moment. Years in the planning. You are oblivious to the fact that it is going to happen; it is going to happen for no good reason, you already have what it takes to transport your boys from point A to point B; no one asks you if you want to have it done in the first place, then they do it to you anyway without your permission, because… it is good for you, so they say, you are stuck with it for life and everyone tells you how great it is that you had it done. They also tell you it is an improvement over what you had before, and now you better start enjoying your new found form of transportation in life, or else. So I’ve heard. Fast transportation, can’t beat it, eh?

    Other names? I don’t know… Maybe, “Route 666 Line”; “Going Nowhere Line”; “Virgin Corridor Line”; “Private Pick Pocketing Line”; “Ladner’s Goatee Line”; “Gregor’s Goat Line”; or my favourite, “Gordon’s Martini Line”…you be the judge!

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • gasp

    Call it what it is – The Unnecessary Line. Or better yet, the Ode to Bad Planning Line.

    Vancouver’s entire transit system was built to take people from the various neighbourhoods around the City to the old centre of the City in the vicinity of Hastings and Main. Broadway was merely a connector route to get people to the nearest north/south line.

    But the politicians and planners decided that downtown land is too “valuable” to be used for business and commercial purposes, and instead encouraged building residential and “mixed-use” in this area. This type of development doesn’t accommodate businesses that need more than a storefront location. Apparently they didn’t consider the design of Vancouver’s transportation system to be an important consideration when they made these decisions.

    So the businesses were forced out of the City core and onto Broadway. Broadway is the longest street in the City, resulting in a sausage-like business district that stretches from one end of the City to the other, making it time consuming and difficult to get to these businesses from almost everywhere else in the City without the use of a car. Plus, central Broadway is at the top of a steep hill, making it even more difficult for the elderly and those with mobility impairments to access these businesses.

    Now, because their decisions have resulted in so much traffic on Broadway, the politicians and planners propose another expensive solution to solve the problem they themselves created.

    Wouldn’t it be much simpler to RE-EVALUATE AND CHANGE the City’s LAND USE PLANS, this time TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE ACTUAL DESIGN OF THE TRANSIT SYSTEM, rather than making a decision as to how to use the land and then trying to build a new transit system around that decision?

  • Wendy

    My turn:

    “Ivory Tower Express”

    “U-Drive Line” (which would confuse tourists)

    “East-West-Connector” (or is that one taken)

  • Scott Parker

    I suppose one should ask the Squamish and Musqueam what the line should be called. Not only would it be most appropriate, but would presumably lead to something “geographically evocative” and in a beautiful language. Also, the name would would definitely not be thought up by someone who “has never set foot in Vancouver.”

    Every place and feature here has an Aboriginal name. For example there is Senakw (or Snauq) near the Burrard bridge, which we Europeans got a bit confused about and renamed after the chief there, Xats’alanexw (Kitsilano).

  • The Earl of Granville

    If it’s Skytrain, I’d name it The Earl of Granville, for obvious reasons.

    If it’s a light rail or tram that also connects the existing Arbutus/ False Creek/ Historic Area/ Coal Harbour ROWs (ie. with the money to be saved vs. Skytrain), then I would suggest The Great March Forward Line.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    Call it “good urbanism”.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    Call it “good urbanism”.

  • JCobb

    I think Creme de la Creme is the best. A fitting tribute to the NIMBY’s.

  • J R Wares

    The best bet for me would be to call it the Coast Salish Line. After all, it would end at the edge of the Salish Sea
    -30-

  • flowmass

    Flicking a booger at the West side snobs, how about calling it the Creme Line.
    That would get them snorting.

  • Eric

    I like the Wreck Beach Express.

    How about “The Bob Line” or some other simply name like “Laura Line”, or “Joe Line”, or “Fish Line”.

    NIMBY line would be more fitting with the west side.

  • Fear and Loathing in Vancouver

    By the time it’s built: The Magnetic Levitation Trolley

  • Bill Smolick

    It will wind up being called the Broadway Line, because that’s the route it takes.

    They may try to name it something else, but it won’t stick in the vernacular.

    You really think people are going to remember Canada Line instead of Cambie Line?

  • MB

    So Glissssss, when the Zipper Line passes through Kits, you know, the place where the Beautiful People live, will it be zipping down for max exposure? Perhaps leaving just a little tiny patch not for modesty, but to tease?

    And when it passes through Prude Grey, will it be zipping up to the neck?

  • MB

    Oh hell. Let’s just fling red scarfs from the trains when we get to the tassles, shall we?

