Go TransLink Go, show your support for the Vancouver Canucks
Remember 2011 and the Go Canucks Go digital displays on TransLink buses during the Canucks’ run to the Stanley Cup final?
In North Vancouver, at least one bus driver went so far as to change the names of stops while heading up and down Lonsdale: Fifth Street became the Christian Ehrhoff stop, 13th the Raffi Torres, 15th the Tanner Glass, 29th the Aaron Rome and so on.
So where is TransLink’s team support today? The digital displays still read Phibb’s Exchange and Dunbar and the like.
“We’re fans, too,” Cheryl Ziola, a spokeswoman for TransLink, said on Monday. “This scrolling messaging takes time to configure on buses at the transit depots.”
TransLink has known the Canucks qualified for the postseason since April 7.
And there’s a bit of a deadline since the Canucks could potentially be eliminated by Thursday night.
TransLink probably has more than enough PR headaches at the moment than getting the booster message onto its 1,500 buses, say by Thursday, only to have them still flashing on Friday if the team has been dispatched from the NHL playoffs.
“Each bus has to have individual microchips swapped out,” Ziola said. “While we’ve known the team was in the playoffs for a while, this takes time to accomplish.”
TransLink also wants to remind folks you don’t have to pay those exorbitant prices to park downtown — if you can even find a spot — but can park-and-ride from the Pacific Coliseum.
The PNE has opened up Lot 16 at Hastings and Windermere (access off East Pender) for free parking on Canucks game nights.
Buses will leave from there and return from Rogers Arena at regular intervals.