Of Transit, Funding, TramTrain, and a Sustainable Future.
Zwei first met Brendan Read in 1986, while traveling to Abbotsford on the BR Pacer unit that ran three return service to New Westminster each day during the Expo 86 Worlds Fair. It was during this trip that the idea of the “return of the interurban” was conceived. It was all there, track, vehicle(s), and popular support.Ai??Ai??Though some efforts were made to continue the Pacer service, it was not to be and the idea of a Fraser Valley interurban remained a quiet dream until John Buker founder of Rail for the Valley and VALTAC took up the cause.
We are at a crossroads with transit planning for the region. Either we continue with building hugely expensive metro lines that take about a decade to plan and build, higher fares and subsidies, or go the light rail route with cheaper construction and operating costs and the ability to service areas deemed “not to have the density” to warrant SkyTrain construction. The looming ‘global warming’ fiasco, combined with peak oil, means we should be building as much alternative transit as possible, but we are not, as planners and politicians still twiddle their thumbs waiting for the economy to return as in happier days.
Talk of $4 billion UBC subways and the Evergreen Line fog the real issues including can the taxpayer afford to keep building hugely expensive metro lines on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them. We live in a finite world and a finite economy and its high time politicians invest in sustainable and affordable public transit and be adult enough to abandon any thought of building any more politically prestigious metro projects in the region.
It’s time we start building with 21st century transit to cope with 21st century problems.
From Mass Transit
A Funding Crisis of Olympic Proportions
Ai??Ai??Posted by Brendan B. Read
On Thursday Jan.21, two Bombardier Flexity Outlook streetcars, borrowed from STIB, the Brussels transit agency, started rolling on the Olympic Line, a demonstrator addition to Vancouver, B.C., CanadaA?ai??i??ai???s transit system built for the 2010 Winter Olympics that begins Feb.12. The two A?ai??i??E?tramsA?ai??i??ai??? will operate free of charge until March 21 from the Olympic Village Canada Line rapid transit station 1.1 miles to the popular (and traffic-congested) shopping and entertainment hub of Granville Island, on the south shore of False Creek near the cityA?ai??i??ai???s downtown.
BombardierA?ai??i??ai???s participation in the project has already been paying off. Company officials report that Seattle streetcar representatives have already visited the line. The city of Seattle with Sound Transit, is building a $132 million streetcar route from the International District to First Hill and Capitol Hill in conjunction with the Link light rail extension to the University of Washington. The key selling point is the FlexityA?ai??i??ai???s 100 percent low-floor layout, unlike the partial low-floor Skoda/Inekon streetcars in service on the cityA?ai??i??ai???s South Lake Union line.
Whether the Olympic Line continues service after March 21 and is extended beyond its present endpoints A?ai??i??ai??? the city of Vancouver is envisioning a network linking the downtown core, Stanley Park and the north shore of False Creek A?ai??i??ai??? depends on funding. With federal and provincial government representatives politely smiling on the same stand, Mayor Gregor Robertson made the pitch for money at the event. In the audience was former TransLink CEO Tom Prendergast who had flown in for the opening.
VancouverA?ai??i??ai???s transit has been facing the milder but still impacting version of an Olympic-sized funding crisis that has gripped transit agencies continent-wide. Prendergast left TransLink amidst financing disputes between local governments and the province that put the long-promised Evergreen Line SkyTrain extension to the northeast plus new bus routes to the growing but atrociously underserved areas in the southeast on hold, with fare hikes on the way. He became president of MTA New York City Transit just as the agency is planning service cuts as well as eliminating fare discounts and slicing administration costs to close a $383 million budget gap.
New York City is in the same rattling subway car as Chicago, Cleveland, San Diego and Salt Lake City to list just a few names on the growing list of transit agencies facing making cuts and as a last alternative raising fares A?ai??i??ai??? even as many of them receive ARRA money to buy equipment, renovate stations and maintenance facilities, and build new lines.
If it sounds strange that service is being chopped and fares are being hiked while new buses and railcars are being bought and bus and rail rapid transit projects are being constructed it is. And thatA?ai??i??ai???s precisely whatA?ai??i??ai???s wrong with American transit financing. There is no linkage between capital (federal) and operating (state/local) cost coverage.
