Trams (streetcars) Happily Co-exist With Bicycles

On the radio a few days ago, there was some disparaging accusations about LRT (trams or streetcars) and bicycles. Evidently there are some at Vancouver’s city hall who think that cyclists will be killed or maimed by the score by streetcars or light rail operating on Broadway.

In less tram backward countries, such as the Netherlands, cyclist and trams happily co-exist and many tram routes through the city have adjacent bicycle lanes.

A picture is worth a thousand words, unless that is, you live in Vancouver.

From Amsterdam……………………..

November 16, 2012 – SkyTrain On The Fritz Again – So What Else Is New!

When ones builds with a complicated gadgetbahnen, with all the bells and whistles that come with an automatic (driverless) transit system, one forgets at the time of purchase that gadgetbahnen age very poorly and as they grow older, they become very stubborn to operate. Sadly, the warranty for SkyTrain is long over and it is the suffering transit customer and more so, the suffering regional taxpayer that must pay for political and bureaucratic silliness.

It all boils down to this; when one buys an Edsel, one can hardly think that they can operate it on the cheap.

As SkyTrain ages, the more it will break down and the more it breaks down, the more inconvenient it becomes and the more inconvenient SkyTrain becomes, the more transit customers go back to the car, if they can.

SkyTrain problem causing system-wide delays

The problem is at Scott Road station

News1130 StaffNov 16, 2012 07:17:43 AM

SURREY (NEWS1130) – There is a problem with a train, possibly a fire, at Scott Road station. TransLink says this is causing temporary delays across the system.Trains are single-tracking between Columbia and King George. Although service to the Millenium Line has been restored, there are still large crowds at the stations.The Canada Line is not affected.

Fares Up – TransLink’s Customers Pay More For Planning Incompetence.

Yes, yes, we knew this was coming, fare increases.

TransLink, by refusing to do real cost cutting measures, has opened the door for fare increases. Yet those paying the least, the residents of Vancouver, have the most transit options, including three mini-metro lines; 13 trolley bus routes; and scores of urban bus routes. Those living in zone 2, Richmond, Burnaby,Ai??New WestminsterAi??and the North Shore, have reasonable transit options, including mini-metro and SeaBus. But it is those living in zone 3 that pay the most (if they travel outside zone 3) for the least transit options. This inequity has not been addressed by TransLink, nor do they want to, as it entails work.

What a concept, those working at TransLink doing real work on the public behalf!

One just hates to repeat it, but the real villainAi??responsible for the fare increases is the SkyTrain and the Canada Line mini-metros, which cost the taxpayer far more toAi??fund and operate thanAi??all the bus routes combined. TransLinkAi??and the TransLink board refuse to admit this unsavoury fact and by doing so, has taken the easy way out by increasing fares and hopefully increasing taxes.

Until TransLink gets real with SkyTrain and opts for much cheaper light rail (which can be built as a mini-metro if so desired and still operate cheaper than SkyTrain), fares will continue to increase, to pay for the hiddenAi??mini-metroAi??supplement.

The sad thing of course is that this was all predicted by transit experts of the day, when the Social Credit government forced SkyTrain on the region; restated by experts of the day when the provincial NDP again forced the SkyTrain Millennium Line on the region; and again just a few years ago when the BC Liberal party forced the Canada Line on the region.

The Evergreen line will see its own special fare increases in due course and have a nice day!

Transit fares increasing as of Jan. 1

By Kent Spencer, The ProvinceNovember 13, 2012

Metro Vancouver transit users are going to have to dig in their pockets forAi?? extra coins beginning on Jan. 1.

Thatai??i??s when one- and two-zone transit fares go up by 25 cents, and aAi?? three-zone fare increases by 50 cents.

TransLink says the increases are allowed under legislation which permitsAi?? prices to rise by an inflationary two per cent per year.

ai???Cash fares have not gone up since 2008,ai??? TransLink spokesman Derek ZabelAi?? said on Tuesday.

ai???Itai??i??s never an easy decision to increase fares, but weai??i??ve tried to do it inAi?? an affordable way for everybody,ai??? he said.

With the increases, a one-zone will cost $2.75, a two-zone $4 and aAi?? three-zone $5.50.

