Daily trains from Seattle to Vancouver could double – From the Vancouver Province
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Daily trains from Seattle to Vancouver could double
By Frank Luba, The Province – August 20, 2010AmtrakA?ai??i??ai???s long-range plans for trains into Vancouver could mean four trips a day instead of the current two.
The current two trains A?ai??i??ai??? which were expanded for the 2010 Winter Olympics from a single daily trip A?ai??i??ai??? are only running because the Canadian government extended a pilot project providing border-clearance service to the American carrier.
The project was instituted in August of 2009 in anticipation of Olympic visitors, and then extended in March to continue through September.
ItA?ai??i??ai???s been a hit.
The second train attracted a record of nearly 25,000 passengers in July, and the second-quarter total of 214,641 passengers was an increase of 12 per cent over the second quarter of 2009.
Total ridership on the service, which runs all the way to Portland, was 398,414 through to June 30 A?ai??i??ai??? a 17.3 per cent increase over 2009.
Andrew Wood of the Washington State Department of Transport, which helps run the Amtrak Cascades service to Canada, said a decision on the pilot project is imminent.
A?ai??i??Ai??[The B.C. government] have notified us that a decision has been reached,A?ai??i??A? said Wood Friday. A?ai??i??Ai??They will be notifying us shortly.A?ai??i??A?
A?ai??i??Ai??The B.C. government is very enthusiastic about the train being on and they have been working with us on this,A?ai??i??A? he said.
A?ai??i??Ai??ItA?ai??i??ai???s our intention for this to remain permanent and building on our long range plan, we would like to have more service.A?ai??i??A?
Wood indicated those plans are to have four trips in both directions.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian Border Service Agency, which deals with the border clearance project, declined to answer queries about the situation Friday.
The B.C. Ministry of Intergovernmental Relations, which has been working with Washington on the Amtrak situation, failed to respond to a request for an interview.
Whatever happens, travellers to Vancouver from the U.S. can get some good deals if they purchase a trip by Sept. 27 for travel though Sept. 30.
In addition to a 25-per-cent reduction on the price of their train ticket, Cascades passengers can get a downtown Vancouver hotel from $107 US through Tourism Vancouver, and a brochure of reduced fees to a variety of sites through Vancouver Attraction Group.
Among the attractionss are the Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours, Grouse Mountain, harbour cruises and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
A video about the Cascades service can be found at www.amtrakcascades.com.
The territories of modern tramway: line to the sustainable city – Jacques Stambouli
Some interesting reading for the weekend.
The territories of modern tramway: line to the sustainable city
Jacques Stambouli
Abstracts
The implementation of new tram lines may contribute to the emergence of a sustainable city? To answer this question, this paper takes a theoretical model by inserting the economic system of transport in three environments: general economic environment, social environment, natural environment. A new tram line corresponds to a new offer in the economic system of transport of an urban area. This new product offers the potential effects on the economic system of transport and its three environments. These effects are identified from various studies of urban planning agencies of Nantes, Grenoble and Strasbourg. They are grouped in three areas geometric line, the corridor, the perimeter.Ai??Ai?? It is then possible to organize these territories in practical areas as street, walking distance to neighborhoods and the entire city. The Sustainable Cities project then aims to use the potential effects of modern tramway for a joint breeding in urban areas of the economy, social sphere and the biosphere.
For full translated report, please go to the following link.
City & Populations With Light Rail
From David Cockle.
| Rank | City / Urban area | Country | Population | Land area (in sqKm) |
Density (people per sqKm |
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| 100 | Warsaw | Poland | 2,000,000 | 466 | 4,300 |
| 101 | Denver | USA | 1,985,000 | 1,292 | 1,550 |
| 102 | Cologne/Bonn | Germany | 1,960,000 | 816 | 2,400 |
| 103 | Hamburg | Germany | 1,925,000 | 829 | 2,300 |
| 104 | Dubai | UAE | 1,900,000 | 712 | 2,650 |
| 105 | Pretoria | South Africa | 1,850,000 | 673 | 2,750 |
| 106 | Vancouver | Canada | 1,830,000 | 1,120 | 1,650 |
| 107 | Beirut | Lebanon | 1,800,000 | 648 | 2,800 |
| 108 | Budapest | Hungary | 1,800,000 | 702 | 2,550 |
| 109 | Cleveland | USA | 1,787,000 | 1,676 | 1,050 |
| 110 | Pittsburgh | USA | 1,753,000 | 2,208 | 800 |
From http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/largest-cities-population-125.html
Vancouver is 106th in ranking.
