Light Metro Woes in Hawaii
All is not well with Honolulu’s new light metro system.
A classic “I told you so” situation has occurred as the fiscal realities of light metro are hitting home very hard. I hope taxpayers have very deep pockets.
With proprietary light metro systems, politicians purposely forget that you can also build light rail as a light-metro if you want to throw more money at it, but with LRT you retain the ability to operate on lesser rights-of-ways in the future.
This is certainly a lesson not learned in Vancouver.
City Council sets aside $150K for rail consultant
Posted: Jul 30, 2015 11:20 PM PST
HONOLULU (Hawaii News Now) –
The City Council has set aside $150,000 for their own independent consultant. But according to the council chair, the new hire is less concerned with future obstacles and more about past problems.
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation got a first glimpse on Thursday of a scale model of the driverless trains that will be running along Honolulu’s rail line when the project is complete.
The first full size train is expected to be delivered to Hawaii by Spring 2016.
Former Congresswoman Coleen Hanabusa was sworn in on Thursday as the newest board member of HART, as selected last month by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.
The Mayor’s new rail consultant met HART’s board for the first time Thursday.
“The project has no shortage of challenges. Many of those challenges have been overcome — however, there will be many more requiring resolution in the future,” explained Independent rail consultant Michael Burns. “I hope to provide constructive input toward meeting those challenges.”
City officials were quick to address the perception that the appointment reflects concerns about current leadership.
“It’s not a comment on the organization, their competence and their ability to do their job, it’s simply a desire by the mayor that we have somebody who looks over the mayor’s shoulder — looks at our processes and our policies, our governance,” said Department of Transportation Services Director Michael Formby.
But one vocal community advocate raised other questions about the independent consultant’s hire — in light of word the city council would hire its own.
“Rail is going to become and probably already has become a new political football that is going to figure very prominently in the next mayoral election,” said community advocate Dr. Jim Anthony.
Council Chair Ernie Martin is believed to be considering a challenge against Mayor Kirk Caldwell in 2016.
His office confirms a budget has been approved to hire a rail consultant — whose job it will be to determine how the project fell short nearly 1 billion dollars.
The mayor’s appointee — who has 40 years experience in the rail industry — says he’s well-versed in dealing with highly politicized environments and will focus on the work itself.
“I’m not carrying anybody’s water,’ Burns said. ” I am coming in as an independent — sort of a peer review type of a role, to see if there are ways that the project can look at things differently and in the end, make the project better.”
Officials also voted today on a new chair — Don Horner will now head HART’s board of directors.
Copyright 2015 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Nelson streetcar museum opens Monday
Streetcar news from Nelson BC.
Nelson streetcar museum opens Monday
- Contributed – Nelson Star
- posted Jul 28, 2015
The Nelson Electric Tramway Society is ready to officially open their latest project, the Car Barn Museum. On Monday they are inviting the entire community to come on down from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with free streetcar rides and museum admission. At 1 p.m. there will be a special grand opening ceremony with ribbon cutting, tours, cake, refreshments, classic cars and special guests.
The tramway society has been working toward this goal ever since they rolled out Streetcar 23 in 1992.
The idea was to create a working museum of Nelsonai??i??s history. The first phase of this project was to get Nelsonai??i??s original streetcar operational and then over time create additional opportunities to enrich and educate the community. The goalAi?? was to create a dedicated space for displays and historical artifacts.
Over the past two years the car barn, with the help and love of volunteers, has been renovated to include a dedicated museum space and displays throughout the barn.
Over the years, many artifacts and photos have been entrusted to the society by community members who wished to keep Nelsonai??i??s streetcar heritage alive for future generations. The museum project has given the society an opportunity to present these items to the public.
The artifacts are now housed in a dedicated museum space with additional equipment displayed throughout the car barn.
ai???The Car Barn Museum will have many benefits for the community, from keeping our history fresh and accessible to tourists and students, to giving retired people an opportunity to still be engaged with the community,ai??? says Jim Robertson, the project manager.
ai???The best thing about this project is that it will always be growing and developing, we are looking forward to helping keep Nelsonai??i??s history alive.ai???
For more information call 250-352-7672, email info@nelsonstreetcar.org or come on down and visit the car barn in Lakeside Park, right beside the soccer fields and next to the Nelson Rowing Club.
Crossing the Fraser
In answer to a private email, yes indeed the Chilliwack interurban did cross the Fraser River, using the then Great Northern Railway Fraser River Bridge. The photo is a Chilliwack bound train in the late 1940’s.
And yes, the proposed TramTrain could use the same bridge today.
Weekend Quizz
This picture of a pair of BC Electric interurbans has intrigued me, where is the location that this photo was taken?