Day passes, monthly passes, employer pass program and HandyDART fares are also increasing by 12.5 per cent, as well as the price of a ticket on the West Coast Express. The price of FareSaver tickets does not change.

Don MacLeod, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union representing 3,600 bus drivers, said the public wonai??i??t appreciate higher fares when some routes are being cut.

ai???People donai??i??t mind paying more if theyai??i??re seeing more service. TransLink is going in the opposite direction,ai??? he said.

ai???It is eliminating some low ridership routes and realigning others. Theyai??i??re providing less service, not more,ai??? he said.

Ai?? Copyright (c) The Province

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Transit+fares+increasing/7543084/story.html#axzz2CCnxAtsh

 

Aftert 17 Years & Over $8 billion Invested In Light-metro – Nothing changed

After 17 years of SkyTrain and or Canada Line investment,Ai??with well over $8 billion of taxpayers monies spent, there has been little change in the overall modal share.

TransLink, a firm believer that is something doesn’t work, do it again, continues with SkyTrain light-metro planning or light rail designed as a poor man’s SkyTrain,Ai??for the region. Instead of proven bold initiatives to provide the region with an affordable public transit alternative, we get threats and demands for more money, to hire more bureaucrats to do more questionable bad planning. The TransLink Board withAi??a collection of the most inept professionals, rubber-stamp TransLink’s monetary demands, not to improve transit rather to keep their lucrative stipends.

This fiasco called TransLink, where regional politicians play petty politics with transit and seem easilyAi??lead astray with offers of a BRT here or the hint of a SkyTrain subway there.

The mainstream media, who have long given TransLink a “free pass” with the ongoing ‘Monty Pythonesque’ style of operation, must awake out of their collective stupor and portray TransLink for what it is, an out of control bureaucracy that since its inception has done little or nothing for the region except become a black hole for the taxpayer’s money.

To date, only the Mayor of Delta has stood up to TransLink’s silly demands for a surcharge at park and rides.

http://www.cknw.com/news/vancouver/story.aspx?ID=1816254

The sorry state of TransLink has gone on too long and it is time regional politicians show some collective ‘spine‘ and tell the province to dump TransLink and start again. The TransLink model is broken and so is the transit system. The decades of doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results must stop and an affordable regime of transit initiatives must be implemented.

We know Delta’s Mayor, “is not afraid to bell the cat“, do any other of the regional mayors have the “moral fortitude” to do so?

Pre-fab Track for Broadway

Slab or prefabricated track maybe an economicAi??solution for light rail/streetcar construction on Broadway in Vancouver. Combined with using the existing OHLE (span wires and vertical supports), construction of a streetcar/LRT on Broadway could be built and in operation in less than two years.

The Broadway to UBC route is mainly straight, with little need for custom built curvatureAi??and with pre-fab construction, the roadbed for a new LRT/streetcar line could be built both quickly and with minimal problems for adjacent merchants.

The following article gives good insight to modern tram/streetcar/LRT track construction technique and one hopes that Vancouver’s Engineering Department take note.

Following decades of regress up to insignifi cance, a noticeable renaissance of theAi??tramway has taken place since the 90s. In the last 25 years alone, more than 140 cities around the globe have reintroduced tramway operation. New lines and networks have also emerged in Germany as well as in Eastern and Western Europe. Further new construction projects are planned.

In many cities, small and outdated tramlines are currently being reconstructed or extended. Awarding authorities and planning agencies are facing the tasks to include modern and demanding track systems in the townscape in a harmonic way. Moreover, these building projects must be handled in cities by disturbing residents and city traffic as little as possible. As a matter of course safety, environmental compatibility and quality must not be affected. This trend induced the Max BAi??gl group to develop an modern rail system for the railways of local public transport. Due to the consistently positive experiences with the FFB ai??i?? Slab Track BAi??gl, a system for mainrailway lines based on prefabricated concrete slabs, the basic design principles were adopted in a intelligently simplified way and optimised for different application fields with their special requirements.

