An overnight fire has stopped service on the SkyTrain between Joyce and Waterfront stations, leaving Friday morning (May 22) commuters to find alternatives to the SkyTrain.
TransLink is cautioning rush-hour SkyTrain passengers that service is unlikely to be restored until the late morning or early afternoon.
Bus bridges have been set up between stations, while Expo Line passengers travelling from the suburbs to downtown Vancouver still have the option to transfer onto the Millennium Line at Columbia station. From there, commuters can transfer onto buses at VCC Clark station.
However, TransLink is advising travellers to avoid Broadway-Commercial as it’s already one of the busiest stations for bus and SkyTrain transfers.
TransLink is encouraging passengers to use the online trip planner tool at translink.ca find alternative routes by selecting the “Do not take SkyTrain” field in the dropdown menu.
The fire behind Friday’s disruption started at 11 p.m. Thursday (May 21) and damaged about one metre of a communications cable. A spark from track-grinding equipment caused a bird’s nest to catch fire beneath a guideway about 150 metres from Main Street SkyTrain station.
TransLink has installed bird netting at different locations across both the Expo and Millennium lines but the transit agency had not previously identified Main Street as a problem area for birds.
The transit agency announced all modes of transit would be free Friday as a result of the disruptions.