Where the rubber literally meets the road is maintenance, which has been a local responsibility. Yet the billions in federal money invested on infrastructure and equipment risks going to waste if there is no money allocated to keep the assets in a state of good repair. The ARRA has some money for it but nowhere is it enough to meet transit agency needs.
The federal government has to step up to the plate here because the states and cities have boxed themselves in by relying on downturn-vulnerable sales taxes; it is next to impossible at this point for them to shift to more stable property taxes, which Canadian systems rely on, and which have dampened though not eliminated cuts and hikes there.
Washington should start financing transit system maintenance costs. In turn it should require applicant agencies and states to develop more stable operating support financing plans, including real estate transfer taxes where new transit services have boosted property values, plus have proven land-use policies that limit transit-killing and environment-damaging sprawl.
This last measure is being advocated in Canada in efforts to get transit-dedicated revenue from the federal gas tax. While the Canadian government streams money from it to local governments they have the discretion to spend the cash as they wish, which means in smaller communities, transit, outweighed by the road interests, gets little if anything and sometimes nothing.
Resolving todayA?ai??i??ai???s transit financing crisis will take an effort akin to competing in the Olympics. Yet the needs and the outcomes: increased greener, energy-secure mobility, healthier cities and towns, and a stronger economy, merits the toil and the dollars.
Brendan Read is a freelance journalist living in Vancouver.
Commuters haven’t left their cars at home…yet (Surprise, Surprise!)
When one constructs a transit system so user-unfriendly that the vast majority of the public avoid it at all costs, can there be any surprise that the public will continue to avoid public transit, even during the Olympics with its many road closures?
Early advertisements that there will be two hour waits at SkyTrain stations certainly has gone along way to make people planning to take transit to reconsider. Even one hour waits at SkyTrain/Canada Line stations are unacceptable and certainly points to how inept TransLink is. All the well paid spin doctors in the world can’t smooth-talk there way out of a looming transportation debacle.
The drop in vehicle trips (13%) can be attributed to the many businesses closing shop for the two week event.Ai??Ai?? Zwei knows of many businesses in Vancouver that have suspended operations or reduced operating hours for the Olympic period because customers will not take transit, which will reduce commuting traffic. But this comes at a huge cost in lost wages, etc.
The real problem of course is the transit system was designed to suit political ambitions and not what the transit customer wanted or needed. For the majority of residents in the METRO area, the transit system is dysfunctional and to be avoided at all costs. It is a transit system of the poor, the elderly and students, with a few peak hour commuters thrown in. There has not been a desirableAi??Ai??modal shift from car to transit, despite a now over $8 billion invested in three metro lines, yet we keep building with light metro, forever hoping that the next metro will solve our endemic transportation woes in the region.
The extremely weak plea to “walk, cycle, transit into downtown“, is laughable and one tires of this Vancouver clichA?Ai??!
Zweisystem has one word for VANOC’s Olympic transportation plan: Pathetic.
Commuters haven’t left their cars at home…yet
Drop in vehicle trips only reduced by 13 per cent
Dave White/Tamara Slobogean Feb 03, 2010 06
NEWS Radio 1130
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – They can close all the roads they want, and limit cars in Olympic lanes… but will it really work?Ai??Ai?? Way more commuters still have to park their rides during the Games to meet the goals of the Olympic Transportation Plan.
It all hinges on the habits of local drivers and in the last few months we’ve all heard a lot of this, “We do need more people to leave their vehicles at home, to know before they go, and to travel smart… Walk, cycle, transit into downtown.”
The plan has always been to reduce car and truck traffic in key areas by 30 per cent.Ai??Ai?? With 9 days to go, the city’s Olympic transportation director Dale Bracewell says we’ve cut traffic by just 13 per cent. Ai??
Tomorrow we start dealing with Olympic lanes. Things stand to get serious Friday with the closure of the Georgia Viaduct, the city warns if you’re still driving then, expect real backups especially around the Granville and Cambie Street bridges.
The TravelSmart Challenge was created as a trial to reduce city traffic by five per cent each week leading up to the Games.