Of the ten cities in the 1.75 to 2.0 million population rankings, all have Light rail/Tram systems except:
Hamburg, Pretoria, Vancouver & Beirut.
Dubai is currently constructing an ART system
YouTube videos of respective systems:
Warsaw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvTwLzPZCs&feature=related
Denver http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5p1E3kF1OE
Cologne/Bonn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWHol_9tZS0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUwcyIPXfc
Budapest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt7z4H9yip0
Cleveland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8GKHWZID-k
Pittsburg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeT16FGrIF8
New highway won’t help tunnel – Then why build a new highway?
Now the truth comes out, the new Gateway highway being built across Delta farm land won’t reduce truck traffic through the tunnel. Mind you we knew this years ago, but the provincial government and transportation minions said “oh no, Gateway would take a lot of trucks off the 99 highway (with implications of reducing truck traffic through the tunnel)”.
But of course, the multi billion dollar Gateway highways and bridge building program, like the RAV/Canada and SkyTrain metro lines,Ai??Ai??has nothing to do with alleviating transportation problems in the region, rather its is all about land development, particularly taking precious farmland out of the Agriculture Land Reserve!
Gateway has proven current SkyTrain/metro planning isAi??Ai??unaffordable, thus for the foreseeable future, ‘rubber on asphalt’ transit solutions will be the order of the day……..unless the region starts building with much cheaper light rail and very much cheaper TramTrain.
WhatAi??Ai??of course is notAi??Ai??mentionedAi??Ai?? is extending the RAV/Canada Line metro across Richmond and the South Arm of the Fraser River to South Delta, simply becauseAi??Ai??it is far too expensive to do so. The new $2.8 billion metro line, while basking in the limelight with the many platitudes from the Liberal government and mainstream media, sits like a greatAi??Ai??‘white elephant’Ai??Ai??as it is just too costly to extend in Richmond, let alone across the South Arm of the Fraser River!
Blinkered 1950’s transit planning has hamstrung the taxpayer with gold plated SkyTrain/RAV metro and an ever growing freeway network andAi??Ai??earning the Vancouver Metro area a deserved name of L.A. North!
New highway won’t help tunnel
Provincial projections show only slight dip in truck traffic once South Fraser Perimeter Road opens
By Sandor Gyarmati, The Delta Optimist
August 18, 2010
Truck traffic in the George Massey Tunnel won’t decrease much when the South Fraser Perimeter Road is completed.
The provincial government’s projections obtained by the Optimist note truck traffic through the tunnel currently stands at about 15,600 trips daily, while the projected number after the highway opens will be 15,000 per day.
Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson Dave Crebo said the biggest impact the SFPR is likely to have on traffic patterns in South Delta is to divert trips from the Highway 17/River Road corridor.
Coun. Scott Hamilton, who commutes to work through the tunnel daily, said Delta knew and has been saying all along the reduction of trucks through the tunnel would be minimal.
Interviewed by phone as he was about to drive through the 51-year-old tunnel, Hamilton said a Delta-commissioned study a few years ago backed up the contention that the impact on truck traffic would be insignificant. Deltaport expansion would also level out any drop in trucks the tunnel might experience, he noted.
“The studies have already been done way back and the percentage of truck traffic that would turn north through the tunnel was extremely high compared to what they were trying to make people believe,” he said.
The current daily traffic count through the tunnel stands at 95,000. According to the provincial government’s estimates, the tunnel will not see a significant traffic increase in the next few years.
Hamilton, though, said the tunnel numbers would only grow due to an increasing population base south of the Fraser River, especially in South Surrey/White Rock.
“You take a look at the modest growth Delta has had, especially in South Delta over the last 20 years, and it’s nothing compared to various areas of South Surrey and White Rock. That’s what’s impacted the tunnel and caused the problems along Highway 99.”
Development in South Delta will also play a role in increased traffic heading north into Richmond and Vancouver.
