One has to shake one’s head as the Broadway subway lobby desperately tries to have their way.
Reality is just not in their lexicon, as the city of Vancouver, UBC and several First Nations, all involved with land development along the route, are now lobbying for funding.
I would like to ask:
Where is the funding coming from for the about $4 billion subway?
Who will pay the added the operating costs? The cost to operate the subway to Arbutus will be around $40 million annually; around $50 million to UBC.
Who will pay for mid life rehab , 25 years down the road? In Germany, the gift of new subways, latter meant bankruptcy for transit authorities when mid life maintenance costs cannibalized monies from the rest of the transit system and they collapsed.
Important questions, that the Broadway subway lobby ignore and will ignore at the taxpayer’s peril!
*
TransLink fired its two top planners because they did not like to hear the truth that there was not the ridership on Broadway to justify a subway. So who trusts TransLink?
*
Then there are the land speculator/developers, enabled by the city of Vancouver, who is going to believe this lot of grifters, especially when there is not the ridership to justify a total $7 billion subway?
*
The mainstream media have been bribed by scarce advertising dollars to report positively on the subway and to ignore contrary opinion, thus making the mainstream media nothing more than the Canadian version of Pravda and Radio Moscow! The previous post certainly shows that!
*
As Barnum observed, there is a sucker born every minute and the Broadway subway lobby are banking on the fact they all live in Metro Vancouver!
Graph prepared by Metrolinx to inform the debate on choice of modes
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Calling it a “historic agreement,” the City of Vancouver, UBC, and the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Development Corporation say they have come together to push for a SkyTrain line that extends all the way to UBC’s Point Grey campus.
As part of their partnership, they’re asking the province and federal government to both commit to helping secure funding for the line all the way to the campus, as soon as possible. The stakeholders are also vying for regional support for the project, which would extend the Millennium Line.
Original plans had the Broadway subway stopping at Arbutus Street, forcing students, staff, and anyone else wanting to get to UBC to take a bus after the subway line.
“Building SkyTrain all the way to UBC is a regional priority that will not only help connect academic and health sciences along Broadway with the rest of the region, it will put reconciliation into practice as we work in partnership with the MST Development Corporation,” Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said on Wednesday, adding the agreement “sets a new example.”
The three groups hope the eventual connection to UBC will help improve transit around the Metro Vancouver region, as well as achieve a goal of more affordable housing, better access to post-secondaries, and increased economic growth.
The CBC has aired, what can only be said, an ill informed program on streetcars.
Why am I not surprised, as the CBC folded like a cheap deck chair and started singing hosannas about Montreal’s ill advised REM Light metro.
The CBC, cheap shots on streetcars, by someone who hasn’t a clue about the modern tram is nothing more than “yellow Journalism”.
So lets look at a few facts that eludes the CBC.
SkyTrain is fast because it has fewer stations than comparable streetcar lines and fewer stations makes the transit system user unfriendly.
As streetcars or the modern tram is far more user friendly than a bus, it attracts more ridership. In Caen France, a new 16 km tram line replaced the former guided bus (ultimate BRT) and gained 22,000 more customers a day!
Do not confuse American streetcar projects with good transit, as some are political pork barrels and nothing more.
Quote: “The study says, “new streetcar investments no longer primarily improve transit accessibility. Rather, modern streetcars are part of strategic amenity packages cities use to achieve real estate and economic development goals.”In my opinion, that’s a risky strategy. Really? This why SkyTrain is being built!
Quote: “Second, I question if more people will actually start using public transit just because the ride got more attractive.” Really, user friendliness of a transit system is the prime reason for attracting of new ridership and trams are far more user friendly than a bus. See Caen!
One tires of Vancouver’s mainstream media’s ignorance of modern public transport and their continued singing high praise at the alter of SkyTrain; a dated transit system, that has only sold seven systems in the past 40 years, and not sold one system in the past decade!
