Of Photo-ops And 10 Second Sound Bites – The Mayor’s Council Pre Election Grift

How can one tell it is civic election time. Hint: Regional mayors, with little knowledge about transit, are promising everything, but without a mention of raising taxes to fund those gold plated pre election goodies! I have one question: Funding? It all sounds good, bike lanes here, a gondola there, a UBC subway (strange, no […]

And Over To You Mr. Cow – TransLink’s fiscal Realities

One of the RftV’s many friends, Haveacow is a Canadian transportation specialist. He uses the Avatar Haveacow because in the arcane world of Canadian and American public transportation, speaking the truth may find you out of a job. An American transportation Engineer who has helped Zwei in the past, found this out when the long […]

SeaTrain – The Ongoing Columbia St. Station Fiasco

Yes, this is an ongoing problem but………………. The flooding and closing of the strategic Columbia St. Station should have been dealt with ages ago, but no, not TransLink. Always put off to tomorrow what should be done today and to hell with the customer! I wonder if anyone at TransLink knows what a sump pump […]

Oh Where, Oh Where Has Our Customers Gone………………..

TransLink must soon face a very unpleasant truth, Metro Vancouver’s transit system is crap; it is strictly a commuters transit system, with, except for the core of City of Vancouver, there is little off-peak usage. The transit system is designed to feed the light-metro system and because of this, TransLink, as BC Transit before. has […]

Disappearing Act

The following Google screenshot was made on Wednesday, August 9, 2020, at 7:50 AM. All major crossings in metro Vancouver show little or no congestion. Pre Covir-19, there would be bright red at the tunnel, Oak Street, Knight Street, Alex Fraser, Patullo, Iron workers, and the Lions Gate bridges. In “normal” times, major congestion would […]

Memo

I know it is preaching to the converted, but we must get serious about regional transit. $4.6 billion to build 12.8 km of light metro is not spending money wisely. Spending $4.6 billion to build 12.8 km of light metro is based on dated thinking; dated engineering; dated planning; dated transportation philosophy; as well as […]

Reality Is A ……………………….

There is another reason why transit may not return to pre Covid-19 levels any time soon; a reason that TransLink would never admit to: the service provided by TransLink is deemed third rate by customers. User friendliness is the number one reason people use transit and includes ease ticketing, lack of transfers, and the general […]

TransLink Collides With A Financial Iceberg.

  Covid-19 has sent a chilling economic message to TransLink; “can it afford the proposed $4.6 billion, 12.8 km extensions to the light-metro system?” TransLink, through taxes, must ante up a sizable amount of cash to pay it’s share of the projects, but if TransLink’s income collapses and cannot pay, what then? The aftermath for […]

Reality Hits TransLink Square In The Face

As Zwei has pointed out, the new Covid-19 reality has hit TransLink square in their hypocritical face. With cap in hand, TransLink went to provincial and federal governments for more handouts but it seems they have had enough and TransLink had to shed employees and unproductive bus routes. From Radio 1130: TransLink announces layoffs, other […]

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 […]