Weaver and the Greens Haven’t a Clue

Posted by on April 21, 2017 · 1 Comment 

Weaver hasn’t a clue about transit and throwing more money after bad will not improve it.

The “road pricing” issue is nothing more than a wet squib; for road pricing to be publicly accepted and successful one must have a viable and user-friendly transit system.

We don’t, not even close and Weaver throwing an extra paltry $25 million annually at transit, will make bureaucrats happy, but that is about all.

I am tired of tax and spend politicians who want more taxes for transit, but are absolutely clueless at what are transit’s ills.

The problems at TransLink are massive and road pricing will not cure it, as a complete philosophical change in providing public transit is needed.

What is needed are politicians who have taken the time actually studying regional transit issues and have a real knowledge about public transit.

The key word in this article is “rapid transit” whichAi?? indicates Weaver hasn’t a clue what he is talking about.

Tolls and road pricing are a tax and spend politicians best friends.

Road pricing, transit spending take centre stage in Green transportation platform

Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW | Vancouver’s News. Vancouver’s Talk
Posted: April 20, 2017

Road pricing, transit spending take centre stage in Green transportation platformWidespread road pricing, new transit funding, and de-privatizing B.C. Ferries are all on the menu should the BC Green Party find itself at the head of the table following the May 9 election.

The party is also pledging to press pause on the Massey Tunnel Replacement Project, pending a review of alternatives.

B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver rolled out the platform Thursday,Ai??which he says would prioritize regional planning and clean transportation.

Public transit

Weaver says a Green government would boost funding for public transit by $25-million a year with the goal of increasing service and keeping fares low.

He says the Greens would also put up a new $152-million in provincial funding to fully match funds the federal Liberals promised last year as a part of a Public Transit Infrastructure fund.

He adds a Green government would match any federal infrastructure funding dollar for dollar.

ai???Itai??i??s good public policy to match federal investment, and we know that for every dollar we spend weai??i??re getting a dolalr from the federal government that would feed into the B.C. economy.ai???

Weaver says the spending would be funded by an increase in the carbon tax $10 per year until it reaches $70/ ton.

On top of that, he says the greens would bring B.C. Ferries back into the fold as a crown corporation, arguing it is a public service and key link in the transportation network.

Tolls

While the B.C. Liberals and BC NDP have been battling it out with duelling toll-slashing policies, the Greens are going the other way.

Weaver says not only would existing tolls be left in place, but that a Green government would toll any new major road project to fund it.

Weaver also opened the door to wider road pricing once better transit is in place, including schemes that look at pricing specific areas (the downtown peninsula, for example), or full network pricing in which all drivers pay, potentially based on how far they drive.

ai???If there are transportation options available. If thereai??i??s rapid transit going all the way out to Abbotsford for example. And you start to recognzie that downtown Vancouver is congested, we could model other jurisdictions. For example, in London, it was incredibly successful to implement congestion taxes.ai???

Regional focus

Arguing that current transportation planning has been piecemeal and overly road and bridge-focused, the Greens are also pitching a ai???10-year integrated transportation plan.ai???

Weaver says the plan would look at any infrastructure upgrades in the context of regional plans and prioritize clean transportation.

That would include the controversial Massey Tunnel Replacement Project, which Weaver says heai??i??d put on hold while it gets a second look.

ai???Why are we talking about a Massey Bridge? Really itai??i??s nothing more than a jobs creation plan that will kick the problem down to the Oak Street bridge and make it much worse. Thatai??i??s not a transportation strategy. What we need is an integrated strategy. Why arenai??i??t we talking about rapid transit from say Tsawwassen?ai???

He says the party will alsoAi??back the mayorsai??i?? ai???10-year-visionai??? and match federal funding for it, support their regional transportation plans, and work together on coming up with a ai???rational tolling system.ai???

Clean transportation

Weaver says the party would promote private sector investment in clean technology and transportation initiatives to spur job creation.

He says it would also introduce initiatives to promote low carbon transportation and encourage people to get out of their cars.

Ideas on the table include breaks on tolls or parking for electric vehicles, more charging stations, better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and distance-based insurance.

Weaver says the party would also begin to assess future transportation investments in terms of sustainability andAi??their effects on long-term emissions.

Category: News Articles, Opinion, Politics, zweisystem · Tags: , , , ,

Are SkyTrain’s MK. 1 Cars Safe?

