Friends of Rail For the Valley – AGM this Sunday

Hi everyone, The Friends of Rail For the Valley Society will be holding our Annual General Meeting this April 15. Where: University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford Campus, Room B121 When: Sunday April 15, 2:00pm All are welcome to attend the AGM. Membership in our Society costs just $10 per year. At the meeting, elections will be held for [...]

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 [...]

TransLink’s Executives Slurpin’ At The Public Trough

I don’t know why Transportation Minister Blair Leckstrom is so upset about TransLink executives getting expensive bonuses as it was his own government that laid the foundation for TransLink as it is today. The TransLink of old had mediocre public oversight at best with regional mayors, many of whom with little or no knowledge of public transit, running the show. [...]

Florida East Coast Industries Announces Ambitious Plan For Private Passenger Rail Service

Informative article and one worth reading. Zwei has always felt that if TramTrain service is to be revived in the Fraser Valley, that the Southern Railway of BC should operate the service and not TransLink. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/321480/20120329/florida-east-coast-railway-private-passenger-rail.htm Florida East Coast Industries Announces Ambitious Plan For Private Passenger Rail Service By STEPHEN SMITH: Subscribe to Stephen’s RSS [...]

B.C. premier orders audit of TransLink. Two important questions

B.C. premier orders audit of TransLink, but will it be the right sort of audit? Will the BC Auditor General do the Audit? Will it be a value for money audit? Two important questions that must be answered before any credence is given to Premier Clark’s call for an audit of TransLink. TransLink is audited on an annual [...]

A bad week for Clark’s fading B.C. Liberals

Another Canadian politico, deep in the doodoo the sad fact is SkyTrain, the Canada Line and now the the Evergreen SkyTrain Line are big contributors to TransLink’s financial woes. building more SkyTrain only exacerbates the situation. by Gary Mason – Globe & Mail It should have been so simple and straightforward – a premier announcing [...]

TTC chief: Subway expansion for downtown relief line has to be discussed ‘right now’

National Post http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/23/subway-or-lrt-downtown-toronto-needs-a-relief-line-ttc-chief-andy-byford/ The real issue for Ford isn’t subways, it’s keeping the roads LRT-free for cars. He’d rather have no transit whatsoever than build light-rail. This mayor is all about catering to the single-occupant motorist. All that SUBWAAAYS bluster was fake. This man has ZERO respect for the decision of our ELECTED City Council, [...]

Toronto’s Mayor Ford vows to ‘lead the charge’ in halting light-rail transit

Mayor Rob Ford is pledging to do “everything in his power” to stop light-rail lines from running at street level on Eglinton and Sheppard Avenues in Scarborough. One day after losing the fight to save his subway plan at council, the mayor said he is prepared to “lead the charge,” for the taxpayers he says [...]