Dave Turner of Halcrow Engineering, who conducted a Tsawwassen traffic study, said it’s a given that any residential development here will have some impact on the tunnel. He said the housing development at the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club will result in a modest increase but the bigger impact will likely occur if the population projections from development on the Tsawwassen First Nation reserve hold true.
The SFPR will help alleviate some of that population increase because the new road will redistribute traffic movements on the south side of the river, said Turner.
The government’s projected daily traffic count for the SFPR is 22,000 vehicles daily.
The $1 billion, four-lane highway will stretch from the ports at Roberts Bank to the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s expected to be completed by 2013.
Tunnel congestion and what to do about it certainly isn’t a new issue for South Delta. Back in 1987, for example, then MLA Walter Davidson warned that population growth south of the Fraser would overload bridges and the Massey Tunnel during rush hour by 1996.
He noted a Richmond municipal engineering report suggested the expansion of the Massey Tunnel and Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges. Davidson said the Alex Fraser Bridge, which opened the previous year, had alleviated bottlenecks at the tunnel and Port Mann but rush hour back ups were already starting again.
Hamilton said he’s seen first-hand how traffic has changed from bad to better and then growing much worse again.
“I remember when they opened the Alex Fraser Bridge, for example, back in 1986 and you could have shot a cannon down the middle of that bridge and not worry about hitting anything at eight o’clock in the morning. Now sometimes traffic is backed up to Highway 10 … the commute through the tunnel isn’t going to get any better, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton said tunnel traffic won’t be alleviated unless a new crossing is built. The new Port Mann Bridge won’t be much help for northbound traffic from South Delta, he added.
Read more: http://www.delta-optimist.com/news/highway+help+tunnel/3412856/story.html#ixzz0wzysBYgo
Free Bus Passes: Come on now Main Stream Media, is that the best you can do?
The Vancouver Province has been trying to make a big issue about free transit passes issued to bus drivers and families, sorry is that the best you can do?
The Province also has an editorial today on the subject.
I’m sorry, but this pathetic attempt to rouse peoples emotions about TransLink employees and their families getting a free ride doesn’t wash. The one questionAi??Ai??not answered is: “Are the free passes being used in great numbers or are they just gathering dust in a top drawer somewhere in the house?”
The attack on free bus passes is simple to explain, TransLink is broke but instead of going after ‘big fish’ issues like building metroAi??Ai??like SkyTrain or the RAV/Canada line instead of much cheaper LRT, operating buses on routes with very little ridership Ai??Ai??or the massive, yet mostly redundant bureaucracy that is now called TransLink.
Like the ‘fare evasion’ issue, the ‘free pass’ issue is meant to play on people’s emotions about someone else getting a free ride. Most transit companies offer free passes to their employees, including railways, ferries, and the airlines and TransLink is no different.
If the mainstream media is to retain any credibility at all with local transit issues, start tackling the big issues regarding public transit in the region and leave the nickle and dime issues alone for now.
Addendum
Added August 19, 2010
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/letters/your+math/3416843/story.html
More U-Tube and light rail web sites
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A thank you to David Cockle for providing these very interesting-Tube and websites!
Simon Smiler A?ai??i??ai??? Citytransport.info http://citytransport.info/Frame.htm
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=citytransportinfo#g/u
Agos Vaga aka Hamster A?ai??i??ai??? Tram-hiker’s Guide to BudapestAi??Ai?? http://www.hampage.hu/kozlekedes/thg2bp/
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hamsterhamster2002#g/u
500 Posts – The story so far……………..
Todays post, marks the five hundredth post on the Rail for The Valley blog and today I want to reflect on the main themes that keep out transit debates going.
The Canada line
Again, anotherAi??Ai??major Canada Line storyAi??Ai??by the Vancouver Province news paper….
-and I wonder why the Vancouver Province keeps writing ‘puff’ stories about the new metro service. In TransLink speak, having the media saying over and over again how wonderful SkyTrain and or the RAV/Canada Line is (the Joesph Goebbels Gambit), means the opposite is true. The Canada line is to the Liberals as the Millennium Line is to the NDP,Ai??Ai?? because the mainstream media fail to do any diligent research on the subject and treat all metro/rapid transit construction and operation as ‘motherhood & apple pie’ issues.
