Another Vancouver Sun “PUFF” Story

In one of the greatest non stories from the pages of the Vancouver Sun, the announcement that the Evergreen ART cars will be operated on the ALRT/ART system as they arrive. Why wouldn’t they? Let us not forget the Evergreen Line is the unfinished portion of the NDP’s boondoggle, the Millennium Line. The entire story […]

The 7% Solution

It has been puzzling me greatly, TransLink’s claim that; “SkyTrain revenue up 7% after closing of fare gates.” Strange that because prior to the fare gate introduction, the majority of the fares for SkyTrain were paid on the bus. As over 80% of SkyTrain’s customers first take the bus, the fare was paid on the […]

Will Kevin Desmond Last?

I am beginning to wonder why TransLink hired this chap from Seattle, as he seems a wee bit out of his depth. Zwei’s opinion is that Kevin Desmond was given the nod because of his familiarity with light-metro, which indeed the Seattle LRT is with now well over 80% of it route grade seperated either […]

Basel’s Famous Trams

The Basel metre gauge tramway network (German: Basler Strassenbahn-Netz) is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Basel, a city in Switzerland, and the Swiss part of its agglomeration. It consists of 13 lines. Due to its longevity (the network is now more than a century old), it is part […]

One Last Gasp For SkyTrain In Quebec – Will The Liberals See Through The Ruse?

Though the Bombardier and SNC owned ART (SkyTrain, they hold the patents) proprietary railway is not mentioned, I would bet the farm that Bombardier and SNC are behind this to build an ART automatic railway. Bombardier’s home province is Quebec, yet Quebec has never built with the proprietary ICTS/ALRT/ALM/ART (SkyTrain in Vancouver, well not quite) […]

Evergreen Line Cost Overruns & Broadway Subway Censorship – Business As Usual At TransLink

Hats off to Bob Mackin, for his continued journalistic investigation of TransLink and SkyTrain. The cost overruns on the Evergreen Line were expected as TransLink’s Business Case for ART for the Evergreen Line was as phony asAi?? the proverbial $3.00 bill. Also, it is no surprise that TransLink is censoring its Broadway subway and Surrey […]

BCIT to UBC and Picnics in the Park, by Tram

First published in 2009. Updated 2014, 2016. A Wee Bit Of Local History In early 1996, during BC Transitai??i??s meaningless public consultation period for the Broadway Lougheed Rapid Transit Project which later morphed into the Millennium Line, Zweisystem received a phone call from an European Transit specialist, who worked for Asea Brown Boverai (later absorbed […]

Carrying Freight By Tram – To UBC?

Freight trams have been used almost since the first passenger carrying tram trundled down cobblestone streets. Today, except for a few cities, carrying freight by tram was a lost art, but no more. The concept of carrying freight by tram is once again being explored Ai??in St. Entienne, France to help reduce auto congestion and […]

Compass Card Hack – Another Fine Mess TransLink Has Gotten Into

Not well reported in the mainstream media is the fact that the $200 million Compass Card/Fare gate systemAi?? is now next to useless because not so honest people can hack through the system. The Compass Card is old tech, sold to TransLink after an orchestrated campaign by the mainstream media that fare evasion was rampant […]

The End Of The Beginning

From Wikipedia: Kirk Lapointe was chosen by the Non-Partisan Association,Ai?? to be the party’s nominee for Mayor of Vancouver in the November 15, 2014 municipal election. Lapointe received 40% of the vote, coming in second behind incumbent mayor Gregor Robertson who received 46%. Following his defeat, LaPointe said he intends to put politics ai???in the […]