It seems it is a single track crossing a four lane road with a tarmac median. If so, then it is not the Arbutus or Central Park Lines.
I do not think it is in Richmond, having spent the first seven years of my life in Richmond I do not recall any four lane roads, let alone any with a tarmac median.
The second auto in the picture looks like early 50’s (52 or 53), so the picture is near the end of operation.
Burnaby Lake Line?
What do you think.
Calgary’s LRT Expands
The Calgary C-Train will almost double in size after the Federal Government’s gift to pay one third the cost of construction. The 60 km network will expand to 110 km with the 50 km Green Line.
The large cost for the new LRT line will be, in part I believe, is due to a subway built under Calgary’s downtown and the high cost of land expropriation, though I wonder if last year’s floods might have changed some minds about the need of subway construction.
We also must remember that Calgary’s LRT was built more along the lines of a German S-Bahn than modern European style LRT, with long stretches of dedicated rights-of-ways with on street operation in the downtown, with articulated high floor cars.
Calgary gets $1.5 billion from federal government for construction of C-Train Green Line
By Dave Dormer, Calgary Sun First posted: Friday, July 24, 2015
Calgary’s LRT system will double over the next decade thanks to $1.53 billion in federal funding announced Friday for the proposed Green Line.
The money represents one-third of the total cost of building the Green Line — slated to run from Country Hills Blvd. in the north to Seton in the southeast.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the current plan is for construction to begin in 2017 with completion slated for 2024.
Calgary Southeast MP Jason Kenney,Ai?? regional minister for Southern Alberta, minister of national defence and minister for multiculturalism, called it the single largest federal infrastructure investment ever in Alberta.
A Letter in the Sun
Strange that, after the resounding NO vote in the recent plebiscite, the Vancouver Sun has been giving ink to some very pro LRT writers, in both the Op-Ed section and the Letters To The Editor Section.
Saturday, July 18: Portland LRT grounded in reality
Vancouver Sun July 17, 2015
Letter writer Ray Arnoldai??i??s decision to vote No in our recent transit plebiscite was due in part to his transit experiences in Portland (pictured), Seattle, and San Francisco, where, he says, ground-level light rail has proven to be immensely cheaper and equally, if not more, efficient than subways, more effective in building community cohesion, and less detrimental to traffic control and business than our so-called experts claim would be the case here.Photograph by: Handout Ric Ernst, PNG
One of the fun things about visiting Portland is how easy it is to navigate around the city on the light rail transit system.
No walking up and down stairs or riding elevators or escalators to elevated or underground stations. Simply wait at a street-level transit stop and step on board.
While on board, you can check out the neighbourhoods you are passing through or hop off to visit an interesting store or restaurant you just passed. Itai??i??s a more civilized and enjoyable experience than riding the Canada Line and at a cost of $40 million per km to build compared with subways at $250 million per km, itai??i??s clear Portlandai??i??s politicians and administrators have made more enlightened and responsible decisions for their taxpayers than ours have and were going to make for us.
My decision to vote No in our recent referendum was due in part to the transit experiences I have had in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco, where ground level light rail has proven to be immensely cheaper and equally, if not more, efficient than subways, more effective in building community cohesion, and less detrimental to traffic control and business than our so-called experts claim would be the case here.
Congratulations No voters ai??i?? you recognized incompetence at work and responded accordingly.
Ray Arnold, Richmond
Portland MAX LRT
Fact file
| 2A?-Hour Ticket | 1-Day Pass | 7-Day Pass | 14-Day Pass | 30-Day/ 1-Month Pass ai??i?? |
1-Year Pass ai??? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | $2.50 | $5 | $26 | $51 | $100 | $1,100 |
| Honored Citizen (ages 65+/disabled/medicare) |
$1 | $2 | $7 | $13.50 | $26 | $286 |
| Youth (ages 7ai??i??17 or high school/GED students) |
$1.25 | $2.50 | $7.50 | $14.50 | $28 | $308 |
| Children (ages 0ai??i??7) |
Free when accompanied by fare-paying passenger | |||||
Notes:
|
||||||
| Locale | Portland metropolitan area, Oregon |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Light rail |
| Number of lines | 4 |
| Number of stations | 87 |
| Daily ridership | 118,400 (avg. weekday boardings, FY2014) |
| Annual ridership | 38.23 million (boardings, FY2014) |
| Website | MAX Light Rail |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | September 5, 1986 |
| Operator(s) | TriMet |
| Number of vehicles | 127 |
| Technical | |
| System length | 52Ai??mi (83.7Ai??km) |
| Track gauge | 4Ai??ftAi??8Ai??1a?i??2Ai??in (1,435Ai??mm) (standard gauge |
LRT Saves Highway Space
This is from a Siemens promo for light rail from the 1980’s.
