Clarks’s $3.5 Billion Vanity Project – A Gift To Surrey Docks

No, the George Massey Tunnel replacement bridge is not going to reduce congestion or bring faster commute times, the real reason for this bridge has nothing to do about transit or gridlock, it is all about LNG, Alberta Oil, and Montana coal. The folks who own Fraser Surrey Docks want T1 Supertankers sized tankers for […]

The Other SkyTrain Saga

Question: What happens when developers have to pay for expensive subway construction? Answer: They want to build with much cheaper light rail instead. Reality: Subways are great, if someone else pays for them. Lesson: Lost on Vision(less) Vancouver, the provincial Minister for Transportation, the Premier, the NDP, TransLink, and regional mayors. Developers highlight ai???defectai??i?? in […]

Playing Trains At TransLink

The TransLink saga carries on. The Mayors did run TransLink once, but they ran afoul of former Premier Gordon Campbell and his desire to build the worlds only P-3 heavy rail metro which would have less capacity than a streetcar. The province, with former Liberal Cabinet Minister Kevin Falcon at the helm ensured that this […]

TramTrain’s In The UK – Good News For Rail for the Valley

This news item from the UK, is good news for those who advocate for TramTrain operation in Canada. Why? The Sheffield TramTrains have gone through a rigorous safety program of testing overseen by the UK’s Office of Rail and Road formerly her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate, a body that is highly respected around the world. Sheffield’s […]

Begging For Cash

As the old adage says; “When beggars knock at the door, rush out the back door and check the chickens”; Premier Clark is off to Ottawa begging for some cash for her two ill-found vanity transit projects, the $3 billion Broadway subway and the $2.3 billion Surrey LRT, that local voters rejected in the past […]

The Seamless (No Transfer) Journey

From a 2010 post, edited for today. It has been long known with transit operators that the seamless or no transfer journey is the ‘ticket’ to attract customers to public transit as it is well understood that one could lose upwards of 70% of ridership per transfer, even inter modal. On older tramways and streetcar […]

Meanwhile, South of the Boarder…………

Seattle is building a subway system, using light rail vehicles. LRT it is not as 70% of the current hybrid rail system is grade separated, either on viaduct or in a subway, with the only at-grade portion traveling through a poorer (black) neighbourhood, and extensions being built to date are almost entirely subways. The main […]

If It Is Not Stock, Don’t buy It!

Our friend Haveacow is a Canadian Transportation Engineer and when he says something, we should be listening. * Zwei is not an engineer, but under the tutelage of the late Des Turner (Des was a chemical engineer who worked at Shell Oil, who took early retirement and went back to university and earned a master’s […]

A Letter to the Prime Minister – Transit Issues in Metro Vancouver

Sent November 9, 2015 Dear Prime Minister Trudeau; Congratulations on your recent electoral success and now a fresh wind sweeps across Canada. I have been an advocate for better public transit in the Metro Vancouver region for over 30 years. I have seen three major rapid transit projects built during this time and can honestly […]

The 1986 LRTA Study: Bus ai??i?? LRT ai??i?? Metro Comparison

I thought I would again reprint this post from May 20, 2010 as it may clear up some major misconceptions about LRT capacity, since many in Metro Vancouver are very confused about modern light rail. There is an ongoing debate today that LRTAi??can only carry a limited number of riders and that the magic number […]