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April 16, 2010
Have fun with transit system
New guidebook by Noam Dolgin offers local, eco-friendly tours.
JEANIE KEOGH
When the Canada Line opened last September, one man decided to go on an adventure in his own city. What came of his “stay-cation” was an eco-guidebook giving travelers a look into some of the lesser-known thrills to be found at the nine stations along Cambie Street.
The self-published Canada Line Adventures isn’t just for those passing through the city. Environmental educator Noam Dolgin penned the $10 pocket guide to keep people’s enthusiasm about the new train growing after the initial fervor died down and people got into the routine of primarily using the train for their commute.
“I witness people get transformed in other cities by seeing how easily transit can play a part in their lives. I thought I might help play off that and give people the tools to use [the train], not just for commuting and going to the airport, but also for recreation,” Dolgin said.
By making Vancouverites interested in other aspects of riding the train, each station becomes a destination rather than just a stop along the way.
Dolgin’s book launch last month saw 60 people gather for a party on the Canada Line.
“We did a short tour around YVR and went to a couple of art installations and it was actually quite amazing to me what percentage – I’d say 60 percent – had actually never checked out some of the art and didn’t know about some of the outside parks that are available at YVR,” he said.
Each two-page spread features a map of each neighborhood and nine activity categories: restaurants, bars, cafés, special points of interest, entertainment, heritage buildings, children’s activities, a walking tour and a picnic spot. Tourists can spend an entire day at one station or just explore the sights around a station in the 90-minute window a transit transfer ticket allows.
What makes it an eco-guidebook isn’t that the restaurants it highlights serve locally grown or organic food but that people to get from A to B without driving.
“There’s a challenge we have in this world in that we view being ‘eco’ with wild, open spaces when, in fact, the best environmentally friendly thing we can do is live in high density-living situations using public transit,” he said.
Drawing people to the Canada Line with his book helps achieve a shift in the car culture mentality, providing more information on how easy it is to live in the city without a car.
“As someone who believes in sustainable living and long-term sustainable transportation solutions for the city, I think we have to support a decision that helps people create eco-friendly options for getting to where they need to go,” he said.
Dolgin grew up riding his bike, walking and taking the bus along Cambie. He used to live close to what is now King Edward station, played soccer in Douglas Park and would visit his grandparents behind the Oakridge Centre. For Dolgin, the Canada Line connects communities.
Ironically, as a teenager, Dolgin fought one of the early ideas to build a rapid transit line along Ontario Street. Later, he was involved in the discussions about how to build the existing line.
One of his hopes is that the book will help attract customers to some of the stores along the Richmond-Cambie corridor whose businesses were negatively affected by the four-year construction.
Dolgin is currently writing content for InTransit B.C.’s new website project, in order “to further the amount of information there is out there about each of the stations,” he said. However, due to the company’s advertising agreement with Lexmark International Group, Dolgin isn’t allow to create a link to his guide on the website. But this doesn’t seem to be a deterrent for Dolgin, as the best sales so far have been person-to-person. “You just see it on the shelf, it’s hard to understand how useful it is,” he said.
The guide is currently available at 18 locations throughout the city and along the Canada Line route at small bookshops and corner stores. It can also be purchased at canadalineadventures.com. For information on Dolgin’s other activities, visit noamdolgin.com.
Jeanie Keogh is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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