  • Dan Cooper

    “You really think people are going to remember Canada Line instead of Cambie Line?”

    Yes. Okay, maybe that’s just because I live near Cambie, so I think of it as mainly a way to go somewhere else (downtown or Richmond). Still, I suspect “Canada Line” will be its common name.

  • tommythinman

    How about the Orca line. I doubt if you’ll see any Orcas at the end of the line but you may be forgiven if you smoked a few too many at Wreck Beach for mistaking some of the crowd for beached whales.

  • Bill Lee

    @gasp // Apr 22, 2010 at 9:19 pm Comment 21
    http://francesbula.com/uncategorized/new-name-for-broadway-line/#comment-25466

    The old tram network lovingly mapped by fans at: http://bcer.trams.bc.ca/maps.html
    See the BCER Downtown Vancouver (20s & 30s) and the BCER Suburban Vancouver maps.

    All from Brian Kelly’s books.

    And UVic Emerita Patricia Roy’s excellent Illustrated History of Vancouver (1980) has much commentary on the city transit development based on her theses.

  • Sharon

    Hopefully, it simply remains the Broadway Line. After all… if this is only focused on getting from A (Commercial) to B (UBC) and forgets everything in between, we have lost the point of a livable and accessible city.

    We are already seeing it on Cambie. There is activity at the stations and nothing in between because the world has gone underground. Quite bizarre when you consider we live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We want to spend our time hanging out in sterile tunnels void of sunshine and scenery so we can sleep in an extra 15 minutes.

  • J.S.

    “Timber Line,” for all the tree-named streets that intersect Broadway.

    TIIIIIIM-BBERRRRRR!

  • Booge

    Short Espresso Line

  • Susan

    The utilitarian Broadway Line works best for me. It’s quick and efficient, like you want transit to be.

  • J.L.

    “Manopoly Line” “Broadway Central” “False Creek Connecter” “Central District Line” “VGH Line” “Post Secondary Line” “Quantium Central” “Grand Central Line”

  • Gregory Marler

    As a visitor to Vancouver/UBC I was wondering when the ‘other’ sky train lines were built. Then I realised, it’s obvious from the names. Expo Line is ’86, Mellenium is ’00(plus 2), and Canada Line is when Canada won the Winter Olympics (originally a predication).
    So I don’t like the Evergreen Line or UBC/Broadway Line. We need to know when it will be built and what big event will take place in Vancouver.

    Catherine “My friend suggested the ‘Pants-Optional Line’, but I feel that unnecessarily restricts what I can do on the other three.”
    I wonder if I’ll ever see you on the skytrain?!

    I do like the sound of the Wreck Beach Express. But then it should probably have an elevated section that goes along Marine Drive, for those that just want a brief glance over the trees without having to take the sandy steps down.

    Bill Smolick, in my experience everyone (mainly at UBC) has been calling it the Skytrain, or Canada Line. Never heard Cambie Line. It’s how everyone is told to get Downtown, via the 99 bus. Some friends get confused in the Pacific Centre without knowing and go to the Expo/Millennium station because they follow signs to ‘Skytrain’.

  • Bill Smolick

    > Still, I suspect “Canada Line” will be its common name.

    Man, you know some suckers for marketing then. I’ve never heard a single person who lives here call it then.

    There’s a reason T-dot’s subway lines are called the “Bloor” line and the “Yonge/University” line, even though the Bloor line runs on the Danforth in the east (deviating off of it in Scarborough) and the University line only runs on University in downtown T-dot.

  • Sarah

    Frances, If you want romance how about – The LOVE Line…. Or the Green City Line -Green transport, getting folks out of cars.

  • Richard

    @Gregory Marler
    Based on the theme of the other lines, the perfect name is the “2020 Line” implying both good vision and reflecting the date when it will likely be completed.

  • Chris in Chaos

    I think it should be called the same as the theme at the next VV’s post election party

    “End of the Line”

  • Tow the Line

    @Bill Smolick, my experience has been almost the same as Gregory Marler’s. Never heard anyone refer to it as the “Cambie Line”. But I ride it almost every day, so maybe I’ve been “indoctrinated” too much by marketing geeks.

    Broadway Line makes the most sense so far. The B-Line service was initiated along Broadway. What do you think the “B” stood for? If it gets replaced with Skytrain, the cognitive association will remain.

  • RossK

    I’m with flowmass, way above….

    Creme.

    (just)

    Creme.

    .

  • Alan Robinson

    Trek Line.

    Evocative of UBC bureaucrats and tourists who get lost on their way to Vulcan, AB.

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