Monkey See – Monkey Do

The Surrey LRT (in dark green) will just inconvenience the bus customer with an unwanted transfer and one can lose upwards of 70% of potential ridership per transfer. Well, the Liberals re-announced an already pledged monies to fund one third of the Broadway subway if elected, now it is the Conservatives turn to re-announce already […]

Faster Transit May Cause Congestion

An interesting item from the BBC, especially when everyone points to speed as paramount for good transit. What the following does illustrate, is the ongoing scientific exploration of public transit overseas, completely missing in North America, where instead, shysters try to sell politicians one gadgetbahnen after another or subways as the great cure for congestion. […]

Forward Thinking – Absent In BC

Now here is a politician who looks three minutes into the future, wanting existing rail lines preserved for future use. We lost the rails in the Kelowna/Vernon corridor; we are about to lose the E&N; and the city of Vancouver is making damn sure that the Arbutus Corridor is not used for rail! The political […]

Since When KPMG Become Transit Consultants?

The following news headline from the CBC Cabinet ministers met publicly with KPMG while firm’s tax ‘sham’ under CRA probe may pose some questions, but UBC prof. Patrick Condon would like to remind us all that……..   This is the firm UBC and City of Vancouver entrusted our study of the Broadway subway to. Sheesh. […]

When Idiots Run For Election, They Promice Anything!

So the Federal Liberals are promising $2.1 billion for Surrey’s ill designed and poorly thought out proposed LRT and the Conservatives are planning to do the same as well. Don’t these idiots realize that the regional taxpayer rejected this very same LRT line in the plebiscite held last spring? I doubt it as both federal […]

The Boarders Railway Reopens After 47 Years! Leewood/RftV Interurban Is a Bargain!

The Beaching era in the UK saw the dismantling and the run down of Britain’s extensive railway network. Though some railway lines deserved to be abandoned, many did not. The Beaching philosophy was that railways were obsolete, with the exceptions of two trunk lines running North/South and one East/West, all other railway lines, except for […]

Pork Barrel Alert!

Well the TransLink pork barrel continues unabated and the real message this conveys is that the premier only regards TransLink as a dumping ground for Liberal lickspittles. The two appointees have absolutely “0” knowledge about public transit and like good little puppies, will do as they are told. Something like the “Duffy Affair”. Expect no […]

Used DMU’s for RftV?

Even though our local politicians haven’t a clue about the ‘Rail for the Valley’ project, European professionals are, as evidenced by the following letter. Dear Sir and Madam,   HEROS would be able to provide used DMU’s (diesel tram function without toilet but higher platform required) or DMU for regional service (with toilets and steps […]

Over to you Mr. Cow – A View From a Canadian Transit Expert

Haveacow is a Canadian public transit specialist and what he says deserves to be listened to. As he is active in the transit profession in Canada, he would like to keep his real name out of the media. The following is his reply to a post about BRT and contains so much importantAi?? information that […]

The Fiscal Realities of Subways Surface

Taxpayers in Ontario are slowly awakening up to the fiscal realities of modern subway construction, just as their European counterparts did in the 1970’s and 80’s. Little known on this side of the pond, is that subway construction in Europe has almost bankrupted public transit en mass and by the 1990’s subways were only considered […]