Trams that never stop at traffic lights

Trams that never stop at traffic lights could be part of Melbourne’s people-moving future By Loretta Florance ABC News Trams that never have to stop for traffic lights could be the norm in Melbourne in the future, under plans being developed to deal with population growth in the city. For the past seven years, VicRoads […]

You have sat too long ……………..

TransLink CEO Ian Jervis has been made to “walk the plank” in an attempt to appease the No side of the upcoming plebiscite. A quote from Oliver Cromwell comes to mind, when he dismissed the rump parliament. You have sat too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us […]

A Brief Primer on Toronto’s Trolleybuses

The following brief history of Toronto’s Trolleybuses was provided by Avrom Shtern in the LRPPro blog and is worth a read as it somewhat mirrors Vancouver’s trolleybus situation. Trolley Buses operated in TO between 1921 and 1993. Frequently Asked Questions about Toronto’s Trolley Buses(Last Modified on September 6, 2013 11:46 PM)Ai??Why did the trolley buses […]

Le Mans A tram for a small city

While both BC Transit and TransLink gold-plate LRT planning with millions of dollars of extras, making tram projects almost as expensive as SkyTrain, the new Le Mans LRT/tramway demonstrates that light rail is affordable for smaller cities. The new 15.4 km Le Mans Tramway total cost is about CAD $450 million, including cars or about […]

Bombardier Transportation accused of corruption in South Korea

A single car train on the Yongin Everline Line The following is from CBC Radio Canada. Even though the date of this news item is Jan. 28, no news outlet in Vancouver has mentioned it. It also answers the question why TransLink has ignored the Yongin Line, it only has one car! So let us […]

Karlsruhe Revisited

Let us not forget, the birthplace of what is now called TramTrain, was in Karlsruhe Germany. When it comes to denial, the following statistic is greeted with hoots and howls of disbelief from the anti-tram crowd, yet it is the very basis for the success of TramTrain today. Ridership of the Karlsruhe-Bretton route went from […]

Adios, the Shopping Mall?

The shape of things to come? Transportation planners in Metro Vancouver should take note that when planning very expensive fixed transit infrastructure to shopping malls, if the mall closes in 15 years, the transit system will have very expensive infrastructure to nowhere. This is very true for SkyTrain and its $80 million/km elevated structure is […]

TramTrain for the E&N?

The Talk of TramTrain from other than Zwei is good news, especially from Vancouver Island. A Diesel powered TramTrain service, both for Victoria and Naniamo is doable and would be affordable. A 18 km. Diesel TramTrain line from Langford to Victoria, plus a single track 5 km.Ai?? loop in the downtown, should cost no more […]

Whatever happened to the future? From the BBC

An interesting item from the BBC. Whatever happened to the future? By Matthew Wall Business reporter, BBC News Whatever happened to interplanetary travel, hover cars, and hypersonic jets? Once it seemed as if there were no limits to how far or fast we could travel, such were the leaps in technological development in the 19th […]

I Told You so Department.

Old Zwei told you so that the Compass Card was old kit as are the fare gates! The Compass Card and the fare gates deserve a criminal investigation but that will never happen, not in BC, where the police and courts shy away from political interference. Fare evasion was not a problem, yet the mainstream […]