Posted by on April 20, 2017 · 2 Comments 

As the Scarborough ICTS cars and Vancouver’s MK.1 cars are the same, one would surmise there are corrosion problems with Vancouver’s cars, especially in Vancouver with airborne salt from the sea.

Does the public have the confidence in TransLink to keep them safe?

Scarborough RT vehicles need repairs to avoid ai???catastrophicai??i?? corrosion failures

TTC asking board’s permission to award $6.8-million sole-source repair contract to Bombardier.

An inspection of the TTC's aging Scarborough RT vehicles uncovered a corrosion problem. The TTC plans to award Bombardier a sole-sourced $6.8-million contract to repair the decaying fleet.
An inspection of the TTC’s aging Scarborough RT vehicles uncovered a corrosion problem. The TTC plans to award Bombardier a sole-sourced $6.8-million contract to repair the decaying fleet.Ai??Ai??(Marcus Oleniuk / Toronto Star file photo)Ai??Ai??
By Ben SpurrTransportation Reporter
Tues., April 18, 2017

The TTCai??i??s aging fleet of Scarborough RT vehicles has a corrosion problem that could cause ai???catastrophicai??? structural failures if not addressed soon, and the transit agency plans to award embattled rail manufacturer Bombardier a sole-sourced $6.8-million contract to conduct the urgent repairs.

The TTC uncovered the corrosion issue during an inspection of its fleet that it undertook after council voted to extend the life of Line 3 (Scarborough RT) until the Scarborough subway extension opens a decade from now.

ai???When we peeled the floors back, we found that some of the vehicles had holes the size of toonies, and a lot of wear,ai??? said Raffaele Trentadue, the TTCai??i??s head of rail cars and shop.

Trentadue said the problem was caused by decades of snow and salt accumulating near the doorsof the 32-year-old vehicles.

This photo shows corrosion in one of the Scarborough Rapid Transit cars. The TTC has discovered corrosion problems in the cars that need to be repaired, otherwise they could lead to catastrophic structural failures.

This photo shows corrosion in one of the Scarborough Rapid Transit cars. The TTC has discovered corrosion problems in the cars that need to be repaired, otherwise they could lead to catastrophic structural failures.

 

The corrosion has affected load-bearing joints of the door post and car-body frames. According to a report going to the TTC board on Thursday requesting funding for the repairs, if the decaying parts arenai??i??t fixed ai???as soon as possibleai??? the corrosion might compromise the vehiclesai??i?? structural integrity. That could ai???potentially lead to catastrophic vehicle failure and put the service plan of operating the system until 2026 at risk.ai???

TTC chief operating officer Mike Palmer said thereai??i??s ai???no questionai??? that the vehicles are safe but the TTC needs to take proactive measures to ensure they remain that way.

ai???From our point of view this is a good news story. This is us not ignoring a problem, and (instead) dealing with it in quality way and in a swift way which also will benefit customers for the next 10 years,ai??? he said.

The TTC first discovered the corrosion in 2015, but Palmer said it took until now to devise a fix for the problem.

The TTC sent one car each to Bombardier and a Montreal-based company called CAD Rail to test each vendorai??i??s repair methods. Third-party consultants determined that only Bombardier was capable of developing a repair that would last 10 years, which is why the TTC is recommending awarding the repair contract to the company on a sole-source basis.

Although Bombardier has faced fierce criticism for its repeated failure to deliver new light rail vehicles for the TTC and Metrolinx, Palmer said comparing the companyai??i??s ability to fix corrosion with those projects would be ai???a bum steer.ai???

A company that Bombardier later bought built the Line 3 cars, and Bombardier still owns proprietary information about the vehicles. Palmer said the company was best positioned for the repair job, and added that the consultant determined that the price Bombardier quoted for the work is fair.

If the TTC board approves the contract, the vehicles will be shipped by truck more than 300 km to a Bombardier facility in Kanona, New York that specializes in refurbishing rail cars.

The Line 3 fleet consists of 28 vehicles, and all 26 that havenai??i??t already undergone repairs will likely need work.

The TTC has few vehicles to spare however, which means there will be reductions in service. Until the repairs are completed sometime next year Line 3, which carries about 3.4 million people annually, will be down to five trains of four cars each, instead of the usual complement of six trains.

The Scarborough RT was originally supposed to be decommissioned and replaced by an LRT line, which would have necessitated replacement bus service for about four years while the LRT was being built.

That changed in 2013 when council voted to build the controversial Scarborough subway extension instead, and to spend $170 million to extend the Scarborough RTai??i??s life and then tear it down once the subway opened.

