Is Bad News In The Offing?

It has been too quiet, too long, on the transit front and with a provincial election looming, unpleasant news is being quietly whitewashed. Hear no cost increase; speak no cost increase; see no cost increase of the Broadway subway seems the order of the day. The pre inflation estimates  just will not stand up today. […]

Money, Money, Money = Subways!

The Mayor of Vancouver discussing the bennefits the Broadway Subway. What could go wrong? It takes a lot of money to operate a transit system and subways tend to be a financial black hole and are avoided unless ridership on a transit line demands the multi billion dollar investment of a subway. Just the MALM […]

The Real Question TransLink Is Afraid To Ask

In true Orwellian fashion, TransLink “TransLink wants to hear from you“; but in reality they do not. In TransLink Speak, almost everything is opposite to the questions asked. TransLink and all the hangers-on certainly did not want to hear from the taxpayer in 2015 when over 60%  did not want TransLink to proceed with their […]

Back To Basics

What is light rail? LRT is a transportation system based on electrically powered light rail vehicles (LRV) that operates on a track in a dedicated right-of-way (meaning separated lanes). It is the operating on dedicated or “reserved rights-of-ways that makes a simple streetcar or tram light rail! many simple streetcar or tram systems have sections […]

And Then There Was Six

  As Zwei has repeated so often, only seven ICTS/ALRT/ALM/ART/IRT/MALM proprietary railways have been built and operating. Well that is not true any more as the TTC is also confirmed train service on Line 3, originally scheduled to end on Nov. 18, will not restart following a July 24 derailment. This unwanted proprietary railway was […]

20 Minutes Into The Future

This article caught my eye. If the provincial or federal government actually created a program for regional rail systems in the country, they could also carry freight, creating a regional rail system that would not only serve the public, but businesses as well. With autonomous battery  powered rail-cars, we could see “Mixed Trains” in operation […]

BRT – A View From a Canadian Transit Expert – A Repost from 2015

Mr. Haveacow, who frequently comments on the RftV blog, 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, lest he be black listed for his views. The […]

Vancouver Will Need To Adopt Lower-Cost LRT In Its Lesser Corridors – Updated

The consensus is the same, Metro Vancouver will need to adopt lower-cost LRT for its future transit needs. This was first posted in 2019 and the costs and the financial numbers have changed somewhat. Currently, the province and metro Vancouver is spending over $11 billion for 21.7 km of new light-metro line, including the Broadway […]

The Fuel-Cell Tram Truely Green Public Transport

Trams without the electrical overhead, brings a new dimension for new tram planning, by making trams cheaper to build and operate, enabling them to penetrate further to attract more ridership. Except for Canada and our archaic rules about light rail, the fuel-cell tram will no longer have issues with winter ice on the third rail […]

REM – The Karma Vanishes As REM Goes Ka-Put

Despite all the hype and hoopla with Montreal’s new REM light metro, the first day’s service was a shambles. A stuck switch, on opening day? This is a bad omen for the light metro system. With an at-grade tram or light rail, a stuck switch can be operated manually, but on a fully automatic and […]