Granville station (SkyTrain)

Access to Dunsmuir Street, showing fare gates

Granville station opened in 1985 and is named for nearby Granville Street, which name is derived from "Granville", the name of the original settlement that preceded Vancouver prior to its incorporation in 1886. The Austrian architecture firm Architektengruppe U-Bahn was responsible for designing the station.[2][3] Its entrances are integrated with Pacific Centre, a shopping mall: BC Transit (the precursor agency to TransLink) signed an agreement with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1983 to lease a sub-basement corridor under the mall for $1 in order to build an entrance facing Granville Mall.[4]

On September 22, 2006, elevator access was introduced from Dunsmuir Street with the completion of the neighbouring Hudson on Granville development,[5] and large signs were added at the platform level to guide passengers to the newly available elevators. The entrance has separate escalator access to the platform levels independent of the existing station in a similar two up/one down configuration for the longest bank, and a ticket-vending level with a connection to the existing Granville Mall entrance and the Hudson's Bay and Pacific Centre shopping mall. There are retail spaces within the new addition's ticket vending lobby and in the passageway to Hudson's Bay.

The design of the addition, its capacity, and connection to Granville Mall made it possible for the original facility to be closed entirely; however, it remained in full service. The original station area closed only temporarily for lighting upgrades from October 23, 2006, to mid-November.[6]

Access was closed off at the Seymour Street entrance for two years.

On May 8, 2018, TransLink announced the Granville Station Escalator Replacement Project as part of the TransLink Maintenance and Repair Program. The replacement of six escalators began on May 26, 2018, resulting in the closure of the Seymour Street entrance and the closure of the Granville/Seymour concourse.[7] On July 17, 2020, the escalators returned to service and the Seymour Street entrance was re-opened.[8]

Like Burrard station, the station was built inside the Dunsmuir Tunnel and has a distinctive platform design. The westbound track (to Waterfront) is stacked above the eastbound track (to King George and Production Way–University stations), with the westbound platform being one level above the eastbound platform. At approximately 25 metres (82 ft) underground, Granville station is the deepest subway station on the Expo Line.[9]

Granville station is one of the busiest in the SkyTrain system.

Granville station is one of four SkyTrain stations on the Expo Line that serve Downtown Vancouver. It connects with many TransLink bus routes, including trolleybus routes on the Granville Mall and suburban bus routes (running on nearby Georgia Street) heading to and from North and West Vancouver. Passengers are able to transfer to the Canada Line (served by Vancouver City Centre station) by walking through Pacific Centre or Vancouver Centre and the Hudson Bay department store, although the only direct transfer point is at Waterfront station.

There is a small retail space standing at the bottom of the long escalator bank in the original station area, where the corridor splits into the westbound and eastbound routes. It is one of the few stores located entirely within a fare paid zone of any SkyTrain station.

Granville station is unique in being one of only a few stations having no surface entrance building of its own, independent of any adjacent buildings (Main Street–Science World station is another for example). The station has three entrances: Granville Mall through the Hudson’s Bay Company department store, Seymour Street with direct access to the ticketing platform, and Dunsmuir Street through the Hudson condominium development.