The Wuppertal Schwebebahn – Let’s take a ride!
There has been a lot of interest shown in the RFV blog about the Wuppertal Schwebebahn so I have included this video to give the full flavour of this historic monorail transit system.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfE8SKK-ms4]
The Chicago "El"
Since we are on the subject of elevated metro’s, This U-Tube item showing Chicago’s famed “El”Ai??Ai??may prove interesting.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0xfzGtgd2w]
The Greer Report – Review of Rapid Transit Project Claims. We didn’t need an American consultant to tell us TransLink is ‘off the rails’.
Over ten years ago the Greer Report, done byAi??Ai??Greer Consulting Services, issued a scathing report on the Broadway/Lougheed Rapid Transit Projects, later to be know as the SkyTrain Millennium Line. The report found:
- cost comparisons appear to have been contrived to favour SkyTrain over LRT
- Ai??Ai??no ridership (demand) analysis was reported to justify the high capacity system
- Ai??Ai??air quality and transportation benefits are unsubstantiated
- accelerated construction advantages of SkyTrain were clearly unrealistic
- risks associated with the SkyTrain car manufacture have not been assessed.
Fast forward to 2009, has anything changed?
Nada, nope, not a chance!
How can TransLink be trusted with any honestAi??Ai??rapid transit planning, especially when they want hundreds of millions more in taxpayers money to pay for ‘pie-in-the-sky’ light-metro planning based on contrivedAi??Ai??planning and phony studies? The RAV/Canada line is just a symptom of a major problem: TransLink refuses to plan for affordable light-rail and instead invents statistics to suit their in-house light-metro planning. The 100,000 passengers a day, quoted by RAV officials and Liberal politicians, needed so the RAV/Canada line will operate subsidy free is ‘stuff-and-nonsense’ as TransLink has absolutely no mechanism in place to apportion fares between SkyTrain, RAV/Canada line, Seabus, and the regular buses. TransLink doesn’t know what percentage of fares are full fares, concession fares, and the deeply discounted U-Pass, nor do they have a formula for allocating fares between bus, seabus and metro.
Example: A South Surrey student (3 zone fare) going to UBC via transit pays justAi??Ai??$25 a month for a U-Pass; he/she takes a bus to Casino/Bridgeport Junction, transfers to the RAV/Canada LineAi??Ai??and then transfers againAi??Ai??to a bus going to UBC. The apportioned fare should beAi??Ai??$8.33 for the RAV/Canada line and $16.67 for the bus system.Ai??Ai??The RAV/Canada Line’s share of an U-Pass (1,2,or 3 zones) would be $8.33 a month or about $0.41.5 cents a day (based on 20 days use)! There is absolutely no way with the current fare structure that RAV will pay for itself with 100,000 passengers a day; especially when other metros need 400,000 to 500,000 passengers a day to justify construction.
Clearly TransLink hasn’t a clue about apportioned fares or even how the RAV/Canada line will determine what percentage will be paid to the metro and buses. What may happen is that TransLink will count all ridership on RAV as full adult cash fares andAi??Ai??‘fiddle away’Ai??Ai??monies that rightfully should go to the bus system’s coffers.
What is known for certain is that the 100,000 a day claim made by TransLink, Kevin Falcon and Gordon Campbell is completely bogus!
Certainly nothing has changed much at TransLink as American transit expert, Gerald Fox, stated in a Feb.2008 letter regarding the Evergreen line:
“I found several instances where the analysis had made assumptions that were inaccurate, or had been manipulated to make the case for SkyTrain. If the underlying assumptions are inaccurate, the conclusions may be so too.” And adding: ” It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding. In the US, all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subjected to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the federal government, to ensure that projects are analyzed honestly, and the taxpayers’ interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US.”
Ai??Ai??Metro politicians take note, TransLink is about to take you and your taxpayers on a wild ride, “around, around, TransLink goes; where it will stop nobody knows!”
For the full Greer Report
http://www.bcgreen.com/~samuel/green/GREER_Rep-SkyTrain_April_12_1999.pdf
Gerald Fox’s letter
http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/can-translinks-business-cases-be-trusted/
Tramtrain trials in Sheffield UK – Should we not have TramTrain trials here?
The concept of tramtrain or light rail vehicles track-sharing with mainline railways is now being tried in the U.K. with a Rotherham to Sheffield demonstration Line. This is good news for Rail for the Valley as if TramTrain passes muster with the very conservative Her Majesties Railway Inspectorate, one can be well assured that TramTrain would be safe in operation here!
City tram-trains trial unveiled
The tram-train service would join up with the existing Supertram network
Passengers in South Yorkshire could be the first in the UK to use Continental-style tram-trains under plans announced by the Department for Transport (DfT).A trial of the electric vehicles is planned on a new service linking Rotherham and Sheffield.
