Vanity Project Reality Check – The SFU Gondola

The realities of a gondola going to SFU are beginning to hit home. Simple fact is, there is no need for a gondola to SFU and the project is a “quid pro quo” for Burnaby’s support for Vancouver’s subway project and the now former mayor of Surrey’s flip flop from light rail to MALM. It […]

Number One Highway Constructions Costs Climbing

This bodes ill for the Expo Line extension to Langley. Transportation Minister Rob Fleming attributes the delays to soil and geotechnical issues. These are the same geotechnical issues that the Langley extension also must face. The following quote is also of interest: This is in addition to the previously approved budget of $2.34 billion for […]

Snap Election Coming? The $4.01 Billion Lie

One wonders if Premier Eby is going to call a snap election in January or February? Surrey will be hotly contested as the police, flip-flop, issue is hurting the NDP MLA’s there. Nothing like “good news everyone” photo ops and 10 second sound bytes for the evening news, to try to steer the voter away […]

The mayor’s Council on Transit – Lotus land’s Ship of fools

Like children playing with their Christmas morning train sets, the Mayors council on transit blunders on wanting more and more, without any care as to the cost. Not one of the mayors has any knowledge about public transit, nor seems to care about the onerous tax burden TransLink’s user-unfriendly service has become. If any of […]

Edomonton’s Valley Line Southeast LRT Officially Opens

News from Edmonton. The $1.8 billion and delivered on budget,  Valley Line is a low-floor urban light rail line in Edmonton, Alberta. The 13.1-kilometre (8.1 mi) line runs southeast from downtown at 102 Street stop to Mill Woods Town Centre at Mill Woods stop, and connecting to the Capital and Metro lines at Churchill station […]

TransLink’s Hype and Hoopla About BRT Is Just Another Wet Squibb!

When is Bus Rapid Transit just a an express bus route? When TransLink claims an express bus route is BRT Real BRT operates on a fully dedicated Rights-of-Ways, with priority signalling at intersections, offering headway’s in the 2 minute to 5 minute ranges. What TransLink is palming off onto the public is a tarted up […]

Provincial Election In 2024!

SkyTrain has always been used at a photo-op for provincial elections. And the David Eby NDP government is no different. Announcing SkyTrain extensions win votes. Whether spending huge sums of money actually does anything to improve transit is another question. Contrary to the claim in the news article; “The project is estimated to cost $4.01 […]

Single Track Operation? More common Than You Think!

  OK folks, the following is a small list of the many European regional railways, operating on single tracks or which route operates on portions of single track. Why am I posting this, you say? Last week I received an angry phone call from a gentleman who claimed had done some work for Metro Vancouver […]

Montreal’s REM Goes Kaput

The problem with automatic (driverless) light metros is that when the system fails, the entire system fails. Regular customers of Vancouver’s SkyTrain light-metro can attest to this. There are many issues that a automatic transit system must deal with, including computer issues and maintenance. Poor maintenance leads to computer issues and maintenance is expensive. Automatic […]

Surprise, Surprise, Rail For The Valley had it right all Along.

TransLink has now admitted that they are $4.7 billion in the hole and Rail for The Valley has told you so, many times in the past. The $11 billion to extend the Expo and Millennium Lines has now landed, like the financial time bomb it is, onto the Mayor’s Council’s lap. RftV has warned for […]