THEME
-- Transportation
-- Rides
ONSITE TRANSPORTATION
Listed Below
are some
of the unique ways people could get around Expo 86.
MONORAIL
-- Gliding above the crowds, the monoraiil was the only transportation
system
that touched every Zone. To allow as many rides as possible,
passenger
travel was restricted to half way around the 5.6 Km route.
After the
fair, the city
originally planned to keep the monorail as a shuttle service between
the
beaches of English Bay and Downtown, but after much protest from the
surrounding
neighbourhoods (who feared that the monorail would make too much noise)
the plan was scraped and the monorail was sold. It now shuttles
people
to and from the parking lot in Alton Towers Amusement Park,
England.
GONDOLA SKYRIDES -- There were two skyrides at Expo '86. Both were sponsored by Canada's airlines (Air Canada and Canadian Pacific). One skyride spanned the Purple and Red Zones. The other stretched from the General Motors Pavilion in the Yellow Zone to the Canadian Pacific pavilion in the Green Zone.
HSST (High Speed Surface Transport) -- People said it was like riding on a cushion of air, and if fact, they weren't far from wrong. The HSST was brought over to Expo 86 as an example of Japan's lead in magnetic levitation technology. The train itself floated above the track on electro- magnetic modules.
Visitors to
the Japan
pavilion could experience what future travel may be like by boarding
the
prototype rail car. Although the train has been clocked at speeds
over 300 KPH, the short 450 metre track only allowed the train to reach
a speed of 40 KPH.
PEOPLE MOVER -- The French devised an ingenious way to move people to and from their pavilion. Making its North American debut, the SK Soule People mover ushered people to and from the front entrance, showing visitors first-hand a clean and efficient way to move people quickly and safely.
SKYTRAIN -- Skytrain was unveiled just prier to Expo 86. Hailed as one of the most advanced rapid transit systems in the world, it was not surprising that part of the route straddles the fair. For fairgoers themselves, Skytrain was the primary shuttle link between the Canada Pavilion on the North end of Downtown and the main site on the shores of False Creek.
Skytrain's expanded route opened in the summer of 2001. Two more lines are planed. One of which will go to the airport from downtown and the other will run all the way to Coquitlam Centre.
WATER TAXI -- From one of the four docks on the Expo site, visitors could travel by water to other areas of Expo '86. With spectacular waterfront views of the fair, this mode of transportation may not have been the fastest but was definitely one of the most scenic.
All transportation was free on the main site, but for a fee, people could take an ocean voyage around Stanley Park to the Canada pavilion.
The Ferries still run on False creek, shuttling people between Granville Island and Sunset beach.