1001 Smart Cities
🇨🇦 Vancouver

SkyTrain Automated Rapid Transit Network

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means

SkyTrain has run driverless since opening in December 1985, without the staffed transition other automated metros needed. Thales SelTrac still runs the original Expo and Millennium Lines; the newer Canada Line uses different Hyundai Rotem trains at the same automation grade. It carries about 427,000 weekday boardings; a 2022 derailment near Surrey traced to worn bolts, not automation failure.

Live 📅 since 1985
Outcome🎯 Succeeded
Evidence🏛️ Officialgrades the sourcing — this entry states no impact figure
Run byTransLink, via BC Rapid Transit Company (Expo & Millennium Lines) and ProTrans BC (Canada Line, P3 concession)
Scale🗺️ Regional
FundingProvincial and regional government capital funding for Expo/Millennium; Canada Line built as a federal-provincial-local public-private partnership
🚲 MobilityPublic transportAutonomous vehicles

Sources

↗ TransLink — SkyTrain Marks 40 YearsOperator history, opening dates, automation framing, ridership growth
↗ TransLink — British Columbia Rapid Transit CompanyOperator of Expo/Millennium Lines; current ridership and on-time performance
↗ Wikipedia — SkyTrain (Vancouver)Canada Line vendor/operator differences, current ridership figures
↗ Business in Vancouver — Surrey derailment investigation2022 Scott Road derailment: cause was worn bolts/maintenance, not automation

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇨🇦 Réseau express métropolitain: a pension fund's driverless metro · Montreal Canada's other driverless metro is owned differently: SkyTrain by a transit authority since 1985, Montreal's REM by a pension fund since 2023. 🇨🇦 Compass Card Contactless Fare Payment · Vancouver Another verified project from Vancouver. 🇨🇦 Automated Bicycle Counters on Vancouver's Cycling Network · Vancouver Another verified project from Vancouver.

Explore the wider context

🔑 Your Smart City Is Owned by Someone Else🚌 Public transport guide🏙️ Vancouver city profile🚲 Mobility projects📖 CBTC (communications-based train control)📖 Grades of Automation (GoA)📖 Personal rapid transit (PRT)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “SkyTrain Automated Rapid Transit Network” — Vancouver, Canada. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/vancouver-skytrain-automation/ (last verified 2026-08-06). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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