Toronto Meet Your New Ride

New Toronto Streetcars http://lrv.ttc.ca/Ai?? is the website from the TTC on the new streetcars. The Toronto Transportation Societyai??i??s December newsletter has some interesting thoughts on the vehicle as well as photos of the half mock-up. The first 80 cars will have both pole and pantograph with the remainingAi?? (109 or 116 depending on the order) […]

Bombardier’s Guided BRT Is A Bust In Caen

With all the hoopla about BRT, it is interesting to note that the Caen TVR (proprietary guided bus) being in operation for a few short years, is being abandoned in favour of LRT. To be competitive with light rail/streetcar, BRT must be guided and if BRT is guided, it must run on its own rights-of-ways, […]

PRESTO – My Bank Account is Drained

With Vancouver soon adopting an automatic fare card system, it is interesting to note, that not all is well in the land of transit fare-cards. TransLink doesn’t want its new fare card just for transit, oh no, TransLink’s mandarins want the new fare card as a currency, valid for purchases in convenience stores and some […]

ai???Pass-ups,ai??i?? overcrowding lead to litany of complaints aimed at TransLink

Pass-ups and over crowding of buses all point to one thing, extremely bad management of the transit system. TransLink’s endemic bad management is easy to understand once one investigates the tiers of bureaucracy that operate our regional transit system. West coast Mountain Bus (WCMB) actually operates the buses, with TransLink setting the routes and operating […]

Liar, liar, liar……….

It seems the SkyTrain Lobby has started a wee blog to compete with Rail for the Valley, called Surrey needs SkyTrainAi??and true to form, if one supports light rail, one is a liar. It is so sad to see so much time and effort is wasted on what is now an obsolete proprietary transit mode, […]

Hume: The suburbs ask: Whereai??i??s the subway? In Metro Vancouver, the ‘burbs ask: Where is SkyTrain?

Like the Vancouver Metro Region, everyone wants SkyTrain, but there is no money to pay for it. Trouble is, no one has explained this to civic and provincial politicians, who continue to promise multi billion dollar SkyTrain extensions. In the Fraser Valley mayor Watts of Surrey does get it, with her support for LRT construction, […]

Words of Wisdom

The following comment comes from the LRTA’s chat room and I believe has much relevance here. I have slightly abridged the item as the first part was mainly about British Politics and with the spider web of BC politics to contend with, I thought it best not to reprint it. Is the proposal Clegg is […]

Toronto Elected a Ford, But Instead got An Edsel

Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, is an American tea-bag clone or clown (depending if one voted for him or not) who had big transit ideas. No more streetcars, no LRT, but miles and milesAi??(sorry kilometres and kilometres) of new subway construction. Well, financial reality has hit with a big bang and with Mayor Ford’s unwanted help […]

Transit News From Eastern Canada

An Artist’s rendering of the Laval aerial tramway Well, TransLink isn’t the only transit authority toying with the idea of an aerial tramway…. http://lavalnews.ca/article/Laval-PSC-leader-calls-aerial-tram-gimmick-192307 …….and I do believe an aerial tramway is a gimmick. Aerial tramways may prove to provide a transportationAi??solution for a unique transit problem, but they may cause more problems than they […]

A Tram Runs Through It!

IAi??couldn’t resist. In Freiburg Germany, trams co-exist with bicycles and buildings, without the doom and gloom and general transportation chaos predicted by the SkyTrain (a.k.a. metro) lobby. So sad when on this side of the pond, many regional politicians equate modern LRT as an anachronism from years gone by and not as a viable and […]