During the same period over 200 new build LRT/tram/streetcar systems have been built and many of the existing streetcar/tram lines have been rebuilt to 21st century standards!
The new 16.2 km tramway in Caen, France has opened after a nineteen month build.
Granted the new tramway has used the the previous trouble prone, 15.7 km, TVR rubber tire guided bus line, which opened in 20o2 and abandoned in 2017.
The Euro €260 million (CAD $373 million) tramway opened six weeks earlier than forecast and now carries over 64,000 passengers a day. The previous TVR guided bus system carried 42 thousand passengers a day.
The Caen tramway operates three Lines and serves 37 stations.
Not bad, when one considers that metro Vancouver is spending $4.6 billion, extending its MALM lines by 12.8 km!
For a brief moment in 2010, Vancouverites and visitors to the city could travel for free from Cambie Street to Granville Island on fancy streetcars from Brussels.
It was a city pilot project, called the Olympic demonstration line, to test and promote streetcars as a public transit alternative to buses and SkyTrains. The line attracted 550,000 passengers in 60 days.
That Olympic demonstration line was not the only time Vancouver has toyed with the idea of streetcars.
In the past, the city has considered streetcar routes from Granville Island to Waterfront Station, Yaletown, Stanley Park and even all the way down the Arbutus Greenway on the city’s west side. But a decade after the Olympics, the tracks sit empty.
Why build a streetcar?
Some consider the streetcar an intermediate level of transit. It can carry more passengers than buses, and if its tracks are separated from vehicle traffic, it can be faster too.
Streetcars may not be SkyTrain fast, but they usually cost much less.
In a 2005 study, the City of Vancouver pushed for a streetcar line. The study said it would foster economic growth, connect tourists to Granville Island and help revitalize neighbourhoods.
The study also said what I imagine a lot of people are thinking: “Streetcars are just… cooler!”
Or as the report put it, “smoother rides, easier access and better viewing often translate into more riders due to the increased level of passenger comfort.”
Why pump the brakes?
Despite its supporters, streetcars in Vancouver are going nowhere fast as the decision ultimately lies with TransLink, whose response to the idea has been a hard pass.
The first phase of a proposed streetcar route is from Granville Island to Waterfront Station.
However, the No. 50 bus already runs every 15 to 20 minutes between those stops and the streetcar would actually take about six minutes longer than the bus. Viewing it this way, the streetcar wouldn’t add much to Vancouver’s transit network.
But streetcar proponents see it as an economic and neighbourhood-building solution, as much as it is a transit solution.
This difference of opinions relates to a shift in transit planning identified in a Columbia University study analyzing recent streetcar projects across the United States.
The study says, “new streetcar investments no longer primarily improve transit accessibility. Rather, modern streetcars are part of strategic amenity packages cities use to achieve real estate and economic development goals.”
In my opinion, that’s a risky strategy.
First, the neighbourhoods that the study says will be revitalized are areas where gentrification has been controversial.
Second, I question if more people will actually start using public transit just because the ride got more attractive.
When I first started riding the SkyTrain, it was thrilling. But after 10 days, 60 days, two years? Now I’m staring at my phone just like everyone else.
I still take the SkyTrain because it’s the fastest way downtown, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to use it.
That’s a lesson many cities are learning the hard way.
There are many examples of streetcars across North America. Cities such as Cincinnati, Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, and Dallas are examples of a few that were constructed under similar assumptions and are now struggling to attract users.
At the end of the day, people use transit because it takes them where they need to go quickly and reliably. I think that’s the truth whether we’re moving on roads or tracks. If we forget that, we risk building a transit service that’s just bells and whistles.
SNC Lavalin own engineering patents for the MALM (erroneously called SkyTrain) system used on the Expo and Millennium lines.
SNC Lavalin leads the consortium operating the Canada line. The BC Liberal government inspired Canada Line (faux) P-3 saw SNC Lavalin, bidding against SNC Lavalin.
