Home › Travel Guides › North America Travel Guide › Canada › British Columbia › Vancouver › Getting around Vancouver

Getting around Vancouver

Public transport: 

TransLink (tel: (604) 953 3333; www.translink.bc.ca) operates city buses and the SkyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express services. A regular bus service (branded Coast Mountain Bus) is supplemented by the limited 'Owl' night bus service.

Vancouver's clean and efficient SkyTrain is an automated light rapid transit system with a handful of underground stops Downtown and an elevated track for the rest of its journey through the suburbs.

You can transfer at Waterfront Station to the SeaBus, a catamaran ferry that regularly connects Downtown with North Vancouver (journey time - 12 minutes).

Fares for all three modes of transport are based on a three-zone system. Transfers are valid for 90 minutes from the start of the journey. Exact change is required on buses, while tickets for the SkyTrain and SeaBus are available at ticket windows and machines. You must validate tickets before entering the fare zone. A cheaper all-zone fare is available at evenings and weekends.Books of 10 tickets and day passes valid for all of the above modes of transport in all zones are available.

Other transportation options include the West Coast Express, a commuter rail service connecting Waterfront SkyTrain Station with a number of cities in the Fraser Valley. Connecting a number of points on either side of False Creek are tiny passenger ferries operated by private companies Aquabus (tel: (604) 689 5858; www.theaquabus.com) and False Creek Ferries (tel: (604) 684 7781; www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca). Day passes are available.

Taxis: 

Taxis are readily available at taxi ranks or by telephone and can easily be hailed in the Downtown area, although they can be difficult to find elsewhere in the city. The main taxi firms are Yellow Cab Company (tel: (604) 681 1111) and Black Top & Checker Cabs (tel: (604) 731 1111). Minivan taxis are available upon request. A tip of 15% is customary.

Driving: 

As Vancouver is spread out over a series of islands and peninsulas, the main traffic bottlenecks are the region's bridges, notably during rush hours. There are no highways in the centre of the city, so driving is slower and more time should be allowed to reach a destination. It is usually easier to take public transport and/or walk in downtown Vancouver.

Outside of Downtown, north-south roads are named Streets and east-west roads are numbered Avenues. It is easy to locate addresses on north-south streets by subtracting 16 from the first two digits of the address, to find the corresponding block (for example, 2630 Main Street would be between 10th and 11th Avenues). Ontario Street divides the city into East and West (all of Downtown's streets are West).

Parking, run by EasyPark Vancouver (tel: (604) 682 6744; www.easyparkvancouver.com), is readily available in underground and multi-storey car parks in the downtown area.

Car hire: 

Centrally located car hire companies include Avis, 757 Hornby Street (tel: (604) 606 2869; www.avis.ca), Budget BC, 416 West Georgia Street (tel: (604) 668 7000; www.budgetbc.com), National, 1185 West Georgia Street (tel: (604) 609 7150; www.nationalcar.ca), and Thrifty, 413 Seymour Street (tel: (604) 606 1666; www.thrifty.com). A local provider is Lo-Cost Auto Rentals, 1835 Marine Drive, North Vancouver (tel: (604) 986 1266; www.locostrental.com).

Drivers under 25 years of age may face certain restrictions and those aged 19 to 21 may have to pay a surcharge. All drivers are required to pay the Passenger Vehicle Rental Tax and other government fees, federal and provincial sales taxes, plus a surcharge of around 15% for airport rentals. Rates do not include taxes or other incidentals (such as insurance, drop-off fees, petrol or mileage charges, etc). Those hiring a car should always check whether or not the minimum insurance requirements are included in the price of hire.

For excursions into British Columbia's wilderness, a campervan (known as a recreational vehicle or RV) offers a great deal of flexibility. Westcoast Mountain Campers, 11800 Voyageur Way, Richmond (tel: (604) 279 0550; www.wcmcampers.com), and Traveland RV Supercentre, 20529 Langley Bypass, Langley (tel: (604) 530 8141; www.travelandrvcanada.com), are two options.

Bicycle hire: 

The best place to hire a bicycle or the popular in-line skates is around Robson Street and Denman Street, near Stanley Park. Bayshore Bicycle & Rollerblade Skate Rentals, 745 Denman Street (tel: (604) 688 2453; www.bayshorebikerentals.ca) and Spokes Bicycle Rentals, 1798 West Georgia Street (tel: (604) 688 5141; www.vancouverbikerental.com) are both worth checking out. The city is considering developing a public bike share system similar to those in Paris and Montreal, but proposals have not yet been confirmed.

Along the seawall and within Stanley Park, cyclists should watch for signs indicating if trails may be shared with pedestrians or are pedestrian-only. Elsewhere, the city has a well-marked system of over 300km (186 miles) of bike paths and on-road bike routes, with an ongoing programme to increase and improve bikeways. Hills and heavy traffic on the bridges may be challenging for inexperienced riders however. Bicycle helmets are required by law and the same traffic rules for cars apply to cyclists. The City of Vancouver (tel: (604) 871 6070 for bike hotline; www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/cycling) provides further information and a downloadable bike map.

Travel Deals

Recommended Sites:

Protect yourself from malaria
Before you travel, find out if your holiday destination is in a malaria zone.
(An educational initiative organised and funded by GlaxoSmithKline Travel Health. UK/MARK/0173/10 September 2010)
Travel insurance
For residents of over 150 countries. High levels of medical, evacuation, emergency & most adventure activities covered.