Ottawa tries to avoid the Vanvouver T.O.D. disease.

In Vancouver, metro construction is planned andAi??built toAi??subsidize land development, not to provide better transit for customers. In theory it is to greatly increase ridership for the new metro line, in practice some unpleasant things happen,Ai??such asAi??people moving into the new high rise apartments and condos and driving to work because they work where the […]

Toronto’s Mayor “Edsel’s” War On Transit – When idiots makes decisions, don’t be surprised at the results!

Toronto’s Mayor Ford’s (Mayor Edsel is a better name) amateur attempts to improve transit in the Toronto region is fast becoming a fiasco! But what else would one expect from aAi??puffed up American tea-bag style politician who has a hate on for streetcars and LRT because; “they take road space away from cars“. His solutionAi??building […]

Seattle’s Light-Metro Plans……Er, LRT Plans

Seattle’s Sound Transit penchant for planning for light-metro and calling it light rail is leading regional taxpayers into a fincial fiasco. Sound familiar, well it should, it is the same type of regioanl transit policy that TransLink has. Sound Transit’s first hybrid 22.4Ai??km light-metro/light rail line, costing $3.6 billion (this is the complete cost including […]

2011 Year in Review: A tough 12 months for the TTC – With another tough 12 months to come

With Toronto’s Mayor Ford at the helm, The good ship Toronto is steering directly into a financial iceberg, with is subway only transit policy. Ah, The Toronto Transit Commission has had a very tough year and with the election of Mayor “Edsel” will make 2012 even tougher. The realization that ‘shiny’ new subway lines are […]

With credentials, any idiot can make all other idiots believe any idiotic claim

A San Fransisco cable car on a city street. Please note the slot on the pavement where the cable car’s “grip” grips the continuousAi??operatingAi??cable under the street for forward movement. Being cable hauled, cable cars are very good at climbing steep grades and the main reason they survived in San Fransisco. The following comment was […]

E & N Blues

Want to kill a Railway? Starve it of funds and let it rust away and this seems the fate of the E & N railway. For a want of a mere $15 million to upgrade the tracks, the provincial government has loudly signaled that it wants to wash its hands of the E&N, especially when […]

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, […]