At the time, the subway extension was expected to enter service in 2023, but that has now been pushed back to 2026, meaning the TTC will have to keep the SRT system running for even longer than expected.

Asked whether the Scarborough RT will last that long, Palmer responded ai???I donai??i??t have a crystal ball.ai??? But he said he was ai???reasonably confidentai??? that the latest round of repairs will keep them in service for a decade.

The TTC has already repaired the vehiclesai??i?? steel-and-fiberglass bodies, overhauled their mechanics, and upgraded the lineai??i??s track, signalling, and civil structures. Palmer said the work is paying off and delay minutes have been reduced by a whopping 79.2 per cent since 2014.

ai???You can keep any vehicle going for as long as you like,ai??? Palmer said, ai???but obviously, the older they get the more you spend, and the more you have to be innovative.ai???

 

 

Category: News Articles, Opinion, Rail for the Valley, Reference Material / Education, SkyTrain and the Canada Line, zweisystem · Tags: , , , , , , ,

German public transport sets new record

Posted by on April 19, 2017 · 3 Comments 

No surprise here!

After the “locust years” of the 70’s and 80’s, German tramways have reinvented themselves and very successfully too. German tramways have set the standard for modern efficient and cost effective operation.

The key for this success?

German tramways are very user-friendly!

On another note, buses only made slight gains in ridership, when compared to the tram.

German tramways have done very well attracting the motorist from the car.

German public transport sets new record

Written byAi?? Quintus Vosman

Use of both local and long-distance public transport services in Germany grew by 1.5% in 2016 to reach a new record of 11.38 billion journeys, according to provisional results published by the German Federal Statistics Office Destatis, which attributes the growth to an increase in population, employment and students.

Local public transport accounted for the majority of the traffic with 11.2 billion passengers, a 1.4% increase. LRT saw an increase of 2.2% to 3.97 billion passengers, while rail including S-Bahn services also recorded a rise of 2.2% to 2.63 billion journeys. Bus transport was almost stagnant with only a 0.5% increase to 5.3 billion journeys.ai???The number of passengers using local services has steadily increased since 2004, the first year for which comparable data are available,ai??? Distatis says. ai???In 2016, passenger volume was almost 1.3 billion higher (+12.7%) than 12 years earlier. Particularly strong growth was recorded in rail traffic (+34.6%) and in tram transport (+18.1%). On the other hand, local bus services recorded a slight increase of 0.9%.ai???

Long-distance rail transport saw a 5.3% increase to 138 million passengers, which Destatis says is due to an expansion of services and special offers.

The boom in long-distance bus transport, created by the opening up of the market, appears to have come to an abrupt end, with only moderate growth of 4.3% in 2016 to 24 million passengers.

Category: Latest News, News Articles, Reference Material / Education, zweisystem · Tags:

Edmonton LRT – To Be or Not To Be, That is The $220 Million Question

Posted by on April 15, 2017 · 1 Comment 

The question Edmonton transit planners are being asked; “Does transit need to be user friendly or auto friendly ?” In Edmonton to be auto friendly means adding at least $220 million to the cost of the project.

What this article illustrates is the cost difference between LRT and a light-metro and I think that the planners are under valuing the cost of building an elevated light-metro.

A fully elevated LRT light-metro would cost at least double of that of an at-grade/on-street LRT. A fully elevated line would also ill serve low-floor cars and a one minute shorter journey time is hardly worth $220 million.

There are hidden costs with elevated construction, including extra maintenance costs toAi?? and fewer stations, thus making an elevated light-metro less user-friendly and user friendliness is the top reason why transit customers take transit.

Is $220 million for a minute faster trip a worth while expense?

For Edmonton, it is the $220 million question.

 

Edmonton is weaning itself from German style S-Bahn to classic Style of European LRT, complete with low-floor trams

Raised track would cut wait times at the Whyte Avenue intersection by 20 or 30 seconds

ByAi??Natasha Riebe, CBC News Posted: Apr 14, 2017

The Valley Line LRT could be elevated from the 83rd Street and 82nd Avenue intersection to 85th Street and 90th Avenue through the Bonnie Doon area.The Valley Line LRT could be elevated from the 83rd Street and 82nd Avenue intersection to 85th Street and 90th Avenue through the Bonnie Doon area. (City of Edmonton)

Plans for a neighbourhood-friendly commuter train running at street level through Bonnie Doon could be at risk if Edmonton city councillors entertain a new proposal to change the Valley Line LRT design.

