It's going to be an extremely busy weekend in Vancouver.

There's the Celebration of Light on Saturday (August 4) and the Powell Street Festival (August 4 and 5), and numerous other events going on around town.

There's also this little shindig known as Pride.

Well, understatement aside, it is a major year for Vancouver Pride, which will be celebrating its 40^th anniversary. (It's one of numerous local LGBT organizations celebrating Vancouver's Year of the Queer.)

The Vancouver Pride parade will be held on Sunday (August 5) in Vancouver's West End, commencing at noon and continuing until 3 p.m. For full details about Pride, visit the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) website. 

With everyone jumping on the Pride bandwagon (and other forms of transportation), here's some information about getting to the parade.

Parade route

The parade route will run as usual, starting at the Thurlow and Robson intersection (with several side streets closed to stage floats), along Robson to Denman Street, and along Denman and Beach Avenue to the Pride Festival at Sunset Beach. 

As indicated on the map, some other side streets will be closed to traffic, and parade dispersal off Beach Avenue will continue along Pacific Street.

Road closures will begin at 7 a.m.

SkyTrain

To accommodate the throngs (and thongs) of riders, TransLink will be boosting SkyTrain service from about mid-morning to mid-afternoon.

Trains will be increased from every six minutes to every five minutes on both Expo and Millenium lines.

Trains traveling in the Expo Line core (between Columbia and Waterfront stations) will run every two-and-a-half minutes.

On the Canada Line, TransLink will be monitoring capacities and will add more trains if necessary.

Buses

Some bus routes heading into the West End will operate with detours around the parade area.

Among the routes affected are:

• 5 Robson

• 6 Davie

• 23 Main/Beach

• 240 Vancouver/15 Street

• 246 Highland/Vancouver

For a full list of detours, visit the TransLink alerts webpage or follow TransLink on Twitter.

TransLink will also be participating in this year's parade in partnership with Metro Vancouver's Transit Museum Society (TRAMS). Even though you can't get a ride on it, keep your eye out for their vintage GM New Look bus nicknamed Fishbowl (it's also the 70^th anniversary of the trolley bus service).

https://twitter.com/TransLink/status/1025119833665536000

Car sharing

This year, the Vancouver Pride Society is partnering with Evo Car Share.

All Pride parade attendees can sign up for a free membership and 30 free driving minutes.

There will also be free Evo parking available within designated lots, and in all residential and permit-only areas within the home zone. More information is available at the VPS website.

Accessibility

Two Pride parade viewing areas will provide accessibility.

The main viewing area on the north side of Beach Avenue at Broughton Street offers ASL interpretation, live description by VocalEye for those with vision loss, a shaded viewing area with chairs and space for mobility devices, and accessible port-a-potties.

A second area in front of Denman Place Mall offers a shaded viewing area with chairs.

Anyone with questions about or who requires assistance with accessibility can email the Vancouver Pride Society. 

For more coverage of what's going on, check out the Georgia Straight's guide to Vancouver Pride 2018.