On May 27th, 2009, after four years of litigation, BC Supreme Court Justice, Ian Pitfield, awarded $600,000 in damages to my company Susan Heyes Inc. as compensation for business losses caused by the construction of the Canada Line. The appeal of this ruling in my favour was heard April 15th, 2010.
Judge Pittfield called the bidding process for the Canada Line “a charade”.
In the past, the company enjoyed a good relationship with the BC Liberal government. Former Transport Minister Todd Stone publicly defended them. Former Premier Christy Clark was very close with SNC-Lavalin’s board chairman, Gwyn Morgan, who advised her on her leadership transition and, along with his wife Patricia Trottier and his company EnCana, was a huge donor to her party. All told, Morgan’s personal, family and corporate donations to the BC Liberals totalled more than $1.5 million.
SNC-Lavalin itself donated more than $27,600 to the BC Liberals — during the same period of time that they were donating to politicians in Quebec in exchange for contracts, and circumventing federal donation laws. Of course, back then B.C. had no limits on political contributions.
During the BC Liberals’ time in office, SNC-Lavalin received a number of high profile government contracts including Kelowna’s William R. Bennett Bridge, the Canada and Evergreen Skytrain Lines (where employees say they were poorly treated), the Sea to Sky Highway and the John Hart dam in Campbell River. They were also involved in the development of the Compass Card system, as well as projects with BC Ferries, and both the Kelowna and Vancouver airports. SNC-Lavalin was also an environmental consultant for Site C, and performed the environmental assessment for the recently cancelled Fraser Surrey Docks project, during which they were accused of bias.
But the company is not in our rearview window yet. SNC-Lavalin is currently being considered by the provincial government for the contract to replace the Pattullo bridge. And Metro Vancouver mayors are alarmed by the possibility the company could still get work on the massive UBC subway project.
It seems SNC-Lavalin believes they can operate with impunity. They have been accused of bribery, embezzlement, corruption and fraud in every corner of this country and the world. It would be naive to think B.C. is exempt. We need to ask some serious questions about how SNC-Lavalin has conducted its business here.
One would think that David Eby and the premier would be very concerned with SNC Lavalin’s influence in BC and how the Mayor’s Council on Transit have been falling all over themselves approving two hugely expensive transit projects ($4.6 billion) using the now obsolete Movia Automatic Light Metro, a proprietary transit system which SNC own engineering patents?
Some Councillors are taking the weekend to absorb the newly released documents that shed light on why the city’s technical evaluation team failed SNC-Lavalin’s bid for Trillium Line Stage 2 twice. (Mathieu Fleury/Twitter)
Some Ottawa city councillors are calling for answers in the wake of revelations the city’s technical evaluation team wanted SNC-Lavalin thrown out of the bidding process for the second stage of Ottawa’s north-south rail line.
Instead, the company was eventually awarded the $1.6-billion contract for Stage 2 of the Trillium Line.
“I was absolutely shocked with how poor the proposal was,” said Coun. Carol Anne Meehan. “I was blown away that they really didn’t have a clue what they were actually bidding on and that their bid contained so many gaps in what was essential.”
CBC first reported in March 2019 that SNC-Lavalin did not achieve a minimum technical score for the project. In August the city finally admitted that the Montreal-based engineering firm failed to reach the minimum threshold not just once, but twice.
But documents released by the city this week revealed for the first time details of the technical evaluation team’s report on SNC-Lavalin’s bid.
Among other issues, the SNC-Lavalin bid failed to include a signalling and train control system, had no plan for snow removal and, at one point, referenced equipment used on an electric train system as if the current Trillium Line trains were electric, and not, in fact, diesel.
The team had reached a “unanimous consensus that the proposal should not be considered further in the evaluation process,” describing SNC-Lavalin’s proposal a “poor technical submission throughout.”
‘Thumb on the scale’
Coun. Jeff Leiper said the documents were “startling in terms of the lack of information that was provided by the bidder that you would expect to see in a professional complete bid.”
