The Canada Line was down for three hours on Friday, but if one was looking for evidence of it, well TransLink is doing its best to cleanse the internet from reporting the problem.
Trying to avoid the fiasco of last winter, where TransLink abandoned customers, when the Canada Line failed in the snow, officials were quick to get to the radio to allay fears of transit users.
The problem, was in the Automatic Train Control, where a cable failed.
Cables just don’t fail and there must be a root problem causing the failure and dirty subway tunnels and the piston action of trains operating in subway tunnels creates an extremely corrosive atmosphere.
Operators of subways have “vacuum trains” for cleaning tunnels as preventative maintenance to help keep vital signalling equipment operating.
Could it be that TransLink is unaware that subways are dirty environments and must be kept clean? Has the subway portion of the Canada Line ever been cleaned?
If the answer is no, watch out for more “cable failures”.
A London Tube "subway" cleaning train.
Update: Canada Line resuming service between Oakridge and Bridgeport
Due to a track issue, there is no service between Marine Dr Station and Bridgeport Station. Gerry Kahrmann / PROVINCE
A mechanical issue that was disrupting service on the Canada Line has been fixed and normal service is resuming.
TransLink stopped running trains between OakridgeAi??andAi??Bridgeport stations for more than two hours Friday afternoon due to a track issue.
In a press release, TransLink said a bus bridge that was established to shuttle passengers between the two stations wouldAi??continue to operate until about 2:30 p.m.
ai???Expo and Millennium Lines are unaffected, and are running normally,ai??? Jill Drews, TransLinkai??i??s media relations advisor, said in a release. ai???Additional security and Transit Police are at the stations to ensure passenger safety and crowd control.ai???
Recent problems with Bombardier’s delivery of new trams for Toronto has made Canadian customers look elsewhere.
For two long, Ottawa has twisted arms of Canadian transit operators to buy the Canadian Bombardier product, to keep production going, propping up the giant multinational company and garnering votes from Ontario and Quebec.
This is not to say Bombardier provides a bad product, as their European designed trams are well received around the world.
This has lead to complacency with Bombardier Inc., which management has completely forgotten about customer satisfaction.
Problems delivering new trams for the TTC has set off alarm bells at MetroLinx, in Ontario………….
…….. which is now procuring trams from Alstom, a well regarded French company, which is presently supplying trams to Ottawa.
Vancouver will not have this problem as our proprietary ALRT/ART system has only one supplier, Bombardier, so production delays doesn’t matter.
The Canada Line EMU’s use a dated EMU design from Hyundai and being part of the consortium operating the mock P-3, no other car manufacturer need apply.
With SkyTrain light-metro, Metro Vancouver is stuck with two suppliers, who can sell us anything because there is no competition.
There are two lessons to be learned:
Throwing money at Bombardier, does not improve management, but keeps the largely inept corporation from going bankrupt.
TransLink is screwed because of the proprietary SkyTrain system and having only one supplier.
With the order with Alstom, Bombardier will have to face stiff competition, something their tired and protected management are deathly afraid of.
So, it took the compass Card to make transit more user friendly – NOT!
Is not TransLink’s main function to make transit user friendly, so more people perceive it is a good product, use itAi?? and hope, vote accordingly if there is another plebiscite?
This is pure spin, by an organization, that can’t seem to get it’s act together.
It doesn’t take a Compass Card to provide good service, rather good management, something that TransLink dearly lacks.
Memo to TransLink: Forget about the Compass Card, the Census and trip diaries; get out of your TransLink paid car allowance cars and ride the system. Yes, ride the system for a week and all you need to know to improve the transit system will will be clear.
The knowledge the Compass Card provides, put to good use by TransLink.
TransLink using data from 1-million Compass Cards to improve service
TransLink says data from the one-million Compass Cards will help them adjust service to better meet commutersai??i?? needs.
Spokesperson Jill Drews says data has always been collected over the years, but says the card has helped increase the amount of information available.
ai???So planners before would use things like census data and we did a trip diary survey every few years to find out how customers used the system, but now with Compass, weai??i??re able to see what all of our customers are doing and target service where itai??i??s needed to make the system more efficient.ai???
She says they are hoping to see if more customers use a particular route versus other options.
ai???We could also see if the demand is exceeding the capacity and maybe increase service or propose new route space.ai???
But she says they are respecting passengersai??i?? privacy.
ai???All of the procedures that we use for the compass program adhere to the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.ai???
