Miss604 Poll: Coffee and a Skytrain
byThe smell of roasted nuts and hot chocolate mixed with exhaust is what I would experience every morning at Harvard Square T station. Sweetness combined with mechanics mmmm good morning!. A friend of ours who just recently moved to Canada from England pointed something out on her blog:
One thing we have noticed, bus stations and sky train stations don’t have any shops or news agents. [MapleMole]
I assume this is what you can find at Tube stations in London. However, as you head out into the suburbs, Skytrain stations like King George and Scott Road do have little shops where you can get a bottle of water, a pack of gum, and a daily read down on the street. But the thing I know for sure about Harvard Square, Downtown Center or Gov’t Center stations in Boston was that on track-level there was usually a Dunkin Donuts kiosk. Just grab your coffee and a paper and jump on the train.
I’ve always wondered, in this caffeine-crazy city where you can’t go half a block without bumping into a cafe, why don’t we have a mini Starbucks say… at the bottom of the escalators on Burrard? Is there some type of by-law that prevents it? Vancouverites love their coffee, but would something like that just get in the way?
To view and vote on past polls, visit the Miss604.com poll page.
13 Comments — Comments Are Closed
It might work for stations not served by a Starbucks across the street (Gilmore, Main and Stadium stations come to mind, among others), but otherwise, there’s usually something close by. Leaning towards No, but I might be convinced if the paper cups were branded with a cute little SkyTrain on it.
More coffee in Vancouver. Only we’d think we didn’t have enough chances. 🙂
I’d be into it (yes I voted YES in your poll) if the Skytrain stations were served by LOCAL coffee shops (e.g. Bean Around the World). Call me nationalistic, but I am always of the belief that “Think Global, Act Local” begins by acting locally, and promoting local business. But then again, I might be an eccentric. 😀
I need my cuppa in the morning – but before I leave the house. I cringe every time I see someone coming on board the train with a cup. Eight times out of ten, the coffee ends up on the floor. It’s a mess and it starts to smell bad – even though I have smelt worse on the skytrain.
im not so sure about the practicality of having a coffee kiosks at the stations. maybe at a few key stops, but even then, you either have places to get coffee nearby already (Timmy’s by Burrard, Starbucks at Waterfront, there’s even a few places by Joyce already across the street), or you run the risk of it contributing to more congested stations.
plus, you have to think if people are more likely to buy coffee before getting on the train or getting off. if it’s before, then (especially at rush hour) standing room only trains with people trying to stand up straight without spilling hot coffee on other people.
What can I say, other than of course we need mini shops in the stations. They are such a convenience. I have no idea why some have them and some don’t. Surely the leased space would bring in a good source of minimal revenue for Translink. It’s just one of those things that should exist, but doesn’t – and there’s no clear rhyme or reason.
No, because drinking and eating on SkyTrain is technically prohibited, although enforcement is sporadic. They should though, I’ve seen cups go flying during emergency stops, and even if the scalding liquid doesn’t burn anyone, the sticky goo remains for days until the car is cleaned…. as for eating, can’t people go for 20 minutes without stuffing their piehole?
I would guess that the reason we don’t see them is because you aren’t supposed to eat or drink on the SkyTrain (or any Translink vehicle, actually). Which, frankly, I find extremely annoying. I grew up in Toronto and when I was going to university, I always did my eating on transit because it was the only time I’d be able to sit and eat without doing something else! And honestly, why don’t they clean the cars once a day? There’s so much about the skytrain I dislike… put a driver on each train, to stop the annoying people who constantly stick their arm in closing doors during rush hour because they can’t wait another 3 minutes for the next train. Ah, how I miss the angry TTC employees yelling at people who would do that on the subway and making them remove their arm without opening the door to force them to wait for the next train…
[…] comparing our region’s transit options to other cities’ when it comes to fares and donuts in their stations. More than half the time I’m using the other systems as examples of what we […]
[…] the last two Miss604 Polls [1][2] were transit related, why not continue the […]
[…] the old florist shop at Granville. This makes me wonder if the Miss604 poll I did over a year ago had any bearing when I asked my readers if they’d like to see coffee shops at Skytrain […]
Just stopped by, nice blog!
[…] ideal cup. Let’s put it to a Miss604 poll (since coffee and Miss604 polls seem to be a trend [1][2]) although unfortunately is the only one now in existence since the others got nuked when I […]