The outcome of this was the innovative and very flexible tramway roadbed and track system of the 21st century: LRB ai??i?? Light Rail BAi??gl. Manufactured under certified production conditions in our precast plants, high-technology and high-quality prefabricated LRB elements can be installed by own skilled workers or by local professional companies. The progressive track technology from Max BAi??gl allows to carry out projects in short as possible construction times with highest accuracy and quality. We willingly take on the challenge of individual requirements in terms of design and technical equipment which are within the limits what can be technically realised.

The test authority for traffic route construction of the Technical University of Munich tested the system for fitness for use and durability, showing positive results. The new prefabricatedslab system meets all criteria and specifications of the transport companies in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, safety, environmental protection, reliability and comfort.

http://www.max-boegl.de/boeglnet/web/show.jsp?nodeId=1000109&lang=en

Fare Evasion Kool Aid – TransLink Again Bamboozles the Mainstream Media

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If weai??i??ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. Weai??i??re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. Itai??i??s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that weai??i??ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.ai???

Carl Sagan

Don’t the mainstream media get it? Obviously they don’t or they have been told not to; fare evasion is a problem on all public transit systems and the statistics I see points to the fact that TransLink’s fare evasion problems are just average.

Despite the fact that the provincial government quietly subsidizes the SkyTrain and Canada Lines by well over $300 million annually, or just the subsidy for the Expo line is much larger than the subsidy for all the trolley and diesel bus services offered by TransLink, the mainstream media has focused on fare evasion and nothing else.

In the Vancouver Province, John Ferry again regurgitates the fare evasion myth, that somehow all of TransLink’s financial ills would be cured if everyone just paid their correct fares.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/vancouver/hope+TransLink+finally+ready+listen/7510596/story.html

No mention at all about the U-Pass and that over use of the U-pass is causing full fare transit customers to return to the car or even that U-Pass fraud amount to well over $15 million in income. No, the U-pass is TransLink’s ‘golden child’, that can do no wrong, because it is not revenue that TransLink is really worried about, it is ridership numbers – the number of people using the bus and mini-metro system, that is important. IncreasingAi??theAi??ridership numbersAi??is important to TransLink because with higher reported ridership, TransLink can demand more tax money and more tax money means more bureaucrats for TransLink and ever higher stipends for TransLinks executives and of course higher taxes and user fees for the car driver.

The fare evasion hype and hoopla is a ruse to divert attention away from the real fiscal problems bedevilling TransLink and the big problem of course,Ai??are the very expensive SkyTrain and Canada Line light-metro systems.

U-Pass Fraud Tops $15 Million Annually

As predicted, the much vaunted U-Pass program isAi??costing TransLink at least $15 million annually, more thanAi??reported fare evasion, yet there is nary a peep from the mainstream media.

Zwei’s sources at TransLink report that the U-Pass program is costing the taxpayer a lot more than what is being reported and there is no way that TransLink can calculate how many U-Passes are being used fraudulently. It is one thing for a government agency to offer deep discounted fares for students on mandated but lightly used transit services, but to offer over 100,000 U-Passes to post secondary students in the lower mainland is the height of fiscal idiocy, especially when TransLink is coming cap in hand for more and more tax money.

The one problem with the massive U-Pass program is that those using the deep discounted U-Passes are forcing much needed full fare customers from the transit system back into the car. The U-Pass program also makes a mockery of TransLink’s ridership counts as those holding U-Passes may use the system multiple times a day, especially the metro systemAi??>Ai??which drive up ridership counts > which in turn give high ridership numbers, which is why TransLink abetted by local politicians like the U-Pass program so much.

Ex-UBC student accused of fraud over sale of U-Passes

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/student+accused+fraud+over+sale+Passes/7479547/story.html#ixzz2AysBM5Pn

By Staff Reporter, The ProvinceOctober 31, 2012

A former University of B.C. student is facing criminal charges for allegedlyAi?? buying and selling U-Passes.

Betty Sze Yu Wong, 25, allegedly bought numerous U-Passes from students atAi?? four post-secondary schools and resold the passes for a profit on Craigslist,Ai?? said Transit Police.

Wong is charged with fraud. She is scheduled to appear in VancouverAi?? provincial court Dec. 14.

ai???The laying of these Criminal Code of Canada charges by Crown counsel is aAi?? clear indication that the justice system is willing to prosecute offenders,ai??? said a statement from Transit Police.

