Montpellier opens new lines – A lesson unlearned for TransLink!

What is very interesting about this news item from the Light Rail Transit Associations web site ( www.lrta.org ) is that the cost for Montpellier’s two new light rail/tram lines 3 & 4 (28.2 km) is about CAD $688.8 million or about $24.45 million/km. to build! The cost of Montpellier’s two new tram lines are less [...]

TransLink postponing some expansion plans – Take that you bad old taxpayer!

As expected, TranLink’s brass is postponing transit projects to punish those nasty people who don’t want to be gouged by new taxes to keep TransLink’s bureaucrat’s pensions and bonuses well funded. That the Evergreen Line light-metro line (the main cause of TransLink’s financial problems) is allowed to continue, demonstrates an utter ignorance by TransLink and [...]

The Canada Line is on the fritz again

Well it seems the $2.5 billion Canada Line gadgetbahnen is on the fritz again, so much for the myth that driverless transit are more dependable than light rail. The problem is a signalling problem and the sort of problem that bedevils automatic metros around the world, it is also a problem that doesn’t greatly effect light [...]

The Vancouver Sun, As Usual, Gets It Wrong On TransLink

Today’s editorial in the Vancouver Sun, regarding TransLink, gets it wrong, but this comes as no surprise, the Vancouver Sun had got it wrong about transit ever for the past 32 years and it’s so hard to each an old dog new tricks. The problem with TransLink is simple and can be summed up in [...]

Bad run for TransLink as disasters pile up

More unhappy news for TransLink………. Bad run for TransLink as disasters pile up By Michael Smyth, The ProvinceApril 13, 2012 http://www.theprovince.com/story_print.html?id=6452292&sponsor= I doubt the folks at TransLink are worried about the ominous date on the calendar today. Metro Vancouver’s transit authority has had such a lousy run of late that Friday the 13th could hardly [...]

Adiós Transit Improvements?

A hint of the shape of things to come. TransLink is imploding under its weight of inefficiencies and there is more to come; $30 million must be carved from the TransLink budget to cover the loss of the denied fare increases. Zwei has a few hints where these cuts could come from. Get rid of [...]

Yes, TransLink does Need An Overhaul!

Common sense at last. Ever since Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon and had a hissy fit over the then TransLink Board (made up of local mayors) rejecting the Canada Line metro due to cost concerns, and gutted public oversight for the ponderous bureaucracy and instead creating the so called Board of Experts, TransLink has been, to be [...]

SkyTrain on the fritz again.

A switching problem may happen on a LRT/streetcar  line but would never cause the chaos that happens when switch fails on a driverless SkyTrain line. The simple design of an at-grade/on-street tram/light rail switch means it can be operated safely manually if need be. SkyTrain delays this morning were due to switching problem near Nanaimo station [...]

The Fare Evasion Game – Let’s Not Deal with The Real Transit Issues!

What is interesting about this story is that there were only 440 respondents to TransLink’s survey, which is hardly a drop in the bucket compare to the numbers of passengers using the transit system on a daily basis. Why is this so? Well two answers come to mind; The vast majority of people use the [...]

As predicted! TransLink is in the red.

As predicted, TransLink has some finacial problems and they are not going to be getting better any time soon. As gas taxes rise, cheaper gas in the USA becomes more attractice to a larger ever larger radius of audience; as bus fares rise, fewer full revenue passengers will use the transit system; as more cheap fares [...]