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Getting Around in Vancouver,
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Getting There
Vancouver International airport is located nine miles west of the city centre and has an Airport Express Bus which operates a direct service to the downtown area. The fare is $10 and the journey takes about thirty minutes. Buses leave every fifteen minutes between 6.30am and 10.30pm. A taxi for the same journey will cost about $30.
Air Canada, Canadian Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Continental and Northwest operate direct connections between Vancouver and Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Reno, San Francisco and many other US destinations. If you wish to fly to the city from outside the US, British Airways, Air France, SAS, Lufthansa, and KLM all offer non stop flights. Air Canada and Canadian Air also operate international flights between Vancouver and most cities in northern Europe and Asia. Flights arriving from Australia and New Zealand usually connect through Los Angeles or Honolulu.
Two separate rail companies operate services to and from Vancouver from the rest of the country. VIA Rail has three connections per week with eastern Canada and these trains arrive and depart from 1150 Station Street. BC Rail runs a daily service to and from Whistler and numerous other northern points and these services terminate at 1311 West 1st Street.
Finally, if you travel to Vancouver by Greyhound coach you will also arrive at 1150 Station Street which is situated in the heart of the city centre.
Getting Around
Vancouver has an excellent public transport system which covers most of the city and its suburbs. The SkyTrain, a light rapid transit system, runs between downtown and New Westminster and connects with the bus system to the suburbs. A Daypass will cost you $6 and will allow you to travel to wherever you wish after 9.30am. It can be purchased at any 7-11 or Safeway store. The other important service on offer is the ultra modern SeaBus which as well as serving as a normal bus, also shuttles passengers across the waters of the Burrard Inlet to Lonsdale Quay.
When purchasing a regular ticket it is useful to know that Central Zone includes most of the city and will cost you $1.75 per 90 minutes of travel. During peak hours which are from Monday to Friday before 6.30pm it will cost you $2.50 to travel between two zones and $3.25 to travel through three. During off-peak times all zones will cost $1.75. Therefore, it is clear that it makes much more sense to buy a Daypass which will safe you a great deal of confusion.
BC Ferries offer regular boat services from mainland Vancouver to the numerous surrounding islands and schedules and prices vary depending on destination. Vancouver Island is $9 one way.
The city also has numerous taxi companies some which mainly deal with telephone customers, others who have stands at major shopping centres or hotels. There is a minimum charge of $2.10 and it is about $1.10 per kilometre after that. As a rule, you can usually get around downtown for about $6 and trips between there and the international airport should not cost you more than $30.
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