Drews says 95 per cent of trips on the transit system right now involve a compass product.
Photos have gone viral on the Chinese internet showing a metro station in Chongqing that was apparently constructed in the middle of nowhere.
Located on Chongqing Metro’s Line 6, Caojiawan Station was finished back in 2015. Of its three planned exits, only one is currently is in use, the other two being overgrown with weeds and shubbery. Still, even that one exit might be overkill.
After leaving the metro station, passengers enter a barren wasteland. The station is not connected to any major roads, meaning that commuters have to rely on a van service to get the rest of the way home.
A worker at the station told the Chongqing Morning Post that often there are no passengers to be found inside the station at all.
Subways sound great – at first, but when the realities of subway operation, including extremely high costs and user unfriendliness, the love affair with subways tend to wane with customers.
The huge cost of subway construction, means economies must be had and in Scarborough, those economies mean a lack of stations. Subway stations are both extremely expensive to build and extremely expensive to operate. This means the line will only have one station. It will give a fast journey time, but the time to get to the station will, in most cases, negate any time gained by a one stop subway.
What attracts people to transit?
Just about every study done on public transit point to user friendliness and ease of use as the prime reason for taking public transport.
A one stop subway is not user friendly, deterring ridership and in the end those politicians who championed a subway so they can cut ribbons at election time, maybe instead cutting their chances for reelection.
In Vancouver though, the mainstream media, a corporate controlled press, do not ask questions about transit and those politicians and their land developer friends have ensured no debate on subways will take place.
Here lies the problem with TransLink and transit in Metro Vancouver, politicians will not allow honest debate on transit, which causes the taxpayer to vote no in plebiscites.
Even the voters in Liberal friendly areas dumped the Minister responsible for transit in the last election!
What does it take for politicians to understand that the public has absolutely no confidence in transit, TransLink nor the people who run it!
And that is what the corporate controlled media and politicians are deeply afraid of.
Cut and cover subway construction, coming to Broadway very soon.
Critics shout down staff and local Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker as they challenge wisdom of replacing five existing Scarborough RT stops with one subway stop.
At a public consultation on the Scarborough subway extension, disgruntled residents were told the budget leaves no money left to rough in future stations. Building stations later would cause the line to shut down for several years, TTC project manager Rick Thompson explained.Ai??Ai??(Andrew Lahodynskyj / Toronto Star file photo)Ai??
That was the prevailing message from a packed meeting at the Scarborough Civic Centre during a public consultation on the next phase of planning for an extension of the Bloor-Danforth line to the Scarborough Town Centre.
Residents and subway critics at times shouted down staff and local Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker as they questioned the wisdom and fairness of replacing five existing Scarborough RT stops with just one new one.
The current plan, approved by a majority of city councillors, is to build a single stop at the end of a 6.2-kilometre tunnelled extension. An early estimate puts the cost of that extension at $3.35 billion, but that figure is considered preliminary and expected to rise.
That, disgruntled residents heard, has left no money to rough in future stations. Building stations later would cause the line to shut down for several years, TTC project manager Rick Thompson explained.
ai???It is so distressing that you forget everyone out here on this end,ai??? one resident said to loud applause. ai???Itai??i??s totally inappropriate to be served by one subway extension.ai???
Responding to concerns about a single new stop, Mike Logan, from the cityai??i??s planning department, explained the subway extension was conceived of as part of a larger network, including a proposed 17-stop extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, whatai??i??s being called the Eglinton East LRT.
ai???Those are all funded?ai??? someone from the audience shouted about the additional lines.
Logan explained that only the subway is fully funded with $3.56 billion committed from all three levels of government.
ai???The stations are so far apart in Scarborough,ai??? another resident shouted from the back. ai???All the rest of the city gets them close together . . . Do we not count like the rest of the city?ai???
De Baeremaeker said he continues to believe a four-stop subway should be built. He blamed ai???downtown councillors,ai??? who represent the most densely populated wards in the city, for not wanting to fund more frequent transit stops like their residents enjoy.
ai???Iai??i??ve been moving heaven and earth to try to get more stations and more money,ai??? said De Baeremaeker, appointed to champion the subway plan by Mayor John Tory, who was elected on a pledge to advocate for ai???One Toronto.ai???