The Broadway follies continue.
Yes the debate rages on about ‘rail’ transit on Broadway and merchants clearly don’t want to be screwed like Susan Heyes on Cambie Street. Rumour was that our now disgraced premier wanted a subway legacy for Vancouver and a Broadway subway or Legacy Line was just the ticket. The $3 billion to $4 billion price tag for a subway is just a wee to much for TransLink, who can’t even find $400 million to build the Evergreen Line.
The Evergreen Line.
The Evergreen or locally called the Nevergreen Line is the epitome of what is wrong with our transit planning. TransLink continues to plan for ‘pie in the sky’ metro that the region just can’t afford. Just $400 million could fund a Vancouver to Maple Ridge TramTrain service, but we want a $1.4 billion metro instead and to hell with the taxpayer.
The Valley Interurban project
Hopefully some good news about the Fraser Valley will soon happen. To make the Valley interurban or TramTrain a success, we must think ‘out of the box’ and plan for the region and that includes Vancouver. Our present transit system is Vancouver centric, with the metro lines fragmented and for over 80% of metro users, they must take a bus to SkyTrain. To be success, the interurban/TramTrain project must service Vancouver and until it does, I am not so sure of the success, but the intrepid supporters of valley rail press on!
TransLink
TransLink continues fumbling and bumbling along achieving very little. The new TransLink board of experts, is really the government friendly board of amateurs and we hardly hear anything from them, yet they are all collecting healthy stipends. The calls for a separate transportation authority for South of the Fraser grows and if the present administration at TransLink doesn’t change, the call for a separate transportation authority will increase from a few peeps to a massive roar.
The provincial government
The current provincial government is broke and except for investment in the Canada line, has all but washed its hands on ‘rail’ transit in the province. The Gateway saga is the epitome of Gordon Campbell’s ‘rubber on asphalt’ transportation agenda.
The Public Affairs Bureau
The do their best to cloud transportation issues with phony letters to the editor and trolling the blogs. They are easy to find, their attitudes are clearly early Victorian!
Rail for The Valley
We continue to grow stronger and we are the only group in the region solely focused on the return of a Vancouver to Chilliwack Interurban or TramTrain service. hopefully a lot of hard work will pay off very soon!
The blog
Post #501 to follow. The SkyTrain Lobby beware!
North America’s Love Affair With The Auto
Ai??Ai??Just a few links to some interesting reading this very hot weekend!
http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/2010/05/walking_and_obesity_the_city_l.php
Light Rail Hot Spots
A thank you to David Cockle for providing these links to ‘light rail hot spots’.
Phoenix:
http://phoenix.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/roundup/light-rail-hot-spots/813975/content
San Jose:
Sacramento:
http://www.sacrt.com/rt4teens.stm
Seattle
http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2010/jan/15/seattles-link-light-rail-kids-part-2/
Sydney:
http://www.metrotransport.com.au/index.php/lightrail/home-2.html
Krakow:
http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/hen/krakow/party-bus/product_2707/
Prague:
http://www.praguenet.com/compass/number_3/nightlife.html
Amsterdam:
http://www.imagenature.com/galleries/amsterdam/amsterdam-night-scene.php
Lisbon:
http://www.traveleurope.com/blog/en/five-things-not-to-miss-in-lisbon/
Melbourne:
http://www.bcl.com.au/melbourne/views/mk020.htm
Baltimore (Paris, Nice, Montpellier)
http://www.purplelinenow.com/mixed_mode.html
Nottingham:
http://www.visitnottingham.com/exec/103562/2289/
Come On Now Mainstream Media, Why All The Hype And Hoopla Over The Canada Line?
Subways & metros cost a lot of money to build and operate.