A report released Thursday presents the option of elevating the track alongAi??83rdAi??Street, east of BonnieAi??DoonAi??mall,Ai??from north ofAi??90thAi??Avenue to south ofAi??WhyteAi??Ai??Avenue at a potential cost of $125 million toAi??$220Ai??million.

Neighbouring communities that would be affected the most by an elevated train include Idylwylde, Holyrood and Strathearn.

The current plan is to build a 27-kilometre low-floor tram-style train running at street level from Mill Woods in the southeast to Lewis Farms inAi??the west.

Dave SutherlandDave Sutherland with the Holyrood Community League, pictured on a train in London, England, says a metro-style LRT would be a visual and psychological barrier. (Supplied)

“One of the goals is to have it integrated with the neighbourhoods where you can just walk up to the station and catch the train,” Dave Sutherland, civics director with the Holyrood community league, said Friday.

“Elevating it changes that perception to a metro system where it’s fairly disconnected from the community,” Sutherland argues.

A raised track would look similar to Vancouver’s SkyTrain and create a visual and psychological barrier, Sutherland said.

“It wouldn’t feel like it’s a neighbourhood streetcar anymore, it would feel like you’re getting on to a major metro system.”

The raised track would speed up LRT trips by about one minute and shorten wait times for vehicles at intersections, according to the report.

“The wait times they’re looking at would only vary by 20 seconds or 30 seconds,” Coun. Ben Henderson said.

‘What they’re proposing right nowAi??seems like overkill to me.’ – Coun. Ben Henderson“For that we would be spending up to $220 million.”

Henderson recognizes the ongoing headache of heavy congestion at intersections such as Whyte AvenueAi??and 83rd Street.

“I don’t think we can make that go away by raising the LRT,” he suggested. “I think that’s in the nature of the amount of traffic that tries to goAi??through there at rush hour.”

A big reason to build the LRT, he pointed out, is to give people an easier way to get around the city and reduce the number of vehicles on Edmonton streets.

He suggested only a portion of the track should be raised around the heaviest intersection at Whyte Avenue, not for seven or eight blocks.

“What they’re proposing right now seems like overkill to me.”

Learn from past mistakes, avoid delays

It’s safe to say nobody wants delays and technical problems similar to those that beset the Metro Line, which opened two years after theAi??initial deadline.

Henderson said he wants the city to get the Valley LineAi??right.

“I suspect they’re being extra cautious after the Metro Line decision was made, which was made without good information,” Henderson said of the recent report.

Building the $1.8-billion southeast portion of the Valley Line between Mill Woods and downtown is expected to take another two years.

Adding an elevated track would drag out construction for at least another six months,Ai??Sutherland pointed out.

“Plus it would be much more intensive construction, with building piers and overhead stations and things like that,” he said.

The option to raise the track alongsideAi??Bonnie DoonAi??mall is not in the original budget for the project.

The company building the line, TransEd, said if the city decides to go ahead with the grade separation at Bonnie Doon, the company could finance it and increase monthly payments on the 30-year period.

City councillorsAi??are scheduled toAi??discuss the report at a committee meeting Tuesday.

Update, April 19.

 

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Our politiciansai??i?? transit shenanigans are causing civic suicide

Posted by on April 12, 2017 · Leave a Comment 

The Mayors Council on Transit is doing the same thing here, the huge costs of the poorly designed Surrey LRT and the insane and politically prestigious Broadway subway, which will burden the taxpayer with huge tax increases.

The only difference is that the Toronto Star newspaper is actually doing good reporting on the transit issue, unlike our mainstream media which has never offered an honest story on transit and the transportation scene for almost fourty years!

Sadly, our local media would rather support SkyTrain light metro to curry political favour than report the truth.

The taxpayer has been misinformed on transit and ill served by the mainstream media, where a little honesty in reporting transit issues is sorely wanting.

Questions for Postmedia, the Black Press, Glacier, CORUS, CBC, GLOBAL, etc.:

  1. “Why has only seven of the proprietary and often renamedAi?? transit systems have been built in fourty years?
  2. Why has ALRT/ART have been rebranded (ICTS, ALRT, ALM, ART)Ai?? four times in fourty years?
  3. Why has, what the region calls SkyTrain, never been allowed to compete against LRT?
  4. Why has no other transit authority copied Metro Vancouver’s exclusive use of light-metro?
  5. Why has there been no serious public consultation on building with light-metro?

Is everyone in the mainstream media afraid to ask tough questions?