De Baeremaeker blamed a ai???suburban/urban divideai??? for Scarboroughai??i??s woes.
ai???You talk to my downtown colleagues, thereai??i??s no way theyai??i??re giving us money,ai??? for more stops, De Baeremaeker said. ai???In fact theyai??i??re still trying to stop this one.ai???
A man in the audience stood several questioners later to address De Baeremakerai??i??s points:
ai???I think Councillor De Baeremaeker is misleading us when he says the downtown councillors wonai??i??t afford more money for more stops. What the downtown councillors and many others . . . wanted to do was build a network of rapid transit all over Scarborough, but Councillor De Baeremaeker and his allies prefer to spend all the money available on just the one stop subway.ai???
Several members of the TTCRiders advocacy group commented on how a comparison to the previously-planned seven-stop LRT to replace the SRT ai??i?? what was fully funded by the province ai??i?? was never done and questioned why the options presented at the meeting failed to show all the alternatives.
Council voted in March to reject a request for that cost-benefit comparison and to move forward with the one-stop plan in its absence.
Logan explained to the room that staff had never been directed to do that study.
Staff are now conducting a mandatory environmental assessment of the subway extension. Critics say the province should insist on a comparison of the extension to the light-rail alternative.
The province, which under Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has campaigned for a subway while fighting recent by-elections, has signalled they are not interested in that comparison.
Just brief notes on the election or deciphering the entrails before they get cold.
It seems the SkyTrain/TransLink curse has now caused the Liberal Minister responsible for TransLink, Peter Fassbender to lose his seat.
Regional transportation has been made the “kiss of death” for politicians by successive NDP and Liberal governments and combined with weak leadership and management in TransLink has made TransLink a black hole for just about everyone.
By forcing politically motivated transit construction onto TransLink, without any public debate only exacerbates the situation.
On Vancouver Island, E & N politics or lack there of, by the Liberals, helped the NDP secure needed seats.
The Fraser River replacement bridge for the Massey Tunnel, will be a hot topic as massively escalating costs and questionable benefits, other than letting massive tankers and colliers ply the Fraser, may be mothballed for now.
The Regional Mayor’s Ten Year transit plan is in jeopardy as the two major pieces, the Broadway Subway and Surrey’s lackluster LRT, come under greater scrutiny, especially with another plebiscite promised by the Liberals. Another plebiscite will once again doom financing and with no plan B, rubber on asphalt will become the the transit mode of choice.
The Greens must join in a coalition with the NDP to both gain credibility and sustain a change of government and government priorities and if they join the Liberals, they will be toast in the next election.
The NDP must shake off the phantom of previous bad transit decisions and look at workable and affordable transit solutions that may be contrary to local regional thought. Hint: Transit is built to move people, not to sell condos.
The Liberals, have shown no interest in regional transit, will continue to show no interest in regional transit, instead preferring vanity mega bridge and highway projects.
Road pricing has been put on a pedestal of being the great transit panacea, its not and for regional road pricing to work, taxes must be shifted off gas (gas taxes are road pricing) onto a distance based system. For real road pricing to be accepted by the population, an affordable public transit alternative must be in place. The region doesn’t have, nor is one being planned for and this must change.
The Leewood/Rail for the Valley Transportation study would give the best bang for ones buck by linking communities from Vancouver and Richmond to Chilliwack. Support for Leewood/RftV TramTrain could prove to be an electoral winner, by giving the region over 130 km of rail transit, at half the cost of a 7 km Broadway subway to Arbutus and or a poorly planned LRT in Surrey.
The Leewood/RftV TramTrain study just makes sense in today’s world and if the NDP or Greens could grasp the importance of this, they may be able to secure Liberal seats in the upper Fraser Valley.
TramTrain, a cost effective way to deal with local transportation congestion.
$8 billion is a lot of ‘spreadin around‘ money and $8 billion for one bridge seems a tad pricey.
This bridge is not about traffic congestion or better transportation, this bridge is a gift to the Vancouver Port Authority so massive Panama Max. and Cape Max. colliers and tankers can navigate up the Fraser to load LNG, American Brakken Oil and thermal coal at Surrey Fraser Docks.
At present, the tunnel acts as a dike, preventing deep draft vessels up the Fraser.
Memo to Delta Mayor Lois Jackson: Stop taking orders from Victoria and do what is best for Delta and reject the bridge.
Memo to Liberal candidate Ian Patton: Isn’t this bridge a little pricey so farmers can take their farm machinery to Richmond?
Memo to transit users: $8 billion could buy one hell of a lot of public transit in the region.
