Switzerland’s Newest Tramway – From the Light Rail Transit Association

Interesting news from Switzerland. I have reprinted this story from the LRTA’s February’s issue Light Rail and Urban Transport to illustrate the cost of a modern European style tramway (LRT). The 13.4 km Limmattalbahn cost €607 million or CAD $884 million or about $65 million a kilometre to build! Compare this with $4.6 t0 $5 […]

Vested Interests

Vested interests: Reason for involvement in an undertaking or situation, especially an expectation of financial or other gain. Vested interests is the real reason for transit planning in metro Vancouver. It is also the reason why the SkyTrain Lobby is so powerful because they are the useful idiots of vested interests. Harsh words indeed. Despite […]

Doing The Same Thing Over Again Just Will Not Work

After receiving a number of abusive amount of Emails about the post (all deleted), has indicated to me that most people do not have a firm grounding in modern public transport philosophy, nor a good knowledge of provincial finances. Most forget, that in the end, both LRT and light metro are trains and there is […]

An Overview of Quebec City’s New Tramway

An overview of Quebec City’s proposed new tramway, something all out civic and provincial politicians should see. Please watch. https://youtu.be/VG5GKYGNdpo

How Metro Vancouver’s Regional Transit Planning Has continued To Get It Wrong!

Please Deliver to Mayor and Council   From: Rail for the Valley     My name is (name withheld by request)  and I have been involved with transit issues in the lower mainland for four decades. I have been a forty year member of the Light Rail Transit Association and through my long membership, I […]

The Cost of Tunneling

The huge cost of tunneling for subway projects are barely mentioned in the media. €4.4 billion for 6 km of twin bore tunnel and seven stations equals CAD $6.08 billion or CAD $1.o1 billion per km to build. This should give pause for thought to BC and regional politicians that the high cost of subway […]

Observations On A Broken Regional Transit System

The past few month, Zwei has been on the road, throughout the lower mainland attending rugby games (my son plays first div.) and has made a very depressing observation. Despite over $30 billion invested or will be invested in the regional light metro system, traffic is getting worse and congestion, spiced with gridlock is endemic. […]

Listen To The Experts

When Patrick Condon, BSc, MLA,  Professor Chair, Urban Design Faculty of Applied Science School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture says a new transit vision is needed in metro Vancouver, we should listen. We should have listened to the experts in the 1980’s when the then social Credit government forced ALRT onto the regions regional transit […]

The End Of The SkyTrain “Gravy-Train?

Gravy Train: Used to refer to a situation in which someone can make a lot of money for very little effort. Mr. Cow’s comment in the previous post, deserves a post of its own, because it could be a game changer in regional transit planning. Criticizing regional transit planning has been somewhat taboo with the […]

T.E.A.M’s LRT – Offering Much More Light Rail At A Far Cheaper Cost.

Again, old Zwie, the Curmudgeon Laurette of transit, is delighted that Vancouver T.E.A.M. mayoralty candidate Colleen Hardwick is talking LRT while those running against her are still talking dated light-metro. So, let us have a look at costs of the three proposals. T.E.A.M’s Hardwick’s 58 km of LRT The Aprox. 7 km Millennium Line subway […]