Our politiciansai??i?? transit shenanigans are causing civic suicide: James

The very government closest to the people has proven to be the one most corrupted by the politics of transit planning. The Scarborough subway is the latest example.

By Royson JamesToronto Politics Columnist
Mon., April 3, 2017

Transit decisions of all kinds, including this weekai??i??s city council vote to push ahead with the Bloor-Danforth line extension to the Scarborough Town Centre, provide further evidence that you canai??i??t fight city hall.

The very government closest to the people and most susceptible to pressure from the masses has proven to be the one most corrupted by the politics of transit planning.

The political apparatus, once ramped up and placed in the hands of a mayor, becomes a marauding force capable of delivering the vilest conclusions in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Instead of going where the evidence takes him or her, our mayors declare a position on the campaign trail, get elected, claim the mandate of the electorate, marshal the cityai??i??s compliant bureaucrats, commission studies that support the prevailing position, ignore evidence to the contrary, trumpet every smidgen of supporting document and bury conflicting findings, repeat the campaign dogma ad nauseam until the very falsities become ingrained as fake truths ai??i?? and before long the very citizens believe the lies and clamor for the very solution that is destined to destroy the very enjoyment of their city.

Such is the case of transit planning in Toronto. Itai??i??s been trending this way for decades. It is particularly galling now, in 2017, because the region is on the cusp of a grand transit expansion and massive expenditure. And we are deliberately making critical and costly ai???mistakesai??? that will bedevil commuters for generations.

In a sense, we get what we deserve. But itai??i??s almost as if we are all stuck in this vortex, unable to disentangle, destined to self-destruction. Civic suicide.

Deliverance normally rests with politicians. Or civil society, including opinion leaders and the media ai??i?? dismissed by demagogues as the elite. Or the masses. Or a combination, in desperate times. It will be a while before we fully realize how our guardians spectacularly failed the city region in this critical era of transit building. The extent of the damage depends on how much Torontonians care to learn about their real needs and insist on getting transit right.

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.

Unfortunately, most of our transit debates start and end with technology. Streetcars and bus bad, subways good. This prevailing view forgets a key element of successful transit systems: they provide the appropriate transit mode for the appropriate needs, always looking to future demands and growth. So, for example, at some point in the future, Highway 7 will have a rapid transit system running there ai??i?? either a subway, or the subway equivalent of the year 2095. But, for now, a BRT is the appropriate choice.

To patiently wait for the evolution from bus to rail requires much civic maturity. This is especially difficult, given our history of largesse, political back-scratching, immoral decision-making and brutal choices that force the aggrieved to say, ai???If they can get a subway, what about us. What are we chopped liver?ai???

Sheppard jumped the queue. The line is nowhere near capacity and the promised jobs and densities far from realized.

The University-Spadina extension to Vaughan corporate centre was greased by political patronage and private deal-making, admitted former Ontario deputy premier Greg Sorbara in his memoirs.

Next, watch for this: Richmond Hill and York Region will find a political white knight to propel the Yonge subway extension north of Steeles, ahead of essential fixes downstream that are to alleviate overcrowding on Line 1.

So, what to do?

The agencies (Metrolinx and TTC) and their boards, hired to provide uncontaminated reports, too often succumb to political pressure. And media is too often distracted and prone to reflect public impatience to the point of adopting the attitude of ai???just build something.ai???

Is there a better system? Are there democratic jurisdictions that have managed to plan transit according to real needs, not political exigencies? We need to learn from these.

 

Royson Jamesai??i?? column appears weekly. rjames@thestar.ca

 

 

Category: Opinion, Politics, Reference Material / Education, zweisystem · Tags: , , , , , ,

Autonomous Trams – Coming Sooner Than You Think

Posted by on April 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment 

Driverless trams are coming much sooner than one thinks.

A recent article in Tramways & Urban Transit, illustrates the strides taken with automatic operation of trams and light rail.

For several years tram manufactures have been experimenting with forward, side and rear scanning radar to prevent accidents, in fact most of the modern safety features on today’s automobiles have come from these experiments.

Trams, which are guided by rails would be much safer than an autonomous bus because if something goes wrong with a tram, it stays on its tracks, not so with a bus which can skew and cause an accident.

What may beAi?? of local interest, the autonomous tram will be cheaper to operate than the driverless SkyTrain!