U-Passes let students in participating schools ride TransLinkai??i??s buses,Ai?? SkyTrain and SeaBus through all three zones for $30 a month, compared to regularAi?? passes which range from $81 to $151.

Last year, TransLink estimated U-Pass fraud cost the regional transportationAi?? agency up to $15 million a year.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/student+accused+fraud+over+sale+Passes/7479547/story.html#ixzz2AysMiM9p

 

Rob Ford fails to derail light rail lines

Mayor Rob Ford wend down swinging, saying again that people want subways, not LRT. However, Toronto City Council endorsed the $8.4 million master plan to build four LRT lines by a 30 to 11 margin.

Toronto Sun story at:
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/01/ford-defied-more-toronto-light-rail

By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief

First posted:Thursday, November 01, 2012 08:20

NEWS FLASH – HURRICANE SANDY’S HANDIWORK ON THE NEW JERSEY RAILWAYS

The following link give you photo’s of the extreme damage done by Hurricane Sandy on the New Jersey’s railway lines.

http://www.flickr.com//photos/89454930@N07/sets/72157631895879101/show/

I have disabled comments on this post only.

The Province Pulls the Rug Out Under 2040 – But Will The NDP Play?

The province has sent a message to the city of Vancouver, 2040 is dead because the province will not fund a SkyTrain subway under Broadway.Ai??The Liberals know that SkyTrain is a very expensive transit mode with thier experience with theAi??Canada Line P-3. The politcal fallout from the Canada Line big dig has also hurt the BC Liberals, as well as the City of VancouverAi??and TransLink with their underhanded approach, by offeringAi??local merchants absolutely no compensation (the only cut-and-cover metro project in the USA and Europe to do so) especially on Cambie St. whose businesses were all but bankrupted by the ‘big dig’.

With Surrey wanting light rail and the pressure from the RftV/Leewood Study that shows that a TramTrain service from Vancouver to Chillliwack is affordable, even an hourly service from Vancouver to Chilliwack, using diesel LRT would cost about half of that of the Evergreen Line, (It is interesting to note that theAi??River LineAi??Diesel LRT in New Jersey was back in service two days after Hurricane Sandy) makes a $3 billion to $4.5 billion investment in a SkyTrain subway to UBC a political liability.

The NDP, who have been ‘dumber than dishwater’ about regional transit may have different ideas, especiallyAi??if they listenAi??former premier Harcourt or former MLA Joy MacPhail and their surrogate, Vancouver councilor Geoff Meggs,Ai??who like common hucksters,Ai??try to sellAi??SkyTrain to all who could listen.

No one in Vancouver will admit to the fact that modern light rail has made SkyTrain obsolete two decades agoAi??and is the reason why no one builds with the mode any more. Yet, it seems the city of Vancouver and all who sail in her has made a SkyTrain subway under Broadway the lynch-pin of 2040.

It’s time to get modern LRT back on the table and the province to tell Vancouver council it is at-grade/on-street LRT or nothing. Sadly I do not think provincial politicans either from the BC Liberals or the NDP have the moral fibre to do it, so for the time being more roads and highways are on the menu – blacktop politics rules BC.

Broadway Corridor not a priority for provincial government

No plans to fund rapid transit

Jason HoweNov 01, 2012

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s Vancouver’s top transit priority, but now the city has to make sure the Broadway Corridor is on the radar of others.

The province, for instance, is nowhere near ready to provide funding for it.

Rapid transit along Broadway is key to Vancouver hitting its goal of getting two thirds of city trips being made without a car.

BC’s Transportation Minister Mary Polak says the region will need to give Broadway top ranking before the province considers putting up some money. “We know the biggest priority is for the mayors’ council and TransLink to have their priorities lined up for the future and to also solidify with them what their plans are for future funding.”

Polak also notes funding for SkyTrain involves many partners. “Those are projects that are negotiated contributions between all three levels of government, and so it’s far too early to be talking about what kind of a price tag that would look like.”

Polak includes she has not had any specific discussions about the Broadway Corridor.

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/418045–broadway-corridor-not-a-priority-for-provincial-government