When looking at the questions from the bid evaluation steering committee, which oversaw the city’s procurement process and demanded that the technical evaluators review the bids after SNC-Lavalin originally scored only 63 per cent, Leiper said it’s difficult not to think that “someone had their thumb on the scale” for SNC-Lavalin.
“It’s hard not to read the bid evaluation committees questions as loaded, as clearly indicating that the technical evaluation committee is going to come up with a different answer,” Leiper said.
Leiper said by contrast the technical evaluation committee showed “professionalism” and “clear rigour” in their exchanges.
“I was left feeling very comfortable that the technical evaluation committee took their job seriously,” he said.
How did SNC-Lavalin win the contract for the Trillium Line extension? Councillor says it’s hard to understand
Coun. Jeff Leiper says SNC-Lavalin’s bid for the Trillium Line extension was “startling in terms of the lack of information” it contained. 0:51
Coun. Shawn Menard called for an independent public inquiry.
“It is startling to read the lucid staff descriptions of the [SNC-Lavallin] bid, knowing that our senior leadership ultimately accepted that submission,” he wrote in an email.
“I voted against Stage 2 LRT precisely because I was concerned about the procurement and rush to make a decision. My fears have now been confirmed.”
A number of councillors said privately they are taking the weekend to absorb the documents — which were released at 9 p.m. Thursday, after a marathon emergency transit meeting — and may have more to say next week.
Councillors weren’t the only ones questioning how the bid was approved. At least one resident on Twitter said he wanted to see city councillors hold city staff accountable.
Staff moved bid forward
Despite the technical evaluators’ conclusion that SNC-Lavalin be kicked out of the competition, the city’s senior management team used a discretionary power outlined in a secret clause of the request for proposals that allowed the city to move a bidder forward that did not meet the minimum technical threshold.
SNC-Lavalin was then allowed to proceed to the financial evaluation round and because its bid was so much lower than the other two finalists, it came out on top as the preferred proponent. Council awarded the company the contract last March.
The city’s auditor-general has already looked at the contract procurement process for the second stage of the LRT line and found that the city had broken no rules, a point made in statements sent out from Mayor Jim Watson and O-Train construction director Michael Morgan on Friday.
No city officials could make themselves available to speak to CBC about this story.
Bombardier’s SkyTrain, a rubber tired people mover system.
Originally posted March 19, 2019.
So many politicians and members of the media still keep referring SkyTrain as a transit product. It is not, it is the name of Metro Vancouver’s regional light-metro system which comprises of a conventional railway, the Canada Line and an unconventional, proprietary railway used on the Expo and Millennium Lines, which is now called Movia Automatic Light Metro. The patents or the now called MALM system are owned by Bombardier Inc. and SNC Lavalin. Even the CEO of TransLink, Kevin Desmond doesn’t know the difference, which leaves one quite gobsmacked that he has the competence to be CEO of TransLink, especially when we are spending $4.6 billion to build 12.8 km more of it!
The Canada Line is not compatible in operation with the Expo and Millennium Lines and visa versa!
To be blunt; the Canada Line operates conventional electrical multiple unites produced by ROTEM but can also operate comparable EMU’s built by other companies.
The Expo and Millennium Lines operate the unconventional and proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro, produced by Bombardier Inc. and are not compatible with any other railway except their own family of seven lines.
SkyTrain is a rubber tired airport people mover marketed by Bombardier Inc. and has no relation to the MALM system also marketed by Bombardier Inc.
Bombardier Is Building SkyTrain at LAX…..But, It Ain’t Our SkyTrain!
Los Angeles Airport (LAX)t is building a $5 billion SkyTrain system, which may cause confusion because in Bombardier’s line of transit systems, SkyTrain is a rubber tired people mover system and not the trains used on the Canada, Expo, and/or Millennium lines.
Cries of shock and disbelief!
