There is a good reason why the propaganda system works the way it does. It recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them.A?ai??i??A?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised to give $350 million for the beleaguered and ill planned Evergreen SkyTrain Line,Ai??Ai??which must bring joy to the hearts of the SkyTrain lobby and Bombardier Inc. The SkyTrain/metro lobby is waking up to the fact that Fraser Valley residents wantAi??Ai??light-rail and they want it sooner rather than later. For […]

Is TransLink Going Bankrupt? Has Gordon Campbell Made a Secret Deal With The Devil (TransLink)?

An interesting email came my way today, with the astonishing claim that TransLink will go bankrupt next year! Two tiny snippets out of that tell the whole story… Even with the inflated ridership claims, the provincial subsidy per trip (TransLink) is $5/rider, and for Victoria’s BC Transit system it is over $20/rider.!!! We all pay […]

The Valley Interurban – As Shovel Ready as One Can Get!

In today’s lexicon of government deficit spending, ‘shovel ready’ has become the clichA?Ai?? of choice for politicians to fund their pet mega-projects. Evergreen Line, Gateway are all said to be shovel ready, yet much planning and design work must take place before the shovels are actually in the ground. The Valley Interurban project is almost […]

TRAM-TRAIN TECHNOLOGY SEARCHING FOR A PROBLEM – From the LRTA. And what is tram-train? The interurban!

The following discussion paper from the LRTA should be of interestAi??Ai??for those who want the return of the interurban to Chilliwack. Just substitute interurban for tram-train. A programme on BBC 1 giving a nostalgic look at the former local railway route from York to Beverley (1) interviewed locals along the former route to see if […]

Tales of Transit studies past – You’d be amazed at the hundreds of politicians manipulated over the last 30 years!

Since SkyTrain was forced onto the region, transit planning has been skewed to fit the expensive proprietary light-metro. Most recently, noted American transit specialist, Gerald Fox, found the business case for the Evergreen SkyTrain LineAi??Ai??had, “several instances where the analysis had made assumptions that were inaccurate, or had been manipulated to make the case for […]

Carole James & the NDP – Have they missed the train?

Carole James and the provincial NDP’s regional transportation platform is in stealth mode, which is not surprising, as past NDP administrations have ignored sound public transport practice and used ‘rail’ transit solely as an election tool. Glen Clark, successfully used ‘rail‘Ai??Ai??projects as reelection tools:Ai??Ai??theAi??Ai??West Coast Express (known at the time as the Reelection Express) and […]

Five reasons Why Gordo and his ‘Falcon’ don’t want the "Return of the Interurban".

It is all too simple, the tracks are there from Vancouver to Chilliwack, the diesel light-rail vehicles areAi??Ai??available from many manufacturers and have been proven in revenue operation, and the precedent of the Karlsruhe two-system or zweisystem LRT with almost 20 years of safe operation track-sharing with mainline railways, makes the return of the interurban […]

10 Quick notes on light rail – for quick letters to the Editor.

Light rail is a mode that can deal economically with traffic flows between 2,000 and 20,000 persons per hour per direction. LRT can be uses on-street, on elevated guide-ways (light-metro), in tunnel (subway), or track-share with existing railways. Calgary’s LRT (C-Train) carries over 250,000 passengers a day, more than SkyTrain. Capacity is a function of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR FLOOD: Rail for the Valley, & the new Port Mann bridge

To all supporters of passenger rail service for the Fraser Valley Last Wednesday, the provincial government announced, out of the blue, an entirely new Port Mann bridge to be built. It will not be a twinned bridge, but a single 10-lane span, and the existing bridge will be torn down, only 45 years into its […]

Premier Campbell & Kevin Falcon ‘flips the bird’ to the valley

Gordon Campbell, like all politicians, likes to monument build and with good ‘polling’ numbers has promised a ‘monumental’ 10 lane bridge with all the whistles and bangs to target the car driver in May’s provincial election.Ai??Ai?? The $3 billion plus mega bridge and highways project has nothing to do about good transportation or planning, rather […]