Once a feasibility study has been completed, the project will take three years and Ai??A?24m to get up and running.
Five tram-trains will run on existing freight track from Rotherham and then join the Sheffield Supertram network.
The scheme replaces a previously-announced tram-train trial on the Penistone Line, linking Sheffield and Huddersfield via Barnsley, which would have used diesel-powered vehicles.
That phase of the trial is now due to go ahead at a later date after it was decided that the electric tram-trains were more economically viable.
‘Valuable addition’
Rail Minister Chris Mole announced the plans on a visit to Meadowhall in Sheffield, where tram-trains will connect to the city’s Supertram network.
He said: “Tram-train is a new concept for Britain, but it has already proved a valuable addition to rail fleets on the continent.
“Adapting tram-train to the UK requires some testing, but while that is under way, people in South Yorkshire will have the chance to experience this new type of vehicle for themselves, and I hope they will tell us what they think of it.”
David Brown, director general of the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said: “If we can overcome the technical challenges then tram-trains would bring huge benefits to the travelling public in South Yorkshire.
“They would widen the options available to those people travelling between Rotherham and Sheffield and the technology could eventually be used elsewhere in the UK too.”
Train operator Northern Rail will buy the new vehicles for the Rotherham-Sheffield operation, while Network Rail is investigating what works would be necessary to safely accommodate the vehicles on the UK network.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/8257652.stm
Commuting is harder now – A letter to the Vancouver Sun
Vancouver SunSeptember 16, 2009Ai??Ai??The new commuting patterns have added 15 to 20 minutes each way to my commute from Ladner to the University of B.C. Most of this is due to poor connections, especially to the east-west lines on 41st and King Edward. The early 480 bus to UBC is jam-packed when it arrives at Bridgeport.As for columnist Pete McMartin’s pleasant trip from Tsawwassen to Vancouver (Commute goes smoothly – anticipated chaos fails to show, Sept. 9), he travels at rush hour, rides for almost the full length of the line and doesn’t connect outside the downtown area. His situation is perfectly suited for the train.
Unfortunately, I am resigned to that fact that a longer commute is my sacrifice on the altar of the Olympics.
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/letters/Commuting+harder/1998674/story.html
Elevated or at-grade; let’s look at both!
A post to RFV’s blog moaned that; “you always show ugly pictures of elevated transit rather than the wonderful job Richmond did on #3 Road or sections of the Central Valley Greenway…………...”, well let’s compare elevated transit with at-grade/on-street light rail.
or
It seems that the vast majority of transit planners would rather be associate with:
Rather than this:
The overAi??Ai??one hundredAi??Ai??year old Wuppertal Schwebebahn monorail is one of the oldestAi??Ai??public transit systems in the world, even though the route is 100% grade separated it wasn’t copied in other cities where tramway’s flourished instead. Could it be that even one hundred years ago transit planners found the a transit system being fully grade separated, wasn’t a viable transit solution except in the most unusual circumstances?
Elevated guideways are more expensive to build and maintain than at grade transit lines and though transit using elevated guideways may provide faster commercial speeds, the faster commercial speeds comes more from sacrificing stations, rather than being elevated.Ai??Ai??Sacrificing stations, sacrifices customer convenience. Ai??Ai??Cities using expensive grade separated transit systems, tend to have smaller, more expensive to use transit systems than cities opting for at-grade/on-street light rail.Ai??Ai??Extremely fewAi??Ai??cities in Europe or North America have copied Vancouver’s penchant for light-metro; evidence enough that our transit planning maybe on the wrong track.
Ai??Ai??
From the BBC News – 70% ‘back rail renationalization’. Privitization of British Railways has not been as successful as one would think.
The privatization of British Railways has not been as successful as many would have wished. The complicated and bureaucratic nature of the privatization of British Railways has cost the taxpayer dearly and now 70% of the people polled wants the railways back under public ownership. The sheen of the privatized B.R. has long gone after several major fatal train crashes and finally when the track literally disintegrated due to lack of maintenance. In the UK, profits from theAi??Ai??company owning the ‘track’Ai??Ai??were directed to shareholders instead of track maintenance; with the privatized Bostitch Rail, corporate profitsAi??Ai??became more important than passenger safety.
Today the ‘track’ has been effectivelyAi??Ai??renationalized and many of the Train Operating Companies or TOC’s are in financial or operational trouble, the British public has lost faith in Maggie Thatcher’s great adventure. To date, the British Taxpayer has paid far more for railway privatization than if paid to British Railways instead. It seems railway privatization in the UK has been a failure, a lesson which has lost its meaning on this side of the pond.
70% ‘back rail renationalization’.
Most people are in favour of returning the railways to public ownership, with just 23% supporting privatization, according to a poll.