******************************************************************************************

Stockholm City Autonomous Tram by Vanessa Sattele, Patrik Pettersson & Fredrik Nilsson

 

 

 

Vanessa Sattele

A project sponsored by Alstom to designed a future autonomous tram for Stockholm City, 2025 saw three designers- Vanessa Sattele, Patrik Pettersson & Fredrik Nilsson came up with this double decker tram that designed in a Scandinavian way, being clean, simple and bright at the same time as it is timeless, open and user friendly.

Stockholm City
Autonomous Tram

The new double-decker the tram carries about 170 passengers, but on a smaller footprint than standard trams, hence it creates less of a blockade in traffic. It also gives an opportunity to have less seats on the street level floor, creating a more spacious and accessible area for wheelchairs, prams or lots of luggage. Having doors on the second floor opens up new possibilities, not only to speed up the flow of exiting and entering the tram, but also offers instant access to big shopping centers directly from the second floor.

Vanessa Sattele
Stockholm City

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A Letter to the Editor

Posted by on April 8, 2017 · 3 Comments 

This letter says it all.

Writer says SkyTrain is obsolete. Ai??Ai??Photograph By file

Editor:

Re: Qualtrough on board with Delta’s call for light rail, March 29

It always amuses me when politicians talk about transit when they know absolutely nothing on the subject. Both Delta MP Carla Qualtrough and Mayor Lois Jackson know almost nothing about transit, except for the politically acceptable catch phrases.

Here is a quick primer: Light rail is a steel wheel on steel rail transit system that has the ability to operate in mixed traffic (streetcar) if need be.

Rapid transit, the Canada Line and the Expo/Millennium lines are not light rail at all, rather they are part of the “heavy” rail family called lightmetro. Both of Metro Vancouver’s lightmetro lines are driverless, thus unable to operate in mixed traffic.

LRT made light metro obsolete in the late 1980s because it is cheaper to build, maintain and operate and has the added benefit of higher capacity.

The Canada Line is really a heavy-rail metro, built as a light metro, and because costs were escalating, the scope of the project was greatly reduced. The Canada Line was built on the cheap and as a result, its truncated stations have platforms only 40 metres long, half the length of the SkyTrain stations.

This means the Canada Line has about half the capacity of the SkyTrain lines and why the Canada Line seems full.

The cost today to increase the capacity of the Canada Line is about $1.5 billion and must be done before any expansion takes place.

The proposed bridge replacing the perfectly good George Massey Tunnel is not being designed for rapid transit at all, for if it were, it must be able to accommodate 300-ton trains and unless tracks are laid, when constructed, rapid transit will never cross the bridge.

Qualtrough and Jackson are the epitome of the problem with regional transit: they know little or nothing about it and instead of admitting to this, they oversee the spending of billions of taxpayers’ dollars on grossly overpriced vanity projects.

D. Malcolm Johnston

Category: Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Politics, SkyTrain and the Canada Line, zweisystem · Tags: , , ,

Tram-trains on test in Sheffield

Posted by on April 6, 2017 · Leave a Comment 

TramTrain operation is expanding at a good pace in Europe, where the economy and customer friendliness of the mode is now established.

Is it not time our politicians, planners and especially BC Transit and TransLink have a look at the mode?

I find it disturbing that TransLink is so ready to foist an European road pricing scheme on the lower mainland, but rejects any look and a very successful and affordable European transit mode, such as TramTrain, to improve regional transit.

It seems TransLink is only interested in new taxing scheme to fund their program of grossly incompetent and negligent transit planning.

Tram-trains on test in Sheffield

05 Apr 2017

UK: Non-passenger-carrying tests of the Class 399 tram-train vehicles have started on the Supertram network in Sheffield. Driver training is due to begin shortly, with passenger services on the existing tram network now expected to begin in mid-2017. Testing on the national rail network is currently expected to start next year, with tram-train services between Sheffield and Rotherham now planned for 2018.

Stadler Rail Valencia has delivered seven Citylink tram-trains since late 2015, under a contract awarded in 2013. The eventual service pattern would see three services per hour run from Parkgate Retail Park in Rotherham to Rotherham Central station, before joining the existing Supertram network via a new connection at Meadowhall South and then running to Sheffield city centre.

The tram-train pilot is being led by South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in partnership with the Department for Transport, Network Rail, tram operator Stagecoach Supertram and franchised train operator Arriva Rail North. As well as new rolling stock, it includes infrastructure work to enable the proposed service.

Category: Latest News, News Articles, Rail for the Valley, Reference Material / Education, TramTrain, zweisystem · Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Subway Panacea Myth

Posted by on April 5, 2017 · 2 Comments 

Subway here, a subway there, a subway everywhere.

