An Election Is Coming. The NDP Follows The Old Script.

As with all Metro Vancouver transit projects, they are good for three or four election cycles. The NDP are just using their tired playbook from the 90′s, nothing more and, shock and disbelief, Parliamentary Secretary for TransLink, Browinn Ma is the do nothing MLA for North Vancouver Lonsdale. Need I say more. “Our government is [...]

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 [...]

Of Pressers, Photo-ops and Gadgetbahnen

Premier Horgan doesn’t get it. The NDP don’t get it. The Liberals don’t get it. The metro mayors don’t get it. We are governed by a ship of fools. What we are getting is a $3 billion subway, which will operate a capacity limited proprietary railway, which will drive up TransLink’s operating costs and will [...]

A Post From Mr. Haveacow – Speedy Transit

The avatar, “Haveacow” is used by a very knowledgeable Canadian transportation specialist. He knows what he is talking about and Zwei greatly respects his input. Since SkyTrain was first foisted on the taxpayer, one of the many false claims for building with it, was that it was fast. There are problems with this claim, including: [...]

From 2009 – The Light Rail Committee

A repost from 2009   A 2007 Presentation on Valley Rail – by the Light Rail Committee Posted by zweisystem on Thursday, June 25, 2009 First, before any discussion about rail transit, including Light Rail Transit, we must define LRT and other transit modes. The following is a brief descriptions of various transit modes advocated [...]

An Ongoing Charade

Gordon Campbell is gone, due to his less than honest performance with the combined GST/PST, which cost him the Premiership. The public had enough and wanted him gone. But, Gordon Campbell echoed then and what still echoes today with the Mayor’s Council on Transit, TransLink and in Victoria, that somehow SkyTrain is superior to light [...]

From September 15, 2010 – A Decade later, Nothing Has Changed

What I find amusing is that  policy on regional transit has not changed as politicians do the same thing over and over again, ever expecting different results. It’s easy and they just don’t have to waste time dithering over details and anyways; “the taxpayer has deep pockets and will ante up to pay for our [...]

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 [...]

STOP PRESS – Another Transit Study For The Fraser Valley. In Time For The Next Election?

Zwei is going to reserve comment, except for the fact that Rail for the Valley’s  Leewood Study, lays the groundwork for a viable regional rail service for the Fraser Valley. The Leewood Study, please click here. Transportation planning study launches in Fraser Valley   As part of BC’s Restart Plan, the Province is examining a [...]

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 [...]