Welcome to BC Transportation History!

The Idea of This Blog and Disclaimers

This post is intended to serve as an introduction to this blog’s concepts,

ideas, schedule and other relevant topics.

I (George) established this blog on October 31, 2023 because I found

that transportation history isn’t taken seriously within the Province ofBritish Columbia. I suppose it doesn’t have to be taken seriously; it just

seems that a large majority of people who use the established systems do

not care or are too busy to notice or research the bus routes, roads and

other methods they use to get to work, school, shop and live.(Probably too busy). I don’t even think that the MOTI’s employees

care sometimes

My hope is that this blog will change that.

To make it clear, I am NOT affiliated with the Provincial or Federal

Governments, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Translink, BC Transit,

BC Ferries, any municipalities or other entities who look after transportation

related issues.

Note that I don't necessarily endorse any source or work cited or any page I recommend.

Typically I will use a lot of newspaper citations, so some of the language in those articles 

might be considered offensive. I do not accept outdated or harmful language used in any

article I reference. 

I ask that you don't vent or complain about transportation issues or problems

unless it is pertinent to the story. Saying "x road sucks it's always congested"or "this bus route is always overcrowded" is fine, just know I can't address the issue

personally.

If you want to report an issue with roads or transit, here are some links:

Translink Feedback:

https://www.translink.ca/about-us/customer-service/feedback

BC Transit (contact your local transit system or contractor for your specific system): https://www.bctransit.com/about/contact

To contact the Ministry of Transportation directly go to either their website at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/transportation-and-infrastructure

OR use the Government Directory:

https://dir.gov.bc.ca/

If there's an issue with a roadway like a dead animal or pothole, you should contact the Ministry Contractor who is responsible for the area. To view maps and a list of contractors and their phone numbers, you should visit:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/transportation-infrastructure/contracting-to-transportation/highway-bridge-maintenance/highway-maintenance/boundary-maps

(you can navigate to the list of contractors from that page)

Please note I CANNOT provide legal advice. I am not a lawyer! I might discuss laws and their history but nothing on this website should be taken as legal advice. Please talk to a lawyer if you need legal advice.

Hopes for the Blog and Plans + Scheduling

My schedule is going to be as follows: One article per week on Fridays. No 

specific time on Fridays.

I will try to alternate between transit, roads and other things. I generally will not cover railways except obscure projects (I have one particular in mind). Usually I will embed a PDF of what I want to write into the page..

Sometimes I will publish "reports". Reports will detail a history of a specific project. I might also publish guides like "How to do research on a road" (not legal research or find "how to find

 old maps".

My first blog/article will go live on Friday, November 3, 2023. The plan is to write about forgotten bus loops in Metro Vancouver.

Just to let you know, I generally will not post images on my blog. It doesn't help that the copyright information out there for Canada is outdated (because someone thought is was a good idea to increase it to seventy years for some reason). I don't want to tangle with copyright. I might use a snippet of text from a newspaper, but that's all. I will though post diagrams of interchanges or my own photos of roads or other things.

l probably won't post about bus routes unless they were run by a private company, or they were part of a bigger story. For good information about a specific bus route's history  in Metro Vancouver, I highly recommend the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board's Wiki at:

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

To search within CPTDB, type or copy: Coast Mountain Bus Company Route 'number of route

Include the single quotation mark in your search. Sometimes bus route numbers change, but you can see a (somewhat) complete list of former bus routes at the bottom of each page related to Translink. 

How I Cite Sources

Generally I will use MLA 9 or variations thereof, except for maps or laws. In those two areas, I use recommended formats. Sometimes I will arrive at conclusions not reached in sources. You are free to cite anything you see on this website IN YOUR OWN STYLE (not copy-pasted. It might be hard to cite things you see here on Wikipedia because they have a "label or don't use self-published sources. You can use my sources to circumvent this.

Contact and Questions for Me

If you have a question or want to know about a specific structure, road or something else, please email me. I can be reached at bctransportationhistory@gmail.com. Please don't include links generally initially. If you want to send me an article, copy-paste it or send me a PDF format. You can also cite a newspaper article in the following format and I should be able to find it if it's a major newspaper. Last name, First Name. "Title." Publication Name, Community (if needed), date, page. 

If you're with the news media, feel free to reach out. I have a generally encyclopedic knowledge of roads specifically. There's always more to learn though. I generally will respond in-depth Tuesday-Friday.

If ten people read this, I'll be happy with it (I hope more do).

Also, sorry if the formatting is odd, I've never used Blogger before and struggle

with webpages and HTML.

That is all. more to come.

George Asham

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