Perils of a Proprietary Pailway

Perils of a Proprietary railway. TransLink, the Mayors council on Transit and the provincial NDP have tried to whitewash the fact that the Movia Automatic Light Metro, used on the Expo and Millennium Lines is not a proprietary railway. TransLink has deliberately mislead local politicians that SkyTrain is not a proprietary railway and in the […]

Vanity Project Reality Check – The SFU Gondola

The realities of a gondola going to SFU are beginning to hit home. Simple fact is, there is no need for a gondola to SFU and the project is a “quid pro quo” for Burnaby’s support for Vancouver’s subway project and the now former mayor of Surrey’s flip flop from light rail to MALM. It […]

Snap Election Coming? The $4.01 Billion Lie

One wonders if Premier Eby is going to call a snap election in January or February? Surrey will be hotly contested as the police, flip-flop, issue is hurting the NDP MLA’s there. Nothing like “good news everyone” photo ops and 10 second sound bytes for the evening news, to try to steer the voter away […]

Provincial Government Wants On the Towers-and-Skytrain Milk Train

I welcome guest author Lewis N. Villegas. Lewis N. Villegas has over 35 years of experience working as an urban design specialist in Canada and the U.S. He completed revitalization projects in British Columbia, and New Urbanism projects in California, Utah, Oregon and Alaska. In Vancouver he designed Chinatown Square, and provided the Concept Plan […]

Those Who Do Not Read Transit History…………….

A more grist for the mill. There is a belief in North America that subways are the great panacea for urban transit. This poses a question, what is exactly meant as a subway in North America? Generally, the term subway is used to denote heavy or light metro traveling in a tunnel under the city, […]

The mayor’s Council on Transit – Lotus land’s Ship of fools

Like children playing with their Christmas morning train sets, the Mayors council on transit blunders on wanting more and more, without any care as to the cost. Not one of the mayors has any knowledge about public transit, nor seems to care about the onerous tax burden TransLink’s user-unfriendly service has become. If any of […]

Edomonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT Officially Opens

News from Edmonton. The $1.8 billion and delivered on budget,  Valley Line is a low-floor urban light rail line in Edmonton, Alberta. The 13.1-kilometre (8.1 mi) line runs southeast from downtown at 102 Street stop to Mill Woods Town Centre at Mill Woods stop, and connecting to the Capital and Metro lines at Churchill station […]

Listen To The Experts

Mr. Havacow is, what I call, a transit expert. He has worked in the field for decades and has a wealth of knowledge on all forms of transit. Cutting through the hype and hoopla of politcal and bureaucratic promises, claims, and what can be best called, propaganda, Mr.Cow calls it as it is. Why is […]

TransLink’s Hype and Hoopla About BRT Is Just Another Wet Squibb!

When is Bus Rapid Transit just a an express bus route? When TransLink claims an express bus route is BRT Real BRT operates on a fully dedicated Rights-of-Ways, with priority signalling at intersections, offering headway’s in the 2 minute to 5 minute ranges. What TransLink is palming off onto the public is a tarted up […]

Provincial Election In 2024!

SkyTrain has always been used at a photo-op for provincial elections. And the David Eby NDP government is no different. Announcing SkyTrain extensions win votes. Whether spending huge sums of money actually does anything to improve transit is another question. Contrary to the claim in the news article; “The project is estimated to cost $4.01 […]