Self explanatory, it gives a good visual how modern LRT saves highway space. It also shows that modern LRT could be built on Broadway and still provide road space for autos and with parking.
Some People Get It
- Light Rail is a streetcar that operated on a reserved rights-of-way.
The resounding NO vote has changed the tune, somewhat, of the Vancouver Sun’s reporting of regional transit issues. How long this will last is anyone’s guess.
Zwei voted no because I thought the plan was unworkable; a $3 billion subway from Glen-Clark Station to Arbutus and a $2 billion plus LRT to nowhere in Surrey, seemed at first glance, bizarre and very expensive for what it will do.
Upon further research, the Broadway SkyTrain subway, was nothing more than the original provincial promise to induce former GVRD Chair, George Puil to get GVRD agreement for the Millennium Line. To get the GVRD on board with the NDP’s flip-flop from LRT to SkyTrain, the Glen Clark Government promised to create a GVRD controlled TransLink, regional transit authority, and to fund two thirds of SkyTrain only construction West of Commercial Drive. Plans of the time show the subway terminating at Arbutus.
The proposed Surrey LRT is nothing more than the fifty year plan for SkyTrain development in the municipality, instead using LRT, thus making Surrey’s LRT a poor man’s SkyTrain.
Bad transit planning all around and it is refreshing that Ms. Murphy does indeed ‘get it’.
Now, let us get on with plan B, a Vancouver to Chilliwack TramTrain!
Opinion: Transit plebiscite vote was a rejection of TransLink’s plan
Look at more affordable transportation options to cover more of the region is needed
By Elizabeth Murphy, Special to The Vancouver Sun July 13, 2015
At $40 million per km, light rail is more affordable than the $250 million per km cost of subways, some say.
Photograph by: Richard Bergeron
The 62 per cent No vote result in the transit plebiscite was not simply a rejection of the sales tax or a renunciation of TransLink; it was, more important, a rejection of the plan generally.
Improvements to Lower Mainland transit is an urgent requirement. We need to learn from this plebiscite and establish a supportable plan with a funding model.
The areas of the region with the highest No vote are those that would benefit the least and also have the greatest transit infrastructure deficit.
The plan was also rejected in Vancouver. Although it had the biggest ticket item, the Broadway subway, putting most of the resources into only one corridor, with the huge tower development that would follow, is a mistaken direction that needs to be reconsidered.
Rather than a few mega-project corridors, we need to look at the transit network as a whole. If the transit resources were more broadly distributed using more affordable technology, benefits would be achieved throughout the region.
The city of Vancouver was initially planned and built before general use of the automobile. It was laid out as a transit-oriented city, having everyone within a five- to 10-minute walk of an arterial to access transit.
Improving service on all arterial routes would achieve much broader benefits at a significantly lower cost. The most cost-effective electric technology is the trolley bus. Most of the infrastructure exists already in the city. It could be expanded and improved as a clean, quiet transit system. Some areas would also support streetcars since the city was originally designed for streetcars.
There should also be interurban routes to the suburbs, as in the early pre-automobile days. Many of the rail rights of way still exist.
Comparing costs:
ai??? Subways are $250 million per km;
ai??? Streetcars and light rail are $40 million per km; and
ai??? Electric trolley buses only $1 million per km plus additional double articulated buses at $1 million each.
The more affordable options could cover more of the region at a fraction of the cost.
The more affordable options also tend to have negligible negative effects on established neighbourhoods. Part of the public pushback is the idea of putting towers at every station. This may be appropriate downtown, but planning Metrotown-scale development through neighbourhoods such as Kitsilano and Point Grey is a non-starter.
Even if the Broadway subway funding had been approved, it would not have been built for decades. However, the immediate up-zoning that allows increases in what could be built along the Broadway corridor would have added to congestion. The proposed tower development is the most problematic part of the plan.
This scale of development is also unnecessary to meet growth projections. Vancouver city council recently accepted a staff report that included a Coriolis Consultants report stating: ai???The city has sufficient capacity in existing zoning and approved community plans to accommodate over 20 years of supply at the recent pace of residential development.ai??? It further says little of the rezonings since 2009 have been built out to date.
That report only includes rezoning to 2013. So all the rezoning to date, the current planning processes underway (for example, Grandview community plan or Jericho), as well as up-zoning on the Broadway corridor if it is approved, would be over the existing zoned capacity calculated in the report. The premise that more up-zoning is required for supply to meet regional obligations for growth is false, according to the Coriolis report.
Perhaps it is time to ensure there is enough electric transit capacity to support what we already have zoned rather than planning for more development than is sustainable.
