99 B-Line

ARE YOU KIDDING!!! Are we living on the same PLANET? People are giving this route 5 stars. You must not ride transit much!!!
Sometimes I think I can walk faster than this bus. I learned yesterday that if you are not past the red line the bus driver is not to operate the bus. Technically.
Its nice when they throw out a little «HOLD ON» as they jam on the brakes at a light or get cut off in traffic.
A LRT route need to be built right down the center of Broadway. If they won’t build underground than build above ground. LRT will reduce emissions and speeding things up for the riders and take them out of the regular flow of traffic.
Yes, It would cost money. Yes it would take forever and piss a tonne of people off in the process. But I believe there are times like this that are necessary to bring our city in to the future. If Mayor Moonbeam wants to be the greenest city by 2025 we need to seriously step up on this transit issue. Especially these awful buses.
edit: I have been informed by people that «know» there will never been an LRT there just is not the space, so one day they will build underground transit out to UBC! Cannot wait for that to happen!!!

You can never go wrong with it!)

The only reason I agree to see my best friend is the 99-​B line, some of the other peeps annoy me, however, considering that this is nicknamed the «free ride» bus. I can’t complain. Buses come every 5 — 10 minutes… can’t complain about that either. This is one of the few things that Translink has gotten right. Most of the times the drivers have not cared if you pay or not, however, warning to others that I have seen Police come on checking fairs at least 3 times this past year.

The best part about taking this bus is playing «WHO PAID THEIR FARE» I’ve never gotten the answers when I have played because Translink has no one checking EVER. I’ve taken this bus for 8 months and still have yet to be asked for my ticket. WHAT? You mean I could be free lining the entire time?
Highlights; Taking the bus anytime between 3pm — 6pm means alcoholic construction guys going home to Surrey. I was on the bus a week ago and a man was so drunk at 3:30pm he was yelling at people saying «YOU ALL THINK YOU’RE GREAT BECAUSE YOU WORK», he proceeded to fall down, pick himself up, slobber all over himself and kept yelling at people DONT JUDGE ME. Honestly, I thought WestJet had the best in transit entertainment with their satillite tv. NOPE. 99 B-​Line. YOU WIN. (if anyone’s counting I had that guy down in the «didnt pay his fare» category.)

There’s a reason they call this the free bus. Three door boarding means never having to show your bus pass. This also means that the bus is always crowded. Always.
It is the quickest way to get from UBC to the Commercial-​Broadway Skytrain Station and back (don’t take the 9 if you can take the 99, trust me). It stops every 10 blocks or so, which makes it super efficient. It also comes so often that if you miss one it doesn’t really matter because another one will pass by in less than 5 minutes (well at least during the day).
5 stars for efficiency, but minus one because I really dislike crowded buses.

Yes, this bus is a fast route through broadway to UBC from the skytrain. But why do I always try to avoid it when I can? Maybe it’s because every time I go on I always run into the most annoying people or sketchy. People who yell when they talk across the seats to each other, or swear a lot, or almost spill coffee on you because they decide not to put a lid on their cup and stand right in front of you.
I do like that they have three-​door boarding at all stops and don’t always check the bus pass. Sometimes I’m lazy to grab my wallet out of my bag where I keep my upass.

I may or may not have just become Mayor of this bus line on that «other» check-​in-​based social media site, so I figure it deserves a review from me while I hold the honor.
Translink: you’ve done it. I’ve got basically nothing to complain about. Super-​long articulated express buses with all-​door boarding operating on 2-​minute headways down one of the coolest drags in the city are pretty hard to beat. The 99 connects me to my lab at the University, beautiful Kitsilano, the hipster enclaves around Main and Commercial, and all three SkyTrain lines — maybe not in high style, but definitely in high per-​passenger gas mileage.
The drivers are pretty great, too. There are a couple with real personality — the «ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vancouver» guy, and then the guy who gives a quick run-​down of the attractions at each stop (turns out you can get sushi *anywhere* on Broadway). This could’ve easily gone the other way (cf. the woman who drives some of the late BART trains out to the East Bay in San Francisco — nails. on. chalkboard.) but I’ve decided I really like ‘em.
One obvious perk of all-​door boarding: fare evasion! My starving artist roommate calls it «the free bus.» I’ve seen fares checked exactly once in a month and a half, and it was at the UBC bus loop — I don’t know why they bothered; everyone around me immediately pulled out their U-​Pass. Don’t get me wrong, I buy my monthly passes, but it’s good to know I can get where I’m going when I leave it in my other coat.
Unexpectedly, the Olympics have actually made my commute on the 99 even better, by getting rid of all the undergrads! Yessssssss.
If I had bones to pick, they might be:
— no espresso bar on the bus (Amtrak can do it, why can’t you?)
— the heater that blows hair-​dryer-​hot air on whoever’s sitting at the aft end of the sideways-​facing seats, just before the articulated section (seriously, it’s pretty nauseating)
— sometimes the 9 and the 99 stop in different places, and depending on where I’m going I end up dancing back and forth between the two, trying to gamble on which one is going to come first, and whether the 99 will overtake the 9 before I get there. I know I need my exercise, but sheesh!
My friends from Seattle were totally jealous. Keep up the good work!