Stepping Off The Train And Hitting The Streets: Some Urban Strategies

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Ready to cut the umbilical cord to the car?

It's getting easier, thanks to the passenger-train service that started again Friday between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., after a 14-year gap.

The new Amtrak train - the Mount Baker International - is comfortable. The views out its picture windows of Puget Sound are splendid. And it's a fine way to beat the traffic snarls of Interstate 5 and the border-crossing delays at Blaine.

Still, once the train arrives in Vancouver, how do you get around without a car? Most of us feel lost without wheels.

Relax.

Vancouver is an easy place to get around using public transit. There's the SkyTrain, the SeaBus, passenger mini-ferries and city buses - plus plenty of taxis. Besides, if you get confused or lost, the locals speak your language.

And Vancouver, and its public transit, is safe and peaceful compared to many North American cities. This is not Los Angeles: in Vancouver, everybody uses public transit since it's efficient, fast - and even fun.

Lay of the land

Almost everything a weekend visitor will want to do in Vancouver is downtown - or within easy reach by public transit.

Downtown Vancouver is a peninsula, about three miles long and a half-mile to a mile wide. Stanley Park is at the tip, a mecca for locals and visitors with its 1,000 acres of forest, beaches, walking paths and a world-class aquarium.

While many North American downtowns go dead at night, downtown Vancouver is alive, thanks to the tens of thousands of Vancouverites who live in the high-rise apartment buildings near Stanley Park. They keep the restaurants, stores and cafes humming into the evening, especially on Denman and Robson streets.

Still, much of downtown Vancouver is nothing special architecturally. Many new buildings are boring glass slabs. The streets are the conventional grid pattern, and often jammed with traffic.

Vancouver's glory is its natural setting of bays and mountains. And Vancouverites did say no to freeways and yes to miles of waterfront walkways, which has kept the city people-friendly.

Yet downtown Vancouver is growing at a spectacular rate, with construction fueled by investment and immigrants from Hong Kong. New high-rise offices, hotels and condos are popping up on almost every block in the downtown core. The concrete canyons loom as this once-sleepy provincial city turns into a cosmopolitan powerhouse of the Pacific Rim.

From the station . . .

Ready to get going by train?

The train from Seattle will deposit you at Pacific Central train station on the southeast edge of downtown Vancouver.

The station is just off Main Street by the east end of False Creek. The most obvious nearby landmark is Science World, a gaudy domed building a half-block west of the station. (If you're traveling with kids, you can amuse them for hours at Science World's hands-on exhibits).

After Seattle's dingy King Street train station, Pacific Central is a treat. The 76-year-old station has been refurbished and has a pleasant fast-food restaurant and a well-stocked newsstand.

So how do you get from the station to your downtown hotel - downtown being the best place for a no-car visitor to stay?

Some logistics . . .

-- Take a cab - The easiest way is to take a taxi from the Pacific Central station. It's about a 10-minute ride, costing about Cdn. $8 to $10, to most downtown hotels.

-- Take the SkyTrain - The more adventurous, and those on a budget, can hop on the SkyTrain. Its Main Street station is just 100 yards west of the train station. Walk out the station's front door, cross the grass and go up to the elevated tracks.

Don't bother fooling around with a city bus from the train station; the SkyTrain is faster and easier to figure out. If your hotel isn't within walking distance of a SkyTrain station, indulge in a taxi.

What's the SkyTrain?

The SkyTrain is what Seattle's Monorail would like to be when it grows up.

Unlike the Monorail, the SkyTrain actually goes somewhere - from downtown Vancouver for 18 miles southeast through the city's sprawling suburbs. The automated, light-rail train travels on an elevated track except in the downtown core where the tracks and stations are underground.

The details . . .

-- Getting downtown - Go west. The four downtown stations of the SkyTrain (called Stadium, Granville, Burrard and Waterfront) are west of the Main Street station.

-- How fast? - Very fast. And frequent. The SkyTrain runs about every five minutes. It takes six minutes to travel the several miles from Main Street station to Waterfront Station, the SkyTrain's western terminus. It takes two to four minutes to travel to the other downtown stations.

-- How much? - The SkyTrain, SeaBus and city buses are all run by B.C. Transit; you can transfer between the systems and the fares are unified.

The SkyTrain fare from Main Street to any of the downtown stations is Cdn. $1.50 for an adult, half that for seniors over 65 and children ages 2-15 (under age 2 is free).

Take note: the automated SkyTrain ticket machines accept only Canadian currency, so have some with you.

On the buses

In downtown Vancouver, you could get around by SkyTrain, walking and the occasional taxi.

But if you want to go farther afield - to the Museum of Anthropology on the University of B.C. campus or the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver - you'll need to take a bus. Chinatown and Japantown are about a half-mile from the downtown core, so the bus is handy.

In three days of exploring Vancouver by public transit, I found most bus drivers and bus-riders patiently pointed me the right way. But there's one booklet that will make riding the buses easy . . .

-- The transit bible - A copy of "Discover Vancouver on Transit," a free booklet published by B.C. Transit, will turn you into a transportation whiz. It explains how to get to Greater Vancouver's major sights by bus, SkyTrain and SeaBus.

