Blog du Wren

Bellingham to Vancouver BC Via Public Transit

I've been wanting to check out cross-border public transportation for a long time. Over the years, I've planned out the route at least a few times, never really satisfied that it was do-able*. On our recent trip up to the Olympics, Ma and I decided to give it a try. Here's what we did.

Route	From	To	Cost	Notes
WTA 70X	Downtown Bellingham Station	Blaine High School (11th St. and H Ave.)	$1.00	This express bus only runs a few times in the morning and evening. If you need a midday connection, you could use WTA 55 and transfer to WTA 331
Walk 3 miles	Blaine High School	King George Hwy and 8th Ave.	Free(!)	When crossing the border, be sure to check in. Also, much of this route doesn't offer sidewalks, so walking can be a little dicey.
Translink 375	King George Hwy and 8th Ave.	White Rock Center	$5.00 CDN (save your transfer)	Supposedly the 321 also makes this route. We just showed up at the bus stop and asked the driver what the best option was.
Translink 351	White Rock Center	Bridgeport Station		There is also an alternative to this portion. If you stay on the 375, you can transfer instead to the 501/502 and make your way in differently. Again, we just deferred to what the driver suggested.
Canada Line	Bridgeport Station	Downtown Vancouver		I like trains.

Overall, the trip took maybe 3.5 to 4 hours, which isn't bad at all considering the walk, checking in at customs, and figuring it all out as we went. We hit all our transfers perfectly, which helped shine a positive light on the experience. It isn't exactly easy and I wouldn't go recommending it to public transit newbies, but it was nice to prove that it can be done. Hopefully in the near future, that 3 mile walk will be cut down a good chunk and this trip will be as painless* as Bellingham to Seattle.

Monday February 22 2010

File under: transportation

Toggle Comments (3)

comment?

on Tue 23rd Feb, 2010 12:28 am PST Dave said:
was the return trip the same route? (i.e. was it a 7-8 hour round trip just in travel time?)
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on Tue 23rd Feb, 2010 08:34 am PST Wren said:
We took Amtrak back, which took about 2 hours and was about $20 more expensive.
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on Mon 01st Oct, 2012 07:20 pm PDT Wren said:
Bolt bus (www.boltbus.com/) now serves Bellingham, so you can get from Vancouver to Bellingham for as little as $4.00!
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