In this blog, I often mention Skytrain which is the automated rapid transit system here in Vancouver. Now consisting of three lines, the original line, called Expo, opened for business in 1986.
In the 27 subsequent years, the city of Vancouver has changed considerably and video above is visible proof of those changes. The video shows you two separate pieces of footage taken the front of a Skytrain car originating at the Waterfront station on the Expo line. The left is from 1986 and the right is from this year or thereabouts. It’s amazing to see how many buildings didn’t exist in 1986. The landscape was very different back then. What’s not very different, unfortunately, are the stations themselves. The majority of the Expo line stations look very dated now. There was this unified design that called for painted metal in all the stations, with white and green being the predominant colours. The look is very much 1980s. The video stops at New Westminster station because back then that was the terminus station.
Vancouver seemed like a more simple town back then.