Simran is a senior staff writer for Daily Hive's national and trending team. She's previously worked as a managing editor for the Burnaby Beacon and city editor for Daily Hive Vancouver. Got a story tip? Get in touch: simran@dailyhive.com

If you&#8217;ve taken a trip on the SkyTrain or bus in Metro Vancouver lately, you may have spotted a bizarre ad that has puzzled many transit users.
One Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/comments/1jpytb6/can_anyone_decipher_this_skytrain_ad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted about the ad</a> in the British Columbia subreddit.
&#8220;A close friend of mine texted me this photo of what looks to be a real ad that real people paid to have displayed on the SkyTrain. We cannot, for the life of us, figure out what is going on. Hopefully, someone here knows what&#8217;s happening,&#8221; they wrote.
The ad in question reads: &#8220;A green goose, red horse and brown elephant are moving to Vancouver&#8230;&#8221;
<div id="attachment_2127034" style="width: 1067px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2127034" class="size-full wp-image-2127034" src="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/SkyTrain-ad-.jpg" alt="SkyTrain ad " width="1057" height="564" srcset="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/SkyTrain-ad-.jpg 1057w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/SkyTrain-ad--500x267.jpg 500w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/SkyTrain-ad--1024x546.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1057px) 100vw, 1057px" />Submitted by Kelly (Reddit)</div>
It shows the animals as simple graphics, each with its own thought (or speech) bubbles.
The green goose is pictured saying, &#8220;Vancouver is such a quiet peaceful town&#8230;&#8221;
The red horse says, &#8220;Yeah the people are so nice&#8230;&#8221;
The yellow elephant replies, &#8220;&#8230;and there are so many things to do&#8230;&#8221;
In response, the duck and horse seem to be asking what kinds of things you can get up to in Vancouver, to which the yellow elephant replies, &#8220;Where do I start&#8230;&#8221;
The structure of the animals&#8217; speech bubbles reads awkwardly, which seems to be adding to the confusion of the ad&#8217;s intended message.
The graphic also doesn&#8217;t appear to feature any affiliated organization or company, adding to the mystery.
Folks who replied to the Redditor&#8217;s post shared their thoughts on what the ad could mean while also poking fun at its simplistic graphic design.
&#8220;The more I look at this, the more I feel like I&#8217;m having a stroke,&#8221; said <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/comments/1jpytb6/comment/ml3g3w7/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one commenter</a>.
&#8220;This is one of the most dumbest ways I&#8217;ve seen speech balloons done,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/comments/1jpytb6/comment/ml58o44/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said another</a>.
&#8220;The first two lines of each speech balloon are meant to be read first from left to right. Then, the third line from left to right. God, I thought I was too incompetent to be a graphic designer, but apparently I was mistaken.&#8221;
&#8220;Sometimes they run two part ads to generate interest like this, then the second similar ad with the actual thing being advertised runs the following month,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/comments/1jpytb6/comment/ml4ldzg/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one Redditor</a> theorized.
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/comments/1jpytb6/comment/ml3wzne/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=web3x&amp;utm_name=web3xcss&amp;utm_term=1&amp;utm_content=share_button" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Another commenter</a> thought that it wasn&#8217;t a paid ad, &#8220;but rather a piece of original artwork surreptitiously hung by the artist themself.&#8221;
Others claimed that the ad was for a new app that compiled different local events in the city, but part of the graphic identifying the company got covered up.
<h2>TransLink provides answers for mysterious SkyTrain ads</h2>
Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to TransLink to see if the transit authority had any information on the advertisements.
A TransLink representative clarified that while the ads were legitimate, their contract had expired, and they will be removed from transit vehicles.
<div id="attachment_2127158" style="width: 1006px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2127158" class="size-full wp-image-2127158" src="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/0.jpg" alt="SkyTrain ad" width="996" height="747" srcset="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/0.jpg 996w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2025/04/0-500x375.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 996px) 100vw, 996px" />An ad for what appears to be the Torra app. (TransLink)</div>
According to the transit authority, the ads are linked to a local events app called <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bluebasket.torra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Torra</a>. TransLink also shared a photo of a different ad picturing a squirrel, monkey, and penguin with speech bubbles similar to the one in the photo shared on Reddit.
This graphic displayed a picture of what appears to be a phone app next to it.
According to Torra&#8217;s <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bluebasket.torra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">online description</a>, it&#8217;s a &#8220;new events and transit app to find what is happening nearby in Vancouver.&#8221;
A TransLink representative suggested that in the case of the photo shared on Reddit, the app&#8217;s name may have been cut off due to how it was displayed on the SkyTrain.
Daily Hive Urbanized has reached out to Torra for more information.
<ul class="article-see-also">You might also like:<li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-april-2025-bus-service-changes' target='_blank'>Bus size upgrades coming to two TransLink bus routes this month</a></li><li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-coquitlam-central-station-park-and-ride-transit-oriented-development-update' target='_blank'>TransLink eyes nine towers, 3,400 homes and hotel for Coquitlam SkyTrain station</a></li><li><a href='https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-metrotown-station-bus-exchange-upgrade-study' target='_blank'>TransLink planning potential major upgrade of Metrotown bus exchange</a></li></ul>

Vancouver

If you've recently taken a trip on the SkyTrain or bus in Metro Vancouver, you may have spotted a bizarre ad featuring three animals.