Memo to South Delta voters: you are being duped as:
The new bridge will only move gridlock a few km North. Gridlock will be massive crossing the North Arm of the Fraser River to Vancouver.
LRT is not being planned to South Delta, as it has never been planned for nor is there any money to make it happen. This promise makes nice “elect me” stories, which are nothing more than massive fibs.
If the Liberals really wanted to improve transit in South Delta, compel TransLink to bring back the direct express buses that went from South Delta to Vancouver, without forcing people to transfer to the Canada Line in Richmond. It is, what the transit customer wants.
Ai??
BC NDP say George Massey Tunnel replacement will cost $8-billion
A leaked document released by the BC NDP says the George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge will cost a lot more to finance the project than the promised $3.5-billion.
The document shows total interest costs from 2017 to 2068 are forecasted to be $8-billion.
That figure includes long-term bonds, short-term loans, and borrowing from a private partner.
In a statement, the BC Liberals fired back admitting to a loan but didn’t reference an amount.
Delta’s mayor Lois Jackson has been in favour of the project and says playing politics over this project before an election is wrong.
“They are playing politics with this and I think it is very wrong, as a Mayor’s council, that they are taking a position of this nature”, says Jackson.
“It’s election time and I really don’t believe the figures, Sorry.”
With its shelves lined with worn textbooks and corridors plastered with drawings, noisy GyermekvasA?tas Otthon on the western outskirts of Budapest seems like any normal school before the bell rings. Peer through the windows and you may see muss-haired children sitting on desks, teasing friends, toying with mobile phones or doodling in jotters as they wait for the day to begin.
But look closer and youai??i??ll notice something odd. Those textbook subjects arenai??i??t algebra or English. Instead they bear the stamp of MA?V START Zrt, the Hungarian State Railways. By the whiteboard, past the teacherai??i??s desk, a cartoon poster reveals the detailed safety procedure for what to do when a deer ai??i?? or more commonly a hedgehog ai??i?? strays onto the tracks and into harmai??i??s way. Next to it is a blueprint for the inner workings of the ultimate big toy: a locomotive engine.
Located in the suburbs at the end of the HAi??vAi??svAi??lgy tram line ai??i?? one of 10 metro and suburban lines in Budapest ai??i?? GyermekvasA?tas Otthon isnai??i??t a learned place of academia. Itai??i??s an extracurricular training ground for the 11.7km GyermekvasA?t, or Train Line 7. Travelling at 20kmh over the contours of the Buda Hills to SzAi??chenyi Hill on the forested outskirts of the city, this tram line is one of the longest and fastest of its kind in the world. And itai??i??s entirely run by children.
The second letter sent by Malcolm Johnston to Surrey council and a possible solution for South of the Fraser transportation woes.
Mayor and council;
Two weeks ago I sent a letter to Mayor and Council about modern light rail and this letter is a follow up.
Our urban transit planning is an expensive mess because those who plan for public transit, have no foundation for planning public transit. Unlike Europe, BC and Canada do not have university courses in urban transport, nor offer university degrees in modern public transport and a great many graduate planners have little or no knowledge of modern public transportation philosophy and because of this, fundamental errors are being made to long term transit planning.
Our regional transportation ills started when the then Social Credit government forced the proprietary Advanced Light Rail Transit light-metro system on the GVRD instead of originally planned for LRT.
The problem was, for the cost of LRT from Vancouver to Richmond and from Vancouver to Surrey and Lougheed mall, via New Westminster, all we got ALRT from Vancouver to New Westminster.
What the public was not told, was that ALRT was really the renamed Ontario governmentai??i??s Crown Corporation, the Urban Transportation Development Corporation, unsellable Intermediate Capacity Transportation System or ICTS.
ICTS was designed to be a bridge between what the maximum loads that could be carried by Toronto Streetcars and that of a metro or subway.
Modern LRT, with longer articulated cars, effectively and affordably bridged this gap and the need for ICTS disappeared almost overnight.
What sealed ICTSai??i??s demise was the Toronto Transit Commissionai??i??s Accelerated Rapid Transit Study (ARTS) found that:
ai???ICTS could cost as much as ten times as much as a conventional light rail line to install, for the same capacity, or, put another way, ICTS cost more than a heavy rail metro with four times the capacity.ai???
From the original 1978 GVRD Study for LRT, with estimated costs included.