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/23311–commuters-haven-t-left-their-cars-at-home-yet
"Their" Evergreen Project Gets Funding – Green light for Evergreen 3 – From Modern Railways
What should be of great interest to those supporting the reinstatement of a Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban, is the cost of refurbishing 80 km. of double track (160km. in total), plus 1 km. of new track is Ai??A?250 million or CAD $423.1 million. As the Fraser Valley interurban or TramTrain’s maximum speed would be 100 kph, the track would be refurbished to a somewhat lesser and cheaper standard.Ai??Ai??It is fair to say, that the cost of a Vancouver to Chilliwack Interurban service, including vehicles, rail adjustments, level crossings, and signaling for the joint Interurban – Super Port Railway Line, could be had for about $500 million. $500 million would buy two and a half km. ofAi??Ai?? a SkyTrain Broad subwayAi??Ai??under Broadway,Ai??Ai??or less.
What is also important, is that the UK Evergreen 3 project is designed to take cars off the road which despite over $8 billion spent on our three expensive light metro lines, in the METRO region, have not done!
Green light for Evergreen 3 – From Modern Railways
Network Rail is funding a Ai??A?250 million project to create a new main line from London to Oxfordshire and to deliver much faster services on the Chiltern route to Banbury and Birmingham
The Chiltern Railways project will see journey times of just 92 minutes from its London Marylebone base to Birmingham Snow Hill, slashing the present journey time by 25 minutes. Banbury will be just 50 minutes away (presently 67mins).
Robin Gisby, Network RailA?ai??i??ai???s director of operations and customer service,
said: Ai??ai??i??This is a great scheme that will deliver huge benefits to hundreds of thousands of passengers. It clearly demonstrates how Network Rail is working in partnership with train operators to continue to fund and attract big improvement schemes for the benefit of everyone who uses the rail network.Ai??A?A new line will be built to Oxford; the first new rail link from London to a major British city since 1910. Designed explicitly to take cars off the road, the centrepiece of the Oxford link will be Water Eaton Parkway in North Oxford; a high quality integrated transport hub linked to the A34, A40 and Oxford city centre.
Adrian Shooter, chairman of Chiltern Railways, said, Ai??ai??i??This is the biggest passenger rail project for several generations not to call on the taxpayer for support. Working closely with Network Rail, we are going to create a new main line railway for the people of Oxfordshire and the Midlands. This deal demonstrates that real improvements to rail services can be paid for without public subsidy by attracting people out of their cars and onto trains.Ai??A?
The scheme, which involves a new chord from the Chiltern line at Bicester to the Calvert A?ai??i??ai??? Oxford freight route, plus upgrading of that route, is funded by Network Rail. The cost will be reimbursed through the payment of a facility charge over the next 30 years A?ai??i??ai??? initially by Chiltern Railways (franchise expires 2021/2) and then by the future franchisee.
The infrastructure upgrade will be carried out by main contractor BAM Nuttall, together with partners Jarvis and Atkins, will deliver the project under contract to Chiltern Railways
The project will be delivered in stages, with the main line journey time improvements being delivered from 2011. The new line to Oxford, including Water Eaton Parkway, is expected to open by 2013, subject to Transport and Works Act approval.
Over 50 miles of track will be upgraded to 100mph running, with 0.5 miles of new track built to enable the Oxford connection, linking existing lines at Bicester.
The Evergreen 3 infrastructure upgrade will be supported by the introduction of Mk 3 carriages for the Birmingham route, the opening of additional platforms at Birmingham Moor Street station and new ticketing technology.Chiltern Railways is owned by Deutsche Bahn AG and is part of DB Regio, Deutsche BahnAi??A?s local and regional service provider.
Project Evergreen 1, completed in 2002, reinstated the double track that had been torn up by British Rail, while Evergreen 2 added new platforms at Marylebone and new signals along the route to enable more frequent trains from 2006.