The name SkyTrain, which was chosen by contest, is the name for the Metro Vancouver regional rail system and not the vehicles.
Bombardier’s proprietary ART/Movia Metro is now the official name of the Expo and Millennium Line’s cars and ROTEM, a subsidiary of Hyundai, supply the electric multiple units (EMU’s) for the Canada Line.
So calling the actual trains SkyTrain is wrong as the SkyTrain regional rail system operates two distinct railways, the conventional Canada Line and the unconventional proprietary ART/Movia lines.
They are not compatible in operation.
I would surmise that Bombardier Inc. liked the name SkyTrain so much that they use it for their airport people mover system, which is far more marketable than their now obsolete ART/Movia metro system of which only seven have been built in the past 40 years!
Really, the mayor of Abbotsford is just another politician which thinks the taxpayer has deep pockets to finance dream projects.
Mayor Braun is completely out of touch about regional transit issues and wants someone else to ante up $8 billion for a rapid transit line which in fact will attract not many people.
The estimated cost to extend the Expo Line from Fleetwood to Langley will be a minimum of $1.6 billion and a rough guesstimate of $7 billion to extend it to Abbotsford. But wait, the Expo line will definitely need a $3 billion rehab to increase capacity, so the cost to extend the MALM proprietary railway to Abbotsford will not be $8 billion, rather closer to $12 billion!
So let that sink in for a while, $12 billion to extend a dated light metro system, that is not at all well designed in the first place and certainly not designed for long haul services, that does not operate in the snow.
A new rapid transit line from Vancouver to Abbotsford, using the Number one hwy, route would cost an astounding $14 billion or more!
Commuter rail is more of a joke because it would be too unwieldy and restricted to the CPR or CNR mainlines.
Rail for the Valley’s Leewood Study, shows the right direction, use the former and existing BC Electric rights-of-way, and provide a regional passenger rail service from downtown Vancouver to Chilliwack, via New Westminster, North Delta/Surrey, Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, Sardis and Chilliwack.
The cost for a 30 minute service per direction would be about $1.5 billion and would offer the right capacity to start with and can economically grow with demand.
The answer seems to simple for tax and spend politicians to understand; it isn’t an unnaffordable $12 to $14 billion rapid transit line to Abbotsford, rather an affordable $1.5 regional rail line servicing many important destinations from Vancouver , up the Fraser Valley to Chilliwack.
All Abbotsford’s mayor wants from the provincial government is up to $8 billion for transportation in the Fraser Valley.
That sum sounds like a lot of money because, again, it’s $8 billion. But Mayor Henry Braun told council Monday that he thinks a rapid transit link to Abbotsford is (relatively) affordable and can be done if the province is as ambitious as a pair of legendary British Columbia politicians.
“WAC Bennett and Phil Gaglardi were some people who made some bold moves. I think the present provincial government needs to make some bold moves and one of them would be commuter rail,” Braun said after a council discussion on feedback that Abbotsford will send to TransLink as that body shapes its plans for the next 30 years.
“I do think the day has come for lots of reasons … that it’s perhaps time that the province needs to look at borrowing $7 (billion) to $8 billion – with a B,” he said. “It should come out to Abbotsford and eventually to Chilliwack as well because there are 300,000 people that live east of the Langley border.”
Braun has regularly and repeatedly called for the widening of Highway 1 between Langley and Abbotsford, and the city has listed that project as its top transportation priority. But the province has focused more on rapid transit projects, and in December the premier’s chief of staff, Geoff Meggs, promised to meet with Braun soon to discuss the subject.
Braun said the time is right for a commuter-rail transit link between Metro Vancouver and Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Braun doesn’t believe the existing Interurban freight line through the valley will work, but said the time is right for the province to lay its own tracks out to Abbotsford.
“Interest rates are at historic lows,” he said. “There is good debt and bad debt. That would be a good debt, because that infrastructure would be built to last 100-plus years.”