The UDTC quickly renamed ICTS to Advanced Light Rail Transit, to compete against modern LRT and quickly cut a deal with the BC Social Credit government to build with the newly renamed ALRT, in full knowledge that it was a costly proprietary light-metro that was inferior to modern light-rail.
The propaganda campaign commenced creating the SkyTrain myth.
The cost of the original SkyTrain was at least twice the cost of Calgaryai??i??s new LRT and four times the cost of Portlandai??i??s new LRT line.
SkyTrain cost over twice as much as Calgaryai??i??s LRT to build; over four times more than Portlandai??i??s LRT and seven times more to build than San Diegoai??i??s premier LRT line.
As ALRT expanded, it sucked money from the rest of the transit system and prevented affordable transportation planning in the region.
Despite the fact that SkyTrain was heavily marketed and showcased at Expo 86, transit authorities that did proper due diligence rejected the proprietary light metro and Vancouver remained the sole example of ALRT operation.
The UDTC and ALRT was sold to Lavalin, which renamed ALRT to Advanced Light Metro (ALM), but Lavalin became bankrupt, in part, trying to build an ALM line in Bangkok Thailand.
As a result of the bankruptcy, Bombardier acquired the technical patents (the cars) and the Engineering patents (the guideway) stayed with Lavalin when it combined with SNC, to form SNC Lavalin.
Today what was once called ICTS is now marketed as Advanced Rapid Transit.
SkyTrain was so expensive to build, that BCai??i??s Crown Corporations Secretariat stated: Ai??ai???that the only reason rapid transit should be built was for land useai??i??.ai???
Thus the great SkyTrain density myth was created and ai???rapid transitai??i?? was built, not to efficiently and affordably move people, rather to create and increase density.
SkyTrain was not built to satisfy transit customerai??i??s needs, rather developer and land speculator needs!
This set off a chain reaction with many academics, who tried to rewrite the book why ai???railai??i?? transit was built and in doing so dismissed modern LRT as a relic, where in reality, LRT made ALRT a historical footnote!
This is an example of Lysenkoism, (The term Lysenkoism can also be used metaphorically to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social, academic,l or political objectives.) where the manipulation and distortion of LRT fabricated a predetermined decision to build with ALRT and ART in the Metro Vancouver region and it is still happening with the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway and Surreyai??i??s LRT.
The taxpayer keeps getting SkyTrain shoved down their throats.
The region needs to rethink on how and why ai???rail transitai??i?? is built as in the real world, ALRT/ART (SkyTrain) has been long rejected by transit planners.
Even the ai???white elephantai??i?? Canada Line, which is just a heavy rail metro, built as a light metro demonstrated that conventional railway was cheaper than ART.
This shows the comparison of MK.1 cars with MK.2 cars and the Canada Line EMUai??i??s. Please note that the station platform lengths, where the Canada line station platforms are half the length of the Expo and Millennium/Evergreen Line station platforms, thus the Canada line can only operate short trains and effectively has little more than half the capacity of the E & M/E Lines.
Questions that must be asked before any more investment for ai???railai??? transit:
Why is TransLink still planning for extremely expensive ART (SkyTrain) in the region, when it has been rejected by transit authorities for over fourty years?
Why have only seven SkyTrain type systems (ICTS, ALRT, ART) been built in the past fourty years?
Why has modern LRT been prevented to compete, by senior governments, against ALRT/ART in those seven application?
The answers are unpalatable for some, including those who cheerlead more building of ALRT/ART, especially in subways. What we call SkyTrain is inferior and expensive transit mode and putting it in a subway is just fiscally irresponsible.
The base principles that should guide transit planning are readily available.
Good transit provides a network of options that moves masses of commuters effectively where they need to go. Most jurisdictions canai??i??t afford a subway to everywhere so the wise course is to provide movement along the essential corridors where citizens connect.
In a tight economy, decision makers do cost-benefit analyses and deliver the best bang for the buck.
And they use universal, tried-and-tested measurements to evaluate options, striving to remove partisan and parochial and political influence from polluting the outcome.
TransLinkai??i??s present planning does not follow this pattern.
Surreyai??i??s LRT is being planned as an appendage to the Expo Line and not a transit system unto itself, which will doom it as a mediocre and expensive transit line.
The major problem confronting TransLink is that the Expo line is at capacity and it will cost between $2 billion to $3 billion to increase capacity on the ALRT/ART lines.
