Land Speculation and Land Development – The Real Reason For The Expo Line Expansion

It is a no-brainer why SkyTrain light-metro is being extended to Langley and it is the same for the Broadway subway, with a combined cost of $7 billion. Three guesses and the first two don’t count. It all about land speculation and land development. SkyTrain acts as a driver for municipal councils to relax zoning […]

Reality Check For Autonomous Buses

Ah, the poor futurists, their utopia of driverless buses have had a major setback, as a three year test in Vienna has ended with a; Unsuitable for use in practice. Paris also had an unsuccessful trial that ended in 2019. For all those clamoring for autonomous buses, cars and trucks, please