A Novice’s Guide To Transit – Reposted and Updated

……….. or cutting through the BS about light rail, SkyTrain and BRT. The following is a guide plus definitions. ALM: Automatic Light metro, the fourth marketing name given for the SkyTrain family of light-metros, when Lavalin briefly owned SkyTrain before going bankrupt. ALRT (1): Advanced Light Rail Transit, the second marketing name for SkyTrain. ALRT [...]

The Fruit of the Poisonous Tree – From 2010

Now, a decade later, the City of Vancouver’s Engineering Department still claims that LRT is limited to a capacity of only 7,000 to 8,000 pphpd! Yet the very same CoV department has never mentioned that the Canada Line, with 40 metre long station platforms can, only allow 41 metre, 2 car trains, which limits capacity [...]

From 2010 – Late Friday Night’s Musings For Saturday Reading

From July 2010 Late Friday Night’s Musings For Saturday Reading Posted by zweisystem on Saturday, July 3, 2010 Zwei, with a cup of tea in hand, has been reading the various transit blogs and answering emails from interested parties around the world, trying to get a read on what direction public transit is going in [...]

TransLink’s Fear Of The Future And “The Interurban”

  From Wiki: Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, U-Bahn, metropolitana or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas.Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are electric railways that operate on an exclusive right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians [...]

Rethink And Introduce TramTrain!

As Covid-19 wrecks havoc with BC’s economy, it is time to rethink the provincial policy of building more light-metro, highways and bridges and instead concentrate on “rail” transport. The Provincial Ministry of Transportation should refrain from building mega projects like subways and massive 10 lane bridges and concentrate on providing proven modes of alternative transportation. [...]

We Are Back

  Memo to all Rail for the Valley is back! We have resolved our technical issues and now back on course bringing needed comment on metro Vancouver’s controversial transit scene.

Adios Bombardier. Adios Movia Automatic Light Metro (SkyTrain)?

As predicted, Alstom is now buying Bombardier Transportation for CAD $10 billion. The question, which may worry Translink and the hapless Mayor’s Council on Transit is: “Will Alstom keep MALM (SkyTrain) production or abandon the proprietary light metro altogether? Will Alstom keep already expensive replacement parts available or discontinue production altogether?” I reached out for [...]

Calgary LRT Angst

The anti LRT schlock continues from the mainstream media. The BRT/LRT debate has been long over, but not in Canada it seems, where disgruntled bus-boy types whine that buses are cheaper. Well no, not really. The problem is that about $2 billion of the estimated $4.9 billion cost is a 4.2 km subway under the [...]

$580 Million Per Kilometre

Something TransLink and the Mayors Council on Transit likes to keep hidden. The cost of subway construction in Toronto is pegged at $580 million per km. By comparison, the cost for LRT (not in BC mind) is pegged at $35 million to $50 million per km. We can build 10 or more km of LRT [...]

The Regional Mayor’s $7 Billion FastFerry Fiasco!

FastFerry fiascos tend to be common in BC, where politicians play the part of transit experts and squander the taxpayer’s money on prestige projects, that are great for ribbon cutting photo-ops, but little more. That Translink’s American CEO applauds this only shows the Mayor’s Council on Transit picked nothing more than a “Useful Idiot” to [...]