Today, 15,000 pphpd is the upper legal limit allowed on the Expo line. However, itai??i??s not just government paperwork and rules that holdAi??SkyTrain back, other obvious issues come into play.
Unless TransLink plans to seriously change the operating conditions on their operations certificate, higher capacity is just not going to happen. But if TransLink does want to do change things then,Ai??some seriously expensive upgrades need to be done, including power systems, swapping outAi??the out ofAi??date signaling system technology for something newer, big time softwareAi??upgrades, track and switch replacement and wholesale station rebuilding.
It is time to have a complete rethink of Surreyai??i??s planned LRT to make it a successful operation. LRT needs a plan to take Surrey and Langley transit customers, not only to destinations in Surrey, but into Vancouver and this can be done much cheaper than one would think.
After conferring with transit specialist in Canada and Europe, who have very kindly helped me in the past, I offer this three step program for an affordable LRT operation for Surrey and the South Fraser transit customer.
1)The proposed Patullo Bridge replacement must include a heavy- rail crossing (replacing the decrepit Fraser river rail Bridge) for at least two tracks, either in the form of a ai???lift-spanai??i?? or draw bridge. Dutch engineers have made great strides in water crossing, due to the topography in their country and it would be good money invested consulting with a Dutch engineering firm. The GVRD even proposed such a bridge in the late 1970ai??i??s.Estimated cost $1 billion.
Ai??
The GVRD planned for a combined LRT/heavy rail/road bridge in the late 1970ai??i??s
2) A modified and enhanced Leewood/ Rail for the Valley TramTrain (TramTrain: A tram-train is a light rail public transport system where trams run through from an urban tramway network to main-line railway lines which are shared with conventional trains. This combines the tram’s flexibility and accessibility with a train’s greater speed, and bridges the distance between a main railway stations and a city centre.) service from Langley to downtown Vancouver, allowing 20 minute headways, with double tracking in strategic locations, including the Grandview Cut (2.5 km.); Fraser Hwy. and 184th (4.5 km.) and 152nd to King George Hwy, (3.75 km.) using Diesel LRT such as the Stadler GTW which is FRA compliant.
Estimated cost $750 million.
A Stadler GTW diesel LRT in operation in the United States
3) 24 km. White Rock to Surrey Central electric LRT, via 152nd Ave. the SRR of BC (between 152ndAve. and King George Hwy.), then up the King George Hwy. to Surrey Central
Estimated cost $1 billion.
Total Cost including contingency: $3 billion
With the three step transportation program completed, it would provide direct access from White Rock & Langley to Vancouver and, thus benefitting the region with a quality and affordable ai???railai??i?? network.
With LRT, the transit customer in Langley and South Surrey can ride direct to Vancouver, without transfer, in under an hour, which is superior to any plan TransLink has offered.
This plan also offers redundancy in the transit system by having two routes from Vancouver across the Fraser River, especially as the aging SkyTrain is now prone to frequent breakdowns.
The system can affordably expand in the future, to suit the needs of the traveling public. Extending TramTrain service to Abbotsford and Chilliwack would cost under $10 million/km., cheaper than new highway construction.
The cost of the three phase transportation plan would cost about the same as the proposed $3 billion plus Broadway SkyTrain subway and attract far more new customers to public transit.
This plan demonstrates 21st Century public transport philosophy by combining modern LRT with existing infrastructure to provide the transit customer with a quality service that will not impoverish the taxpayer.
This plan should be the vision of the Mayorai??i??s 10 year plan and not the present hugely expensive parochial and politically prestigious transit planning now taking place.
Tavistock Railway Station will be seeing passengers again in 2022!
The UK is reopening once abandoned rail lines to cope with congestion and increased population.
A UK developer must pay A?13.2m (CAD $23.25m) towards the restoration of the Bere Alston Tavistock railway route before building 750 new homes.
This works out to CAD $31,000 per home.
When one looks at the massive developments happening in the Fraser Valley should not developers pay a per house rate to help with the restoration of a Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban!
Example: If 5,000 new homes are built in the Fraser Valley in 2017, then $155m could be raised to fund about 10% the interurban project and in ten years, the project would be paid for without added gas taxes or property taxes.
Something to think about in a region, where inaction to increasing transportation problems associated with increased population, is deafening.
The end of the line today, but not for tomorrow, where the line is being rebuilt to Tavistock.
Scott Brown
TransLink says data from the one-million Compass Cards will help them adjust service to better meet commutersai??i?? needs.
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