The notion that a subway is best way to solve congestion, emanates from the USA where it is considered the biggest is the best. The more expensive a transit project is, the better it is.

This is simply childish.

Subways are built on transit routes which have the ridership that demands long trains, traveling at close headway’s which in turn demand grade separation and subways are aesthetically more pleasing than elevated construction, even though they may cost three or four times more to build.

Subways are also extremely expensive to operate as each station must have elevators and escalators, lighting, ventilation, fire suppression equipment, etc.

What is missing is the key ingredient of providing good transit and that is user-friendliness, which subways just do not provide, thus they are poor in attracting new ridership.

Then there are ongoingAi?? maintenance issues which subways tend to become money-pits always sucking money from the rest of the transit operation.

The Broadway subway neither has the ridership nor the capacity to sustain itself and will be a financial black hole further driving up TransLinks costs.

The Broadway subway is only being built for one reason and one reason only: To ensure profits for Liberal/Vision Vancouver’s political friends, the Condo Kings and land speculators who will make windfall profits on assembled lands where subways stations are planned, all at the expense of taxpayers.

 

Cut and cover subway construction, a la Cambie St., coming to Broadway very soon.

A subway is not the way to prosperity for Scarborough or Toronto: James

There are much better projects council could spend taxpayersai??i?? money on. But our city politicians have put us on a path to transit bankruptcy.

By Royson JamesToronto Politics Columnist
Mon., March 6, 2017

There are so many misconceptions and alternate facts circulating around how pampered, or not, Toronto taxpayers have become that the subject begs another column or two.

But there is also this.

Nobody is helped ai??i?? and all taxpayers are angered and harmed ai??i?? when valuable and tight tax dollars are spent on projects that have no chance of fulfilling the stated goal.

Such is the case of the extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway up to the Scarborough Town Centre.

The project would add one new station. An aggrieved constituency of Scarborough residents who feel they get no respect will be temporarily satiated. The corridor now served by an aging RT will get the highest order of transit, even if that is an overbuild. Politicians who have peddled trumped-up claims of benefits that will never be realized in our lifetime will get re-elected.

But will the subway deliver transit benefits to Scarborough residents in keeping with its bulging price tag? No. Will it deliver what transit projects in this city are supposed to deliver? No.

The transit corrider where the Scarborough RT, above, now runs is set to get a subway.
The transit corridor where the Scarborough RT, above, now runs is set to get a subway.Ai??Ai??(Marcus Oleniuk / Toronto Star) | Order this photoAi??Ai??

Will it enhance the growth and viability of downtown Toronto? No. Does it improve access to work and school for the largest number of Scarborough residents? No.

And does it deliver growth and development in the corridor as promised? History says no ai??i?? though developers will make lots of money while the residents who purchase the condos have only slightly improved access to the jobs because the jobs are spread out across the region and not where the subway runs.

Are there better transit modes and better routes and better ways to spend the $2 billion, that has risen to $3.35 billion, with alerts from the same estimators that it could jump to $5.2 billion, and a near certainty it will hit $6 billion?

Yes, yes, yes.

None of that will matter next week and next month and whenever city council debates this project. This is a runaway train that cannot be stopped. And it is a sorry tale of how dangerous and useless transit planning is in our city and the GTA.

I think I am right in there with the subway lovers. And Iai??i??ve written in this space that if the city wanted $500, $1,000 from me and all its citizens to set in motion a plan to blanket the region with subways, Iai??i??d sign up.

Iai??i??d start with linking the Yonge and University lines along Sheppard. I know that area and see how stupid it is not to be able to link both ends of the city. Iai??i??d take Sheppard Subway out east to link with the above Bloor-Danforth extension at Markham Rd. or McCowan. Then Iai??i??d extend the Yonge line to Newmarket, for crying out loud. And take the Bloor-Danforth line west out to the airport. And then Iai??i??d do the downtown relief line.

Thatai??i??s the view of a regular guy who travels every now and then and gets subway envy from looking at transit maps in Paris and London and Barcelona and Washington.

But that view is so wrong. And so whack. And so uninformed. And so, so, so Toronto. It will bankrupt us, without achieving the goal of transit expansion: give commuters a better option to the car; make transit more competitive with driving; deliver new riders to transit and, by so doing, free up congested road space.

Everything else is hubris and political palaver and a colossal waste of money ai??i?? which is where we are as a city region.