More Planning For TramTrain In The U.K. – Now It Is Wales Turn
It seems TramTrains are on the menu for Wales as the Welsh Government looks atAi??Ai??introducing tram and TramTrain operation in local cities. There areAi??Ai??still several minor rail lines that service the Welsh Valleys, thatAi??Ai??were once formed a much larger network from the coal mining days and scores more of abandoned rail routes that could be relaid for TramTrain operation. It seems that the Welsh government is thinking much further ahead in planning for new transitAi??Ai??compared toAi??Ai??the English ‘Home’ government in London. It seems, in an age of global warming and ‘peak oil, the British bureaucracy, likeAi??Ai??the bureaucracyAi??Ai??here in BC, are still planning forAi??Ai??rubber on asphalt transportationAi??Ai??with bigger mega-highways and treat rail transport as ‘yesterday’s‘ transit.
Pity.
From the Light Rail Transit Association
Trams for Wales? :
A report ‘Future railway infrastructure in Wales’ has been published by the Enterprise and Learning Committee of the National Assembly for Wales.
The report which looks at the overall rail system in Wales recommends that the Welsh Government should work with relevant partners to commission feasibility studies for developing light rail networks in the main urban areas of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, which should include consideration of how to integrate such systems with existing heavy rail infrastructure, the emphasis is therefore on the use of TramTrains in order to make fuller use of the existing rail system without jeopardising its continuing use for freight movements.
The report is available at www.assemblywales.org
Vintage UK Steam and Diesel Train Movies! – Have Fun!
The following was posted on the LRTA blog and Zwei thinks it is worth while to watch and the music is cool too! Enjoy!
London’s Termini in the Swinging 60s – Music from Radio Caroline
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xb7vys_londons-termini-in-the-swinging-60s_auto
And Now: The Green With Envy Award – Washington to get $590 million for high-speed rail improvements
In BC and Canada, there is little money for railways to improve passenger service, yet there are billions of dollars for new highways and bridges. The sad fact is, in BC and Canada new highways and bridges win votes, while the railways are considered a ‘yesterdays’ transit mode. Just $500 million would buy us a Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban.
Washington to get $590 million for high-speed rail improvements
By Mike Lindblom
The Seattle Times
The federal government will spend $590 million in stimulus money to improve rail travel times from Blaine to Portland.
The money represents the Northwest’s piece of an $8 billion stimulus package for high-speed rail, to be announced Thursday in Florida by President Obama.
Only two-thirds of passenger trains run on time on the 3 Ai??A?-hour trip between Seattle and Portland, and the state is trying to boost that number to 90 percent. A series of small projects throughout Western Washington A?ai??i??ai??? some but not all of which the stimulus money would pay for A?ai??i??ai??? would save an estimated 833 hours of delays annually, according to the state. Ridership peaked in 2008 with 775,000 riders.
“Anybody who travels the I-5 corridor in our state knows that we need to find new, efficient options to get commuters and commerce moving. And anybody interested in boosting our state’s economy knows that now is a great time to take action,” said a statement from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
Murray, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee, has talked at least four times with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about funding the Pacific Northwest Cascades corridor A?ai??i??ai??? stressing that rail could reduce congestion on nearby Interstate 5, a spokesman for the senator said Wednesday.
Thirteen high-speed-rail lines serving 31 states will receive money, including $8 million for Oregon to improve trackways and Portland’s Union Station.
Five round-trip Amtrak trains run between Seattle and Portland each day. Only two go between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., so buses fill out the route. Delays caused by freight-train traffic, and various accidents or obstructions, are common.
Washington state had sought $1.3 billion to fund 26 rail projects from border to border, to prepare for eventually running eight round-trip trains to Oregon. Several projects already include at least partial funding from state tax increases in the 2000s.
The federal stimulus money is devoted mainly to corridors of 100 to 600 miles, in hopes the trains become fast enough to substitute for airplane and car travel.
In the Cascades corridor from Blaine to Eugene, the long-term goal is speeds in the 90 mph to 120 mph range, said the administration’s national rail plan, published last year.
Years ago, Washington and Oregon purchased Talgo trains capable of 125 mph, because of advanced suspension systems that lean into curves. But they are constrained to 79 mph because of congestion, street crossings and flaws in the trackways.
