Will TransLink Overly Invest In Subways In Vancouver?

Interesting article from Toronto. In Germany in the 1960’s and 70’s many cities started building subways and replacing their surface tramways. The first noticeable change was that ridership dropped and for many, journey times increased. This was due to many more km. of tramway being abandoned compared to the very few km. of new subway […]

The Federal NDP suddenly Discouver Transit

The Federal NDP have never really cared about regional transit and desperately need some sort of policy to try to show the public they care and and have a plan in time for the 2015 election. Throwing more money at transit won’t solve transportation problems and will drive up transit costs. Canadian cities need a […]

The Truth Slowly Ekes Out – Surprise, Surprise

Well, someone is waking up at the Vancouver Sun or are they. SkyTrain is obsolete. The philosophy behind the operation of SkyTrain is obsolete. Obsolete transit mode + obsolete transit philosophy = lagging ridership. So it should come as no surprise Vancouver spends more for transit, but like fools at a carnival, planners and politicians, […]

Public Meeting Re: The Arbutus Corridor

The Arbutus Corridor: A Way Forward? You might think that thereai??i??s no solution to the conflict over the Arbutus rail corridor. Canadian Pacific Rail wants $100 million for its right-of-way. The City of Vancouver has offered $20m. Neighbourhood gardens, longstanding although trespassing, have been ripped up just before harvestai??i?? and electionai??i?? time. Trains, moving or […]

The seamless (no transfer) journey – Transit’s Holy Grail!

A repost from 2009 – updated. Route 5 (tramtrain) travels from Worth t0 Bietigheim-Bissingen, through downtown Karlsruhe. It has been long known 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 […]

Streetcars and LRT, A Quick Primer

First published in the RftV blog in 2011, it is still pertinent today. Updated to August 2014. The silly season continues in the Vancouver region, with TransLink desperately trying to persuade regional mayors to levy more taxes to mainly pay for the Evergreen SkyTrain light-metro line and a SkyTrain subway under Broadway. The following is […]

Speaking of the Arbutus Corridor…………..

A Marpole bound interurban crosses 41st. Please note trolleybus and the overhead. ……. why TransLink will never support LRT on the Arbutus and why the City of Vancouver wants the ‘Arbutus” for a glorified bike lane. Evergreen Line is said to cost no more than $1.4 billion for just over 11 km of line and […]

Lotus Land In Shock with the CPR Reactivating The Arbutus Corridor

The Arbutus corridor Interurban near 37th The Arbutus corridor debate continues and Zwei has a made a few observations. Has anyone in the media ask Molsons if they want to once again use the railway for both delivery and export? Has anyone in the the media reported that the CPR has paid taxes since the […]

Stupid is, as stupid does – TransLink – The faregate fiasco!

This article from Toronto contains some very interesting information. “………$8 million to hire 100 fare inspectors……..” …………and TransLink is spending at least $171 million on fare gates, with annual operating costs of $15 million to deter less than $5 million in fare evasion annually! http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/the-fare-evasion-fiasco-why-spend-171-million-to-save-4-38-million-annually/ By the way, there is no proof that fare gates […]

If you thought using a toll road was costly, try building one

From down under. As we are finding out with the $1.3 billion South Fraser Perimeter Road (which is both poorly designed and built) road projects tend to be as expensive or more, than comparable rail projects. If you thought using a toll road was costly, try building one The Sydney Morning Herald Melbourneai??i??s giant East […]