The transportation experts who have been studying our travel patterns for decades ai??i?? and are not encumbered by the re-election agenda of their political masters ai??i?? say this: Torontoai??i??s subway system ai??i?? and GO rail network ai??i?? exists to deliver commuters to the downtown core where the majority of our jobs reside. In fulfilling this role, the system is a huge success. But the projects being promoted now do not address congestions and deliver new riders and support economic growth.

Much of the improvements in the suburbs should come from express buses, bus rapid transit and light rail on their own corridors.

To say this is to be branded a suburban hater, or worse. It is to go against the tide which says if the wilds of Jane and Highway 7 deserves a subway, then Scarborough Town Centre certainly deserves one. Maybe neither does. Maybe neither delivers the benefits we imagine.

Consider that 60 per cent of Scarborough residents who get around by transit are not heading downtown where the subway goes. Where is the transit for them?

Three of every four Scarborough residents heading downtown are already on transit, leaving limited growth potential for those going where the subway goes, downtown. In fact, the transit percentage use, or modal split, is higher than for East York or Etobicoke commuters heading downtown.

Yet the narrative propagated by our city politicians and believed ardently by citizens is the way to prosperity and self-worth is via the highest order transit, even if it costs $1.45 million and counting for every potential new rider ai??i?? a performance thatai??i??s sure to bankrupt the system.

Much, much more on this later.

 

Royson Jamesai??i?? column appears weekly. rjames@thestar.ca

 

 

Category: News Articles, Opinion, Politics, SkyTrain and the Canada Line, zweisystem · Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This Is No April Fools – None The Less, The Fool Is The CBC

Posted by on April 2, 2017 · 1 Comment 

I just shake my head at this.

At first, I thought it was an April fools joke, but no, it’s not, rather it is a reporting farce.

A chap who is a mining shill, with no expertise in public transport is calling for a subway to be built to UBC.

All he is trying to do is secure $5 billion worth of work for his engineering buddies and that is all what a $5 billion SkyTrain subway under Broadway will do!

Subways not only cost a lot of money to build, they cost a lot of money to operate and maintain and unless there is sufficient demand for a subway, at least with traffic flows in excess of 15,000 pphpd, those maintenance and operational cost will come back to haunt the taxpayer.

Obviously the so called expert, when he cited the Canada line being “overwhelmed” by customers, was not expert enough to know that the Canada Line’s design, because of the massive costs of subway construction, was truncated to the point it only has 40 metre long station platforms and can only operate two car trains and has effectively one half the capacity of the Expo and Millennium/Evergreen Lines, which station shave 80 metre long station platforms.

The Canada Line could barely handle the bus customers who are forced to transfer to the mini-metro, when it opened.

As for the CBC, such BS reporting, an utter disgrace.


B.C.’s short-sighted transit planning keeping UBC subway line from getting on track, says expert

ai???Subways are not built on the here and now,’ says Mauro Chiesa, infrastructure development expert

'Itai??i??s a 30 to 50 year game, said Mauro Chiesa who says B.C. lacks transit planning and goes at projects backwards, by waiting for public funds instead of hustling up private sector support for SkyTrains and subway extensions.

ByAi??Yvette Brend, CBC News Posted: Apr 01, 2017

Critics calling for a subway line extension to theAi??University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus say a recent infusion of government cash for transit in B.C. ignores an overall lack of vision resulting from a dearth of planning.

“No subway was ever justified on the here and now,” said Mauro Chiesa, a transit development expert who has organized the financing of tunnel projects world-wide.

He says that even with the B.C. LiberalsAi??promisingAi??to match Ottawa’s $2.2 billion for projects such as the SkyTrain link along the Broadway corridor, TransLinkAi??still remains “woefully underfunded.”

“It’s a 30 to 50 year game,” said Chiesa, sayingAi??trains and tunnels sometimes need to be builtAi??ai??i??Ai??even if they’re underusedAi??at first.

30-100 year plans

A 10-year plan like TransLink’s is not enough, he said, adding that Paris plans 100 years ahead for its transit.

Many cities turn to private financing before appealing for public funding, and the arrangements are often made well in advance.

But not in B.C.

Transit projects here tend to arrive at the the station just in time, and are quickly overloaded by users.

That’s what happened on the Canada Line as it became overwhelmed at key points by the influx of Evergreen Line passengers after it opened late last year.

For the rest of the story….

Category: Latest News, News Articles, Opinion, Politics, Puff Piece, SkyTrain and the Canada Line, zweisystem · Tags: , , , ,