Examples of the many proposed high-speed upgrades include:
A?ai??i??A? Blaine: a siding track where freight trains can be inspected at the Canadian border without blocking passenger trains.
A?ai??i??A? Blaine to Everett: reconstruction of tracks, ties and ballast to improve ride quality.
A?ai??i??A? Seattle King Street Station: seismic retrofits.
A?ai??i??A? Tacoma: new and upgraded trackways through the city, so Amtrak trains can head directly south instead of looping around Point Defiance. (This will seem like a drawback to many Amtrak riders who love the Puget Sound views and passage beneath the Narrows bridges, but the new Tacoma route also would shave six minutes from the trip and allow a Sounder commuter-train extension to Lakewood.)
A?ai??i??A? Kelso: a new siding track where grain trains entering the nearby Port of Kalama can wait without obstructing the mainline.
A?ai??i??A? Vancouver, Wash.: bypass tracks to avoid a large freight yard, moving passenger trains through 2 Ai??A? times faster.
The $8 billion in federal spending is only a fraction of last year’s $787 billion stimulus plan, and several regions have rail desires that far exceed the stimulus money.
For instance, California voters in 2008 approved $10 billion in bonds toward a $45 billion bullet train from the Bay Area and Sacramento to Los Angeles and San Diego, to be a public-private partnership. This week’s award adds $2.25 billion, leaving a huge gap. California had asked for twice that much stimulus, arguing that its project is the only one aspiring to world-class, 220 mph train speeds.
Florida is getting $1.3 billion to start a line between Tampa and Orlando that is supposed to reach 168 mph, a White House project list says.
The administration will add $1 billion for each of the next five years, calling that money “a down payment to jump start the program,” said a statement, which notes that the interstate highway system took four decades to complete.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010910788_highspeedrail28m.html
Density shouldnA?ai??i??ai???t be Cambie corridor focus, prof says – From the Georgia Straight.
Ai??Ai??
Since the province and BC Transit and TransLink embarked on light-metro only construction in the region 30 years ago, the public have been told over and over again that higher densities were a must. Made redundant industrial lands (made redundant by municipal politicians rezoning land) were rezonedAi??Ai??to higher density residentialAi??Ai??housing along the Expo Line route, compelling light industrial operations to move to Surrey and beyond. This meant, for many moving into the new housing, a car was a must to commute to work as the SkyTrain metro system did not serve the new industrial precincts. With densification car usage tended to increased.
What did happen, of course, were windfall profits for the owners of the lands rezoned.
The Evergreen Line is another example of politicians and municipal plannersAi??Ai??mania for densification, where the proposed Evergreen LineAi??Ai??ia being sold as a Ai??Ai??public transit panacea for the massive high density developments taking place, yet many of the commuters in the Tri-Cities are going to where SkyTrain doesn’t. What of course isAi??Ai??happening again, is windfall profits for land developers who had low density residential and industrial lands rezoned to much higher value high density condominiums and apartments.
Now its Cambie Street’s turn with the newly opened RAV/Canada line where lower density commercial and industrial properties are being assembled for much higher density use, againAi??Ai??making large windfall profits to the owners.
What is very strange, is that the highest residential densities in Canada are located in Vancouver’s West End, which is ill-served by transit and not evenAi??Ai??even serviced byAi??Ai??a metro route.
The question must be asked, especially with the SkyTrain/subway lobby with the now demand for a SkyTrain subway to UBC: “Is theAi??Ai??demand forAi??Ai??SkyTrain subway to UBC, nothing more than a $4 billion ruse to rezone residential and commercial properties to much higher densities, to create windfall profits for developers?”
Density shouldA?ai??i??ai???t be Cambie corridor focus, prof says
By Matthew Burrows
A professor with UBCA?ai??i??ai???s centre for human settlements wants to see more public discussion about A?ai??i??Ai??the benefits of a more compact urban formA?ai??i??A? along the Cambie corridor.
A?ai??i??Ai??I think we need to get awayA?ai??i??Ai??[from] just using this word density,A?ai??i??A? Lawrence Frank told a special meeting of councilA?ai??i??ai???s planning and environment committee on January 22. A?ai??i??Ai??From a ridership and transportation perspective, density alone does you nothing; it actually can cause you a lot of trouble. So, we need obviously to focus on the complementary land uses.A?ai??i??A?
