AIG wins Vancouver brief

Canada’s Greater Vancouver Region is to update its entire wayfinding system as part of a CAD14bn (£7bn) investment plan for the area, with a scheme designed by Applied Information Group.

The consultancy has been appointed following a pitch by the Metro Vancouver area’s regional transit authority TransLink to devise the wayfinding scheme across all modes to include the sky train, bus network, sea bus, cycling and walkways. Several of these transport modes are to be modernised under the wider plan.

TransLink is expecting the user capacity across the region to double following transport expansion plans, as well as a boost in visitor numbers when the area hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics.

‘The job is to look at the bigger picture,’ says AIG managing director Kasper de Graaf. ‘When you fly to Vancouver you think the city is it, but it is only the heart of a wider area. It is important when tackling the job to look at it from the customer’s point of view. There are people who live in one part, work in another and play in a third, and they need to understand what their choices are. There will be visitors to the area as well as those on a fast journey. The system needs to take in the culture of the place.’

The Metro Vancouver is a partnership of 21 municipalities and one electoral area that make up the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver. The overall strategy for the area is a 12-year plan, while the wayfinding will be devised over the next nine months.