Get a copy mailed to you by asking B.C. Transit, 13401-108th Ave., Surrey, B.C., V3T 5T4, Canada; phone (604) 540-3450. Or pick it up in downtown Vancouver at some hotels or at the Tourism Vancouver Information Centre, 200 Burrard St.; phone (604) 683-2000.

-- Phone 'em - Real people answer the phone at the B.C. Transit information line and can help you figure out how to get where you're going by bus, SeaBus or SkyTrain: phone (604) 521-0400, from 6.30 a.m. to 11.30 p.m. daily. Be as specific as you can in your questions: they're busy folks.

-- Some bus stuff - Like the SkyTrain, the basic bus fare is Cdn. $1.50 (more if traveling for greater distances outside the downtown core). Pay with exact change as you enter the bus.

A transfer is valid for 90 minutes of travel in any direction. Or keep your costs down by buying a daily transit pass, Cdn. $4.50.

If you're in search of a bus, most buses that serve downtown eventually run along Granville Mall, a major north-south downtown artery that's dedicated to buses and taxis.

The SeaBus

When I took the SeaBus, I didn't actually want to go anywhere. I just went along for the scenic ride.

The SeaBus, a passenger-only ferry that holds several hundred people, shuttles back and forth across Burrard Inlet, the city's major harbor, between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver.

Out the salt-sprayed windows are taxiing seaplanes, freighters swinging at anchor, and views of the downtown skyline, Stanley Park and the mountains. The only drawback: there's no outside deck space.

In North Vancouver, the SeaBus docks at Lonsdale Quay, a waterfront plaza of shops and cafes. City buses leave from Lonsdale Key for the Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Grouse Mountain aerial tramway.

Some details . . .

-- Where - The SeaBus leaves from a dock in front of the Waterfront Station, the SkyTrain terminus. A 100-yard covered walkway connects the two.

-- When - The SeaBus departs about every 15 minutes. It takes 12 minutes to cross the harbor.

-- How much - SeaBus fare for an adult is Cdn $1.50 in off-peak hours (or a transfer or the transit day pass can be used). Buy tickets at automated machines inside the Waterfront Station. Return within 90 minutes and only one fare need be purchased, making it a cheap and easy way to tour the harbor. The littlest ferries

British Columbia has some of the biggest and busiest ferries, traveling hourly between Vancouver and Vancouver Island. It has some of the smallest, too - the passenger-only mini ferries that carry shoppers, commuters and sightseers between downtown Vancouver and Granville Island.

The privately-run mini ferries carry only about a dozen people and take only a few minutes to cross the narrow False Creek waterway on the downtown's south side. But the ferries are one of the most enjoyable ways to get to Granville Island, a half-mile-square mix of shops, artists' studios, restaurants and a thriving public market. (It's also served by bus and taxi since, despite the name, it's not really an island; a causeway carries a road.) To catch the ferries . . .

-- Where - Two companies offer mini-ferry service to Granville Island. Granville Island Ferries departs

from a dock in front of the Vancouver Aquatic Center, almost under the northwest corner of Burrard Bridge. The Aquabus departs from a dock on the northeast side of Burrard Bridge at the foot of Hornby Street.

Since the downtown docks are a bit tricky to reach by bus, it's probably easier to take a taxi to them. Or the hardy could walk.

-- When - The ferries shuttle back and forth about every 5 to 10 minutes. Sometimes service is also offered to the Maritime Museum (and the nearby Vancouver Museum and Planetarium) on the southeast side of English Bay. More information: Granville Island Ferries, (604) 684-7781. Aquabus, (604) 689-5858.

-- How much - Cdn. $1.50 one way. Hotels

You could stay in a moderately-priced motel along the suburban Kingsway road, and travel downtown by SkyTrain. But Kingsway has about as much charm as Seattle's Aurora Avenue.

If you can afford it, stay in downtown Vancouver. Some luxury hotels top $150 a night, but there are more moderately priced hotels.

To figure out where to stay, get a copy of "The Vancouver Book," a 63-page visitors' guide available free from Tourism Vancouver. It lists hotels, city sights, tours and more. Phone (604) 683-2000; allow at least two weeks for delivery.

The guidebook "Vancouver Best Places" (Sasquatch, $13.95) has detailed hotel and restaurant reviews.

For the no-car traveler, a hotel near a downtown SkyTrain station will be the most convenient. Here's a sampling of what' where:

-- By the SkyTrain's Waterfront Station: Pan Pacific (one of the city's most luxurious hotels at Canada Place, the harborfront cruise dock) and Waterfront Centre Hotel.

-- Near the Burrard Station: Day's Inn Downtown, Hyatt Regency, YWCA Hotel (budget accommodations for men and women), and the Hotel Vancouver.

-- Near the Granville Station: Four Seasons and Hotel Georgia.

More choices . . .

-- For families or anyone wanting to be by Stanley Park, consider the Coast Plaza Hotel (near English Bay on Denman Street, about 2 blocks from the park) or the Westin Bayshore (on the harborfront at the park entrance). The Coast Plaza and Bayshore aren't near the SkyTrain: take a taxi from the station.

-- There also is a cluster of high-rise hotels and smaller apartment hotels along Robson Street; most are about a five-block walk from the Burrard SkyTrain station.