Braun, who previously ran a rail construction business, said he is confident that the province could borrow such a sum and still maintain its AAA credit rating because B.C.’s debt-to-GDP ratio would still be reasonable.
“As I’ve looked at the numbers, borrowing $7 (billion) to $8 billion is doable and would not push up the provincial debt-to-GDP ratio to the levels where the rating agencies would get exercised. It’s manageable and I think that has to happen.
“The Fraser Valley can solve a lot of problems to the west of us,” he added.
Braun pointed to the lack of available industrial land in Metro Vancouver and repeated Abbotsford’s desire to remove two blocks of farmland from the Agricultural Land Reserve for such purposes.
“You have to develop regional hubs. We have a university and airport … I think we need to get a little more vocal about investing significant funds in this valley.”
One wonders why all the hype and hoopla is about with the new cars for the Canada Line?
The recently delivered cars are standard ROTEM electrical multiple units, used by several transit systems, unlike the proprietary Movia Automatic Light Metro cars, used on the Expo and Millennium Lines.
Also, very explicit is that there are no plans to extend the Canada Line, which will quieten the armchair specialists wanting it extended south of the Fraser River.
It is also clear, TransLink CEO, Kevin Desmond, is woefully uninformed about rail transit, which is probably why he was hired.
The claims of high ridership comes from the vast majority of bus customers, who used to enjoy a direct bus service to Vancouver , that are now forced to transfer from bus to metro, by signed agreement with SNC Lavalin, thus much of the ridership is from customers that have no choice but to take the metro.
Not mentioned is that the Canada Line caused a collapse of bus ridership in South Delta/Ladner, where transit customers, especially the elderly, refused to play TransLink’s game of forced transfers and want their direct buses to downtown Vancouver back. The current bus schedule is worse than the bus scheduled offered before the Canada line opened.
In the end, the Canada Line, will remain a politically inspired faux P-3, forced on TransLink by the extremely dishonest Gordon Campbell Liberal government, costing the taxpayer’s over $100 million annually to subsidize the SNC Lavalin lead consortium operating the line. The Canada Line remains woefully under built and grossly over engineered for what it does and as built, even with 12 new cars, still has less capacity than a simple tramway, at a cost up to ten times more to build than light rail.
Despite TransLink’s hype and hoopla, the mainstream media’s Goebbels Gambit of repeating TransLink’s “porkies” ad nauseaum, the Canada line is still considered a classic white elephant by transit planners outside the metro Vancouver bubble; no one has copied it.
TransLink says four new trains go online Tuesday, increasing capacity by 15 per cent during peak hours
The trains are the first group of 12 new trains that will eventually be running this year
RICHMOND (NEWS 1130) — Your commute on the Canada Line may be less cramped from now on.
TransLink says four new trains go online Tuesday, increasing capacity by 15 per cent during peak hours.
The transit authority says the trains are the first group of 12 new trains that will eventually be running as part of the Mayors’ 10-year transit expansion plan.
The additions scheduled for later this year will boost capacity by about 35 per cent compared to last year’s service.
Extra escalators will also be installed to keep up with an increase in service.
In 2019, an average of more than 150,000 trips were taken on the Canada Line daily.
Really, TransLink’s “TransLink Speak” is getting tiresome.
“Medical emergency” means another poor soul has committed suicide by throwing ones self in front of a train.
“Track issues“, translates into a host of problems, but in TransLink’s lexicon, it generally means we don’t care and any excuse is a good excuse.
What was the track issue?
Frozen/broken switch? Damage to the inductive loops? Ice build up on the reaction rail? Or?
TransLink treats its customers as cattle, generally thinking that customers are to stupid and cannot understand the reasons for the delay.
This must stop, as the public is growing very tired of it and except for a brainwashed cadre of the SkyTrain Lobby, who saturates social media with rah,rah, SkyTrain to here and there, maybe its time to demand TransLink to keep the damn train operating in winter conditions or fire senior management and find people who can.