A survey of more than 1,000 people for the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT), found seven out of 10 of those questioned backed nationalization.
The state of the railways will be debated by the TUC conference in Liverpool later this week.
The RMT will be calling for support for full rail nationalization.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said the poll showed the government is “out of step with the voters” on who owns and runs the rail network.
He said: “If Labour are serious about re-engaging with their core supporters, they can prove it by making a bold statement on public ownership of the railways.”
Tramway Line 3 in Paris – Let’s have a look!
A post inAi??Ai??today’s blog about Portland’s new light rail line mentioned Paris’s newAi??Ai??Tramway Line 3, so let’s explore Tramway Ligne 3 in Paris. If TransLink ever showed the public true images of modern light rail, instead of their stock of dated and altered photos, there would be much more public support for modern light rail transit in the region!
Tramway line T3 is the first modern tramway in Paris proper. Opened on December 16, 2006 it is known as the Tramway des MarA?Ai??chaux because it follows the boulevards that were built on the route of Thiers’s fortifications around Paris (built 1841-45) named after many of Napoleon’s marshal (marA?Ai??chaux). It connects Boulevard Victor – Pont du Garigliano RER station in the western part of the XVe arrondissement with Porte d’Ivry metro station in the XIIIe arrondissement.
The line nowAi??Ai??carries over 120, 000 customers a day, exceeding ridership projections. Planned extensions include a link to Porte de Charenton in 2011 and eventually Porte de la Chapelle.
Planned extensions include a link to Porte de Charenton in 2011 and eventually Porte de la Chapelle.
From the Seattle Times – TriMet opens MAX Green Line in Oregon
Portland continues to expand its light rail network with the opening of the Green Line. The Green line is 13.35 km. long and cost CAD $619.45 million or CAD $46.4 million per km. The higher cost of Portland’s Green line can be attributed to the fact that the new light rail-line parallels Highway 205 and much heavy engineering had to be done including building earthworks viaducts,Ai??Ai??several bridges and short tunnels.
The Green line marks Portland’s fifth light rail line and already planning is under way for a sixth light rail line and new streetcar lines.
TriMet has opened its new MAX Green Line to the public. The line is TriMet’s fifth and extends from Portland to Clackamas County, running…
The line is TriMet’s fifth and extends from Portland to Clackamas County, running a total of 8.3 miles. The line runs through the Portland State University campus, already the top destination for TriMet riders.
TriMet began construction on the $575.7 million project in early 2007.
About 60 percent of the tab was paid for with federal funds. The rest was paid for by the city of Portland, Metro, TriMet, Clackamas County and the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The Green Line will begin regular service today, with trains running every 15 minutes most hours and every 20 minutes in the early morning and late evenings.
Seattle Times news services
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009855351_trimet13.html
From Radio 1130 – Cambie merchants still waiting for Canada Line business boom. Not coming? Yes, Zweisystem told you so!
Well the RAV/Canada line has been open for some time now and now one wonders where is all those subway passengers that were dying to shop on Cambie St., as promised by RAVCo. and InTransit BC?
Didn’t come? Well don’t hold your breathe, they’re not. It has been found in other jurisdictions where cut-and-cover subway construction has been done that it takes ten years for businesses to recouver financially. Unlike new light-rail lines, where adjacent business see about a 10% increase in revenue, businesses on top of a subway do not. The reason is simple; on-street/at-grade LRT transit customers see local businesses and with convenient stops can access them with little interruption of their journey. All subway passengers see is dank concrete and with widely spaced stations, seldom venture forth and patronize local businesses.
Zweisystem knew this, then why didn’t Gordon Campbell, Kevin Falcon, Susan Anton, Larry Campbell, TransLink’s planners, radio talk show hosts,Ai??Ai??reporters,Ai??Ai??and the rest who vaguely promised and/or spoke of a great upsurge in local business whence the RAV/Canada Line opened?
Dave White VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) | Saturday, September 12th, 2009 1:00 pmAi??Ai??
Ai??Ai??It’s been nearly a month since the Canada Line opened, connecting downtown with Richmond and YVR. But Cambie Street business owners are still evaluating just what the line will meanAi??Ai??for their businesses after enduring years of construction.
Leonard Schein with the Cambie Street Business Association says so far there hasn’t been a major spike in business. A?ai??i??Ai??We were looking forward to it, but the city is still doing some work and school is just back, and we’ll see over time how that does happen.”
Yip says her business is more likely to be successful with a solid customer base and community advertising.
Karyee Yip, who owns Honey Gifts on Cambie, isn’t expecting a boost because a station was never built in the Cambie Village. ‘ItA?ai??i??ai???s kind of disappointing that we lost a lot of business to build this line but we’re not really reaping a lot of benefits once the line is built.”
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