99 B-Line
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
3 reviews for 99 B-Line
3 reviews in English
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Review from Martina M.
Vancouver, BC
8/14/2011 65 Check-ins Here
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. -
Review from Tim S.
2/23/2010
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! -
Review from Reena M.
9/2/2010 5 Check-ins Here
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.
