South Fraser Community RAIL

South Fraser Community Rail South Fraser Community Rail is the latest group joining the struggle to get rail passenger service operating in the Fraser Valley. Instead of TramTrain and its variants, they opted for the hydrogen powered electric train in the guise of an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains.        

Chilliwack Is On Board

Finally! It seems the good burghers of Chilliwack see the benefits of a rail servcie connecting Vancouver to Chilliwack. A basic Vancouver to Chilliwack DMU servcie can be had for as little as $750 million and a more elaborate service using hydrogen powered trains or electric servcie, with several trips per direction each hour would [...]

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 [...]

Dated Thinking From A Dated Mayor

Dated transit thinking comes from SkyTrain, because light-metro is a dated transit system. There is no backbone for transit, except for a network of transit lines and only if it is designed properly, designed for the needs of its customers and not the electoral needs of politicians. One $2.95 billion SkyTrain does not a backbone [...]

How America Killed Transit – How the Americans (and we) Are Getting it Wrong

I think the author, a PHD candidate, seems unread on what modern light rail is. He still defines light rail vehicles, different than a streetcar Memo to PHD candidate: it is not the vehicle, but the quality of rights-of-way, that defines LRT. His comment; “And though cheaper to build, light rail lines are often too [...]

All Quiet On The Eastern Front

  Zwei has a habit of making people mad and the list is long. So, in an effort to even more people mad, I will recall a conversation I had a week or so back with a former NDP politician. The former NDP politician wishes to remain anonymous as the person does not want to [...]

Those Who Do Not Read History Are Doomed…………….

………….to make the same expensive mistakes. In Toronto, metro madness is the order of the day, but the overlooked story is the Scarborough R/T, SkyTrain’s first cousin, being torn down because it will be soon “life expired”. The current debate is whether to build a hugely expensive one stop subway to replace the SRT or [...]

Repeating The Subway Lie And The Broadway SkyTrain Subway

TransLink and the City of Vancouver have trundled out their end game for the Broadway subway and it is nothing more than a grifter’s delight of fake news and alternative facts. To remind everyone, subways are only built on transit routes when passenger flows exceed 15,000 pphpd (20,000 pphpd in Europe). Current traffic flows on [...]

People Before Cars – A Lesson Unlearned In Metro Vancouver

This is what should be happening in Metro Vancouver, but it’s not. SkyTrain is elevated or put underground, to keep streets free for cars. The cycle lobby is giving precedence over transit customers. Cars remain the most viable transit mode in the region. Our regional, provincial, and federal politicians only invest in transit to reward [...]

Road Pricing Farce

From Bob Mackin and the Breaker. From July 2017 Zwei has studied “Road Pricing” and “Congestion Charging” for over 20 years and……………… the very first rule for a successful road pricing scheme is that the region have a user friendly and affordable public transit alternative. With TransLink we don’t…….. not even close and TransLink is [...]