The Mayors Council’s Tunnel Vision

It is hard to believe, that group of hapless politicians have just signed a death warrant for transit in the region. The Mayors Council on Transit just gave the OK to build a SkyTrain subway to UBC, which means the rest of the region can kiss goodbye to any sort of credible transit planning for [...]

TransLink CEO, Kevin Desmond Must Resign!

The sheer incompetence of TransLink was on show yesterday with a SkyTrain melt down. The Canada Line is former Liberal brainchild Premier, Gordon Campbell’s, attempt to have a P3 transit project. Well the result is a capacity constipated transit line that is not compatible with the rest of the SkyTrain system, with the operating consortium [...]

SkyTrain Again Craps Out In The Snow And The Mayor’s Want To Build More?

SkyTrain is noted internationally that it doesn’t operate in the snow. Poorly designed and poorly maintained, means the so called backbone of our transit system, turns spineless, leaving thousands of people to fend for themselves. Toronto’s Scarborough line fails in the snow. Detroit’s SkyTrain service stalls in snow. JFK’s Airtrain balks in the snow. And [...]

New TramTrains for Manchester?

As interest in TramTrain grows abroad, we are left with Translink’s SkyTrain only planning. The lack of flexibility of SkyTrain will soon hamstring our urban rail system under the weight of massive subsidies and debt serving costs. TramTrain, first designed to make transit more user friendly, by eliminating transfers, now seems to be the affordable [...]

B.S. Line Rethink?

The B.S. line, an apt name for the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway. What is more remarkable is that Postmedia allowed this to be printed. Could it be that the SkyTrain Lobby in Postmedia is beginning to weaken? Here is the real reason why the Broadway subway should not be built. The Canadian and North American [...]

A Grim Reminder For The Expo Line

A grim reminder indeed! Thanks to the Ford’s in 2010, the SRT remains in place instead of the planned LRT conversion that was supposed to up and running either late last year or this year. It would not only cover the exiting line, but the 1980 plan extension to Melven Town Centre. Then got to [...]

Calgary’s C – Train Expands

News from Calgary. The Green line has now secured funding to commence building the $4.6 billion, 28 station, 46 km line, which includes a short subway under downtown Calgary, which will have three stations of which one is already built. By comparison, the proposed 6 km. Broadway subway to Arbutus will cost $3.5 billion. I [...]

Am I the Last Voice against SkyTrain to UBC?

Professor Patrick Condon vents about the Broadway SkyTrain subway. The question is; “Who is listening?”   Am I the Last Voice against SkyTrain to UBC? It will drive unaffordable condos in Vancouver. Which drives me nuts.   By Patrick Condon | TheTyee.ca Patrick Condon is the James Taylor chair in Landscape and Livable Environments at the University [...]

The McElhanney Study is a political document masquerading as a technical one

“It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding.” Gerald Fox, 2008 Malcolm Johnston, 2019 Please deliver to Mayor and Council. My name is Malcolm Johnston and I have been involved in Metro [...]

Money, Money, Money – The Mayor’s Council on Transit Courts Another FastFerry Scandal!

The Mayor of Vancouver and the Mayor of Surrey discuss the Broadway Subway. What could go wrong? It takes a lot of money to operate a transit system and subways tend to be a financial black hole and are avoided unless ridership on a transit line demands. Just the SkyTrain subway to Arbutus will cost [...]