In the past week, the mainstream media have been singing loud hosannas about the success of the Canada Line, how it is surpassing ridership projections and all is happiness. What the MSM failed toAi??Ai??mention is thatAi??Ai??over 80% of the total trips on the RAV/Canada line have come from about 40,000 or so bus riders who have been forced onto the new metro. The bus routes that now force feed the Canada line include the 98-B LineAi??Ai??& 401-2-4 busesAi??Ai??in Richmond; 601-2-3-4-5-6-20 series of buses from South Delta and the 351-2-4 from South Surrey and the former dailyAi??Ai??15 minute service Airporter Bus. The new ridership on the Canada line is mainly $1.00 a day U-Pass holders, older Asians shopping in Richmond and gamblers going to the River Rock Casino to be relieved of their money. What the MSM have completely ignored is that the promisedAi??Ai??200,000 car trips a day taken off the road because of the Canada Line has not materialized because the motorist has not left his/her car in favour of using public transit. In fact, TransLink is threatening to cancel some peak hour bus servicesAi??Ai??because of a lack of predicted ridership.
The Canada Line is the epitome of poor transit planning, political interferenceAi??Ai??and squandering of precious transit dollars on a politically prestigious mega metro project!
The problems with the RAV/Canada line, are conveniently ‘swept under the carpet’ by the mainstream media.
TheAi??Ai??MSM ignore that theAi??Ai??RAV/Canada Line’sAi??Ai??first estimateAi??Ai??was a mereAi??Ai??$1.3 billion and they continue to ignore whyAi??Ai??there was such an unrealisticAi??Ai??low estimate for metro/subway construction?
The main supporters of the Vancouver subway portion of the Canada Line were the City of Vancouver, influential West side Liberals, Vancouver’s NPA civic party, and former City manager and close politicalAi??Ai??cronyAi??Ai??of the premier Ken Dobell,who did not want much cheaper light rail (LRT) operating on an existing ‘rapid transit’ route, the politically contentious Arbutus Corridor. To that end, the estimates for a subway were deliberately low-balled in an attempt to pass public and mediaAi??Ai??scrutiny, giving rise to the anti-LRT rhetoric that Vancouver has become so famous!
The problem is subways are very expensive to build; so expensive in fact that the original SkyTrain ICTS/ALRT light-metro was designed to be elevated to mitigate the high cost of subway construction!
As the costs for the RAV/Canada Line began to spiral out of control, the scope of the project was reduced to try to contain the ever higher cost estimates for the metro. The following economies to reduce costs were emplaced.
- A switch was made from SkyTrain to a cheaper generic, yet incompatible metro system.
- A switch was made from bored tunnel to cheaper (if you do not compensate adjacent businesses) cut-and cover subway construction.
- The stations we so designed to only accommodate three car trains.
- The terminus’s In Richmond and YVR are single stub stations.
- Minor items like omitting escalators, etc.
Despite major downsizing of the Canada Line, according to Susan Heyes (who is one of the few people who have done due diligent cost analysis of the Canada Line for her successful court case against TransLink) now estimates the real cost of the truncated metro in the neighbourhood of $2.8 billion!
Here is what the taxpayer got for his/hers nearly $2.8 billion RAV/Canada Line; a truncated heavy-rail metro which by design has a much lower capacity than if light rail were to have been built on the Arbutus Corridor at about $2 billion cheaper!
Ai??Ai??The cost to upgrade the RAV/Canada Line? About $1 billion to $2 billion!
Where was the massive mediaAi??Ai??investigation and feeding frenzyAi??Ai??which happened with the ill fated FastFerries? Could it be that the political party associated with the Fast Ferry debacle was NDP and not Liberal? Why has the RAV/Canada Line been given a free pass by the mainstream media?
There is absolutely no chance the the Canada line will be extended to Steveston or across the river to South Delta/Surrey and for many the only way to use RAV, is to takeAi??Ai??a bus and buses are very poor in attracting new customers to public transit! For all the boasting by Richmond Mayor, Malcolm Brodie, the Canada line is absolutely useless for Richmond residents to use locally and it willAi??Ai??only act as funnel, taking commuters to YVR (driving would be faster) and Vancouver.
So the next time one hears MSM reporters and commentators sing high praises for the Canada Line, the real story is a hugely expensive, truncated heavy-rail metro line, that has less capacity than a much cheaper light rail line,Ai??Ai??which has not attracted the all important motorist from the car and what new ridershipAi??Ai??the metroAi??Ai??has attracted are concession fare types, taking advantage to shop or gamble in Richmond on the cheap.
TheAi??Ai?? Joseph Goebbels gambit: Repeat a lie often enough and the public will believe it is true!
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