Using transit technology that is more affordable can benefit the region as a whole and therefore gain broader support for the plan. Our existing SkyTrain lines need investment and upgrades which should be funded before new expensive subway lines are added.
For funding models, the mayors are correct in demanding the province fulfil its obligations to fund transit rather than downloading the expense to the civic level. Property taxes and development fees should be taken off the table as transit funding sources. Carbon taxes and gas taxes make the most sense.
TransLink governance needs to be returned to the regional level, as it was before its reorganization in the early 2000s into the dysfunctional and undemocratic mess it has become. Then it will need to be properly and fully funded by the province, based on a more realistic plan to service the region with clean and affordable electric technology.
It is time to create a transit plan and funding model that is democratic, affordable and popularly supported.
Elizabeth Murphy is a private-sector project manager and was formerly a property development officer for the City of Vancouverai??i??s Housing & Properties Department and for B.C. Housing.
Ai?? Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Plan B – the Leewood/Railfor the Valley TramTrain.
With the resounding defeat of the YES side in the recent plebiscite, maybe it is time to dust off the Leewood/Rail for the Valley Study. The simple fact is, other groups are, without acknowledging the massive efforts Rail for the Valley has invested in this project, trying to take credit for a plan B!
The Leewood/Rail for the Valley Study could be a good compromise for a “Plan B”, sinceAi?? the failure of of the TransLink/mayors Plan plebiscite.
A Chilliwack to Vancouver TramTrain service could be just the ticket to bring credibility back to Metro Vancouver, the regional mayors and TransLink.
A modified Leewood plan could see an thirty minute service (a train every 30 minutes) from downtown Vancouver to Chilliwack, using FRA approved Stadler diesel LRT vehicles.
An updated cost of $1 billion would include double tracking and improved signalling on the shared Roberts Bank Railway tracks; longer sidings and passing points at strategic locations along the line, and double tracking the line through the Grandview cut. By using diesel LRT, would enable more money to be invested on track and infrastructure.
Service would see 16 FRA approved Stadler diesel light rail vehicles operating on 130 km of refurbished line connecting Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Langley, South Surrey, and North Delta, with downtown Vancouver.
A new combined road/rail bridge replacing the decaying Patullo Bridge and the downright decrepit Fraser River Rail Bridge, would ensure enhanced TramTrain service throughout the Fraser Valley.
Here is a plan that maybe would muster a YES vote at a referendum!
The Compass Card Fiasco – Another BC Liberal Boondoggle – Where is the Mainstream Media?
The Compass Card boondoggle is akin to the NDP’s bungled FastFerry program, but where is the mainstream media; where are the so called pundits tut-tutting this fiasco?
The Compass Card and fare gate program was orchestrated by the BC Liberals and Liberal government friendly media to cure the fictitious problem of ‘massive’ fare evasion.
Yes, there is fare evasion on TransLink, but from all accounts it fell within industry norms and transit authority treated fare evasion as a nuisance.
Former Premier Campbell’s best buddy and former Vancouver City manager, “Shreddin Ken” Dobell, was acting as a lobbyist for Cubitt Industries, makers of fare gates and fare cards, and what “Shreddin Ken” wanted, Gordon Campbell made sure “Shreddin Ken” got.
Thus the fare evasion myth was created with everyone bemoaningAi?? the nuisance, but the mainstream media continued their propaganda campaign so much that the public demanded fare gates and the Compass Card.
The insult to the taxpayer is now apparent, the Compass Card, unwanted by TransLink, is doomed to fail. For added insult, it now seems that the Compass Card, fare gate operation will cost about 50% more to operate than what was lost due to fare evasion.
BC Liberal economics at work!
A rare thank you to CKNW Radio for reporting on this boondoggle.
Former TransLink insider says Compass Card program destined to fail
Vancouver, BC, Canada / (CKNW AM) AM980
As the operators of Metro Vancouverai??i??s transit services continue to defend the regionai??i??s troubled Compass card program, a former SkyTrain insider predicts it will failai??i?? if major improvements are not made.
ai???The main problem was the choke points of fare gates on the passenger flow.ai???
George Slade, who was an IT manager from 2008 to 2010, says Translink executives had good reason for being skeptical when they were told smart cards would be introduced.
ai???A zone fare system doesnai??i??t work with smart cards period. Itai??i??s assuming that everybody is going to behave perfectly. People do simply forget to tap off and then, they get charged for a full day.ai???
He says, when he reported five years ago London, Englandai??i??s now-cancelled similar system would fail, he was accused of not being a ai???team player,ai??i?? but since then two subsequent managers have complained Compass will never work.
ai???When the politicians basically dictate that something is going to happen, anything contrary to what the politicians say is considered not team play.ai???
CKNW has reached out for comment from TransLink officials, but they have declined.
Recent Comments