Serious delays to downtown SkyTrain service after ‘track issue’ leads to overcrowding
A “track issue” on the Expo Line system in downtown Vancouver caused serious delays to SkyTrain service Thursday in the midst of the evening commute.
TransLink said the issue, which was first reported around 4 p.m., was affecting the track near Stadium-Chinatown Station, forcing trains to single track between Main Street and Commercial-Broadway stations.
A bus bridge was also been set up between Waterfront and Commercial-Broadway.
The Millennium and Canada lines were not affected by the issue.
TransLink has not explained what the specific track issue was.
It’s not yet clear if it was related to the heavy snow that fell on the Lower Mainland between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, or ice or flooding created by that snow.
The delay came as the evening commute ramped up, along with hockey fans descending on Rogers Arena for a Vancouver Canucks game set to start at 7 p.m.
Passengers at Main Street Station said they were frustrated by the long wait, some standing on the platform for longer than half an hour.
“There’s no one from TransLink here to tell us what’s actually happening,” one man said. “People are screwed getting home.”
Attendants were seen on platforms explaining the issue to passengers.
When trains finally did arrive at Main Street, they were too crowded for many people to get on.
The issue was finally cleared just before 6 p.m., with TransLink warning long wait times will continue as the crowds disperse and service gets back to normal.
TransLink is asking customers to be patient and follow the latest information on its website and Twitter account.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) Friday Jan. 17 2020 – It’s been a problem-filled few days for TransLink.
After major weather- and switch-related delays on Wednesday, and significant problems with tracks on Thursday, it appears the SkyTrain has taken yet another hit.
A shuttle train is in effect on the Expo Line between Burrard and Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain stations due to another track issue.
“There is currently no Expo Line service in or out of Waterfront Station,” TransLink says in a statement. “We will be deploying additional bus services to assist passengers.”
Though TransLink will not admit it, and the Mayor’s Council Transit, claims its not true, the truth is, the Expo and Millennium Lines operate with the proprietary MALM light metro system.
Bombardier Inc. is the sole source manufacturer of MALM and no other company offers an off the shelf product that can run on the MALM lines.
If Bombardier dropped the MALM product, it means much higher costs for cars, which translates in the continued use of the aging MK.1 cars and higher maintenance costs as spare parts will become hard to find.
TransLink’s “What Me Worry” attitude with the regional light metro system is more than worrying as the CEO and senior manager think the taxpayer will forever pay more and more subsidizing the aging system.
If Bombardier Inc. abandons the poorly selling MALM (only seven such system sold in 40 years) as a cost cutting measure, watch for cost increases with the $4.6 billion, 12.8 km SkyTrain building program.
The company faces lower-than-expected earnings as it struggles with staggering debt.
The future of Bombardier Inc. is being called into question after the company said it was actively considering alternatives to reduce its staggering debt.
After exiting the commercial aircraft business, selling its aerostructures unit and unloading a large tract of land in Toronto, the company said it is working to reduce debt and “solve its capital structure.” Bombardier’s long-term debt stood at more than US$9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2018.
“We are actively pursuing alternatives that would allow us to accelerate our debt paydown. The objective is to position the business for long-term success with greater operating and financial flexibility,” it said in a news release Thursday that warned about weaker financial results for 2019.
What that means is unclear, says Walter Spracklin of RBC Capital Markets.
“The company’s rather opaque language about accelerating its strategic review to ‘solve’ its capital structure will require further clarity,” he wrote in a report.
The language suggests some urgency and not just pushing out debt maturities, added Seth Seifman of JP Morgan.
“This suggests to us the potential to pursue strategic options, including a breakup and sale of all or part of the company,” he wrote. “It may include one or both of Bombardier’s two major businesses: bizjets and trains.”
Bombardier’s shares plunged more than 30 per cent to their lowest level in nearly four years following its release which pointed to a possible withdrawal from a partnership with Airbus in the commercial aircraft previously called the C Series.