Council unanimously approved seven planning principles and an interim rezoning policy for the Cambie corridor. The guiding principles appear to be on the right track, according to Frank. However, he added that he wanted to see A?ai??i??Ai??follow-up work doneA?ai??i??A? to bring forward strategies for accommodating A?ai??i??Ai??young, middle-aged, and elderlyA?ai??i??A? Vancouverites with varying incomes.
This sentiment was echoed by COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth.
A?ai??i??Ai??ItA?ai??i??ai???s important that we get affordable housing along the nodes of densification on Cambie Corridor,A?ai??i??A? Woodsworth told the Straight via cellphone.
The Growing Popularity of TramTrains Are Again In The News
The February Tramways & Urban Transit has an excellent article on TramTrains and their growing popularity with transit planners in Europe and North America. The article ” Tram-trains: are they worth it? “, is interesting and well worth reading as very important questions are posed. The article was written mainly for the UK market where TramTrain is seen by transit bureaucrats as a “cheap way to replace clapped out DMU’s” on local services andAi??Ai??more thought must be put into UK TramTrain proposals.
The lessons for the UK are also lessons for us on the ‘other side of the pond’.
Most interesting and what North American TramTrain proponents have know all along, is that today’s TramTrain can trace its ancestry back to the North American interurban!
The lesson for Rail For The Valley is, for the proposed reinstatement of valley interurban operation toAi??Ai??be successful, interurban or TramTrain must service urban areas like Vancouver and must must do away with inconvenient and time consuming transfers, like the transfer proposed by many ‘rail’ groups for the interurban service to terminated at Scott Road Station and passenger transfer to SkyTrain.
Eliminating the transfer to SkyTrain and providing a direct service to downtown Vancouver are key in making the Valley interurban or TramTrain a success.
And Then There Were Six – Metrolinx Says AdiA?A?s to SkyTrain
Toronto’sAi??Ai??Metrolinx is saying adiA?A?s to the SkyTrain (ICTS) Scarborough Line and will convert the route to LRT by 2015. In November 2009 Metrolinx, Toronto’s regional transit planning authority has decided to convert the 10 km. Scarborough ICTS (SkyTrain) light metro to LRT by 2015.
The Scarborough ICTS/SkyTrain line is suffering the same fate as so many other proprietary transit systems have done before; abandonment. To new to be an operating museum like the German Schwebebahn monorail, and not compatible with other transit modes like metro or LRT, has sealed the fate of the UTDC’s ICTS/ALRT light metro system.
Money too tight for barriers to be installed at SkyTrain Stations – From Radio News 1130
There seems to be plenty of money for fare-gates to be retrofitted to all SkyTrain Stations, which will do little if anything to make the metro safer or deter fare evasion, yet there is no money station gates (like we have with SeaBus) which are proven to prevent egress onto metro track. It seems what is mandated in other countries is ignored here. Just as reminder, in the EEC automatic metros, by law, must have platform gates.
I guess Mr. Dobel’s fare-gates are more important than true public safety.
Money too tight for barriers to be installed at SkyTrain Stations
Man fell on the tracks Sunday
Jim Goddard Jan 25, 2010
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Don’t expect to see barriers set up at SkyTrain Station platforms to keep people from falling or jumping on the tracks.Ai??Ai?? Sunday, a man at the Metrotown Station accidentally stumbled over the edge and fell on the rails below, suffering head injuries.Ai??Ai?? His condition isn’t known.
TransLink’s Drew Snider says they can’t install platform barriers because two different kinds of SkyTrain cars are used and their doors would not match up with the barrier gates.Ai??Ai?? “Also, it’s just a matter of having retrofit it, the amount of cost versus the frequency that this happens.Ai??Ai?? It’s extremely rare anything like this happens.”
Snider adds TransLink’s tight budget doesn’t leave room for costly barriers.Ai??Ai?? More than 30 cities in Europe and Asia have what are called ‘platform screens,’ including Tokyo, London, Beijing, Paris and Barcelona.
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