Rail For The Valley – We Told You So Dept.

Rail for the Valley told you so months ago! The 16 km Expo Line extension to Langley is now a provincial project. This is what happens when a TransLink project becomes over one billion dollars short of funding. This is what happens when the premier of the province makes construction a politcal promise. This is […]

Montreal Light Metro Ills. Updated!

The current transit problem in Montreal is REM light metro problem. REM is more of a financial tool for Quebec’s Caisse de Depot, who have gained much experience with Vancouver’s P-3 Canada Line light-metro, than a user-friendly transit system for Montreal. Let us remember that the Canada Line, has only 40 metre long station platforms […]

Is Ottawa Getting a Tramway?

Traffic calming major streets and having a tramway or streetcar operate on the route is standard practice in Europe, so why not here? Politics aside, a modern tramway in Ottawa would, I believe, catch on with other major Canadian cities for providing an affordable quality public transit service. With “Global Warming” and associated climate change, […]

Burnaby Jumps On the Gondola Bandwagon

Further proof that our regional politicians live in la,la land. Burnaby politicians want a $210 million plus gondola going to SFU. For added insult the gondola lobby is playing the environmental/global warming card, which is sheer utter nonsense. What Zwei sees is a municipal quid, pro quo between the three largest cities in metro Vancouver […]

The Mayor’s Council’s Delusions Of Grandeur in 2050 – Where Is The money?

One has to just laugh at this tawdry attempt pre civic election spin for the regional transit system. It also highlights the media’s lack of investigative reporting, as they treat dreamy news releases as “breaking news”. The following quote exemplifies the Mayor’s Council’s delusions: Among the improvements and goals, the plan includes additional projects to […]

Another Abandoned UK Passenger Line Is Set to Reopen – Why Not The E&N?

Another long a long abandonment of passenger services, the once called Ivanhoe line is set to reopen for passenger service. The Leicester–Burton upon Trent line is a freight-only railway line in England linking the Midland Main Line south of Leicester to the Cross Country Route at Burton-on-Trent. The line closed to passengers in the 1960s. […]

Good News Everyone! Updated.

In our local ongoing transit debate the SkyTrain lobby and those who are just anti-LRT pointed fingers at Ottawa’s new transit system’s teething problems as a failed LRT line. For two years, local politicos and the media happily reported even minor problem and mishap with Ottawa’s light rail line while at the same time ignoring […]

Tram, Streetcar, LRT – Why The Confusion?

The big problem with light rail is that there are so many definitions that the public get confused. In Metro Vancouver, unscrupulous politicians, planners, and academics deliberately confuse light rail and what is called a streetcar. The article included is now seven years old or seven years and somewhat out of date, as what we […]

The Cambie St. Cut And Cover Redux – Now Appearing On Broadway

Yes, Zwei told ya so, but got raspberries for my efforts. The Cambie St. Canada line cut and cover set the precedent for businesses along the Broadway subway route – they don’t matter. TransLink does not care. The Mayor’s Council on Transit does not care. The city of Vancouver does not care. The Ministry of […]

A subway That Didn’t

Build a subway and then no one uses it? Well it happened and 99 years ago a two mile subway was completed under the streets of Cincinnati, destined to never be used. The Broadway subway is being built on a route with current ridership not being close to numbers needed to justify a subway. The […]