The company said its financial miss is mainly due to actions taken to resolve challenging rail projects, the timing of milestone payments and new orders and the delivery of four business jets slipping into the first quarter of 2020.
The stock was down 54 cents at $1.25 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The Montreal-based company said it is reassessing its ongoing participation in the Airbus partnership about two years after giving up a controlling stake in the program to Europe-based Airbus SE.
Airbus owns 50.06 per cent of the joint venture, Bombardier 33.58 per cent and Quebec 16.36 per cent after injecting US$1 billion in 2016.
While the A220 program is gaining orders as it proves its value, additional cash will be required to support the ramp-up of production, a delay in reaching break-even and lower returns over the life of the program, it said in a preliminary announcement of its fourth-quarter and 2019 results set to be released Feb. 13.
“This may significantly impact the joint venture value,” Bombardier said, adding it will disclose any writedown next month.
Bombardier said it expects consolidated revenue for 2019 to total about US$15.8 billion and consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about US$830 million.
In October, the company, which reports in U.S. dollars, had said it expected revenue between $16.5 billion and $17 billion for the year and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion.
The company said it expects to earn zero adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter on about $4.2 billion in revenues with losses in transportation offset by earnings in aviation.
Consolidated free cash flow is expected to be around $1 billion in the fourth quarter, about $650 million lower than anticipated. However, the shortfall is expected to be recovered in 2020.
A total of 58 aircraft were delivered in the fourth quarter and 175 for the full year, including 11 Global 7500s.
Industry analysts called the financial warning negative with some cutting their price target for Bombardier’s shares.
“The key question is how much closer is the company to solving these issues, and what comfort can we get that new issues of similar scope and magnitude will not recur,” added Spracklin.
The operational issues of transportation and update on the A220 are disappointing, said Benoit Poirier of Desjardins Securities.
“Nevertheless, we note that the value of the A220 program is not currently reflected in Bombardier’s stock and therefore management’s decision to review its strategic options for the program should unlock value through deleveraging ― even at a depressed valuation,″ he wrote.
Once again, TransLink demonstrates to all that it can’t operate a popcorn stand, let alone a transit system.
TransLink has known since 1986 that the mini-metro performs poorly in the snow, yet they do little or nothing to rectify the situation.
At the same time, the bus system is reduced to shambles in snow, yet TransLink’s lethargy and incompetence takes over, such as continuing to operate articulated buses, even though they do not operate in the snow.
It seems snow is the Achilles heel of the proprietary light metro and is the leading reason Toronto wants to retire their system when it soon becomes “life-expired”. Similar complaints from the JFK/Port Authority, who operate one as well, and it to will be retired when it becomes life expired, replaced by a regular subway line.
TransLink blunders on and on, refusing to accept that there is a problem and today, actually told people on the train platforms to go home.
Sadly, TransLink, its CEO and senior management remain ignorant about user friendliness or customer needs; same as the Mayor’s Council on Transit, who could not care less.
It is time Premier Horgan to show some moral courage and abandon TransLink and start over. Managerial rot and political ennuihas taken over and unless swift action it taken, the regional transit system will become more than a joke, it will be a provincial embarrassment!
Tuesday night’s heavy snowfall has caused significant, system-wide delays across Metro Vancouver’s transit system.
In a statement, TransLink spokesperson Ben Murphy said to expect “significantly slower service on the transit system today.”
“Customers are asked to consider whether they need to travel today,” writes Murphy in an email. “And, if there is a need, whether they could consider travelling outside of rush hours, as commutes will take significantly longer than usual.”
Now, beyond just the buses, SkyTrain stations are experiencing closures due to the snow.
Other closures included Sapperton and Braid stations.
It’s gotten so bad, in fact, that TransLink is advising SkyTrain customers who are already waiting at stations to go home.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, TransLink announced that the Expo and Millennium Lines were facing system-wide delays due to freezing door and train issues.
Recent Comments