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The Vancouver Trolley Company
Categories: Hotels & Travel Transportation Hotels & Travel Tours Transportation, Tours [Edit]
875 Terminal AvenueVancouver, BC V6A 2M9
Neighbourhood: Strathcona
(604) 801-5515
7 reviews for The Vancouver Trolley Company
7 reviews in English
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Review from Shawn J.
Vancouver, BC
5/11/2012
I live here now because it is such a beautiful city, and I thought I would share my recent experience with you. I first took a tour back in 2008 when I first moved here, and the service and Drivers were much better just last week. (ask for Steve O, he's terrific, and I learned so much about Vancouver past and present) As he says, "it is a stunning, safe, friendly, clean, "Green" city". Not all Drivers are that good, but they are better than the other companies by far, (whom I've also rode with) and some are quite entertaining. The Trolley Company now has better 30 minute service, with two different 90 minute Loops where you can get off at certain places, go explore, then back on 30 minutes or more later. Canada Place is a confusing mess with noise and traffic everywhere, but that is the City and Canadian Government's fault, and the Drivers are forced to start and end the Tour there. There are Ticket Agents wearing Yellow to help you. Canada Place is just like the Tourism employees themselves, some know a lot, but there are many newcomers who know little. (the Tourism companies are notorious for low pay and poor conditions) The Visitor Centre across from Canada Place is excellent. You must visit Stanley Park, Granville Island, UBC (beautiful campus & Museums), Vandusen Gardens, Capilano Suspension Bridge, and Grouse Mountain. AVOID "The Rocky Mountaineer" Train trip because they have Locked Out all their experienced employees and you have to cross a Picket Line. There are many great Restaurants and Bars both Downtown, on Granville Island, and in Stanley Park. There are lots of shopping areas, and the good Beaches are in the Park, and southwest of Downtown. There are small interesting Museums and I enjoyed the Maritime, and Train museums. Chinatown is a very poor ugly area, and I did not get off the Trolley. The Buses and Subway system are excellent, and coming from the Airport, take the fast "Canada Line" Subway Downtown. It saved me a lot of money when meeting my cousin. I'm glad I bought a two day Pass, and we really enjoyed finding out what a great place I live in now.
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Review from Iris T.
9/9/2011
An easy way to see Van-City's highlights! Definitely get one of their trolley schedules -- it'll make it easier to plan your trip around the rotations. Also, take the free shuttle to Capilano to save yourself the headache of trying to figure out how to get there. There's also a Stanley Park trolley that's JUST for Stanley Park -- try to take that cause all the stops get a little annoying when you just want to see Stanley Park.
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Review from Alex D.
Vancouver, BC
5/2/2010
With two separate hop-on hop-off loops with one exploring the sights of Stanley Park and the other venturing east to Chinatown and across the bridge to Kitsilano.
On the road from Canada place to the park the best commentary our guide could come up with was about Starbucks and White Spot, wow how unbelievably boring. Since when did a chain coffee shop and a fast food burger restaurant become cultural highlights. Added to this that our driver threatened to throw a group of middle aged ladies off our bus for talking. Gee maybe they didn't want to hear you recount with pride the number of coffee shops on Robson street or bad taste jokes about marriage.
I got to ride this bus for free which is lucky because if I had paid it would have cost me $38! Vancouver is not that big of a city, walk or take regular public transport and give the trolley a miss. -
Review from JILL V.
8/24/2010
We bought tickets ahead of time and paid for 2 days on the trolley.
We bought a combo ticket for the horse trolley and aquarium.
You don't need to pay for multi day tickets . The only check to see if you have a green stub not how long you bought it for.
The trolley was narrated by the driver. Most were very entertaining. We had one that seemed like he had a long day.
We did wait a long time at Granville to get picked up. We do not know if they ever made it to the last stop at Chinatown. We waited 25 minutes past the stop time and walked home. Plan on waiting if you get off at a busy stop or late in the day. Well worth the money to see the city
The horse trolley in Stanley Park was nice. Relaxing way to see part of the park. The horses were well taken care of. They got a break between jobs. The drivers really knew the horses and cared about them. The driver narrated the tour also. They gave blankets to keep the chill off.
The trolleys were all clean. -
Review from Julie H.
8/22/2010
We only had a day and a half to see as much of Vancouver as possible so we decided to use this company since we figured we would save time and stress over using public transportation or getting lost. We bought our tickets online for $36 each for 2 days.
I called before our trip to see if we would have time to do the Sunset Combo tour (Capilano Suspension Bridge + Grouse Mountain) and they recommended that I just get the trolley tickets and purchase the combo when I arrive so that I can use the discount coupons that they give you. I thought that was very nice of them to help us save money.
After checking into our hotel, the trolley immediately pulled up outside our hotel (hooray! fast and convenient). We gave the driver our tickets and asked how we could purchase the sunset combo. She said we could get off at one of the stops where a ticket agent will be to help us. She dropped us off and said to wait for the ticket agent wearing yellow. No ticket agent came by so we finally used a pay phone to call their toll-free number so that was fine but a bit annoying.
The Sunset Combo was expensive but it was the only way we could fit in everything in our short stay without having to stress out about how to get everywhere. For us, it was definitely worth it! The shuttle was on time for everything and our driver (Steven B.) was extremely helpful and friendly at Grouse Mountain. He accompanied us up the gondola and showed us around. If we had gone on our own we would have wasted a lot of time deciding what to do. He took us to the grizzly bears and gave us a bit of back story. He was the only thing that made it worth while.
The next day we were back on our own with the hop-on hop-off trolley. We wanted to fit in Stanley Park and Granville Island before heading back on the Amtrak. The trolleys were mixed up (Red trolley coming instead of blue ones... blue ones instead of red ones)... it was all really confusing and stressful since we had limited time. It was such a nice day that we decided to walk along the water instead of waiting for the trolley. Vancouver is surprisingly walkable! It probably would have been a better idea for us to rent bicycles instead of paying for the trolley.
Once in Stanley Park, we realized there's also a park shuttle that uses the same trolleys but isn't part of the loops that we paid for so that was really confusing... and there are all these signs that say "Vancouver Trolley Company Stop"... which are apparently only stops for the park shuttle. All in all, some people are really helpful and nice and others aren't and I would not recommend using this company except for the Sunset Combo with Steven B. -
Review from Ken N.
11/4/2010
Good if you're older, just want to SEE the city and don't want to bother planning your days.
Bad if you're young, want to see and stop a lot.
After walking for about 45 minutes along the Seawalk trail into Stanley Park, it finally clicked how large the park was! Next stop on our list was Granville Island which was all the way on the other side of town. The idea of this trolley wasn't so bad so we could see other parts of the city on our way. Narrated tour.
First off, they don't even check dates or anything on your green ticket. Just flash it and walk on. We hopped on with no tickets and the driver told us to pay later. He ended up forgetting so we hopped off at our destination. Saved $70! Took the public bus for $2.50 each back.
So why is this a waste of money:
- At each of the 30 stops, the bus is scheduled to come every 40 minutes. However, it can be very late due to traffic. It was 20 minutes late to our first stop.
- You are not guaranteed a seat. If the bus is full, you have to wait for the next bus. We encountered a few groups that waited over at least an hour because they had 4-5 people in the group and the bus only had open seats for 2-3 people.
Downtown is not that big. You're better off:
- Taking the train
- Taking public transportation
- Renting bicyclesListed in: VanCity!
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Review from Bubba N.
5/24/2011
as a tourist, i enjoyed this trolley. enjoyed the commentary(2 outta 3 drivers were very good). driving thu stanley park was a highlight. i thought it was a good route w/good stops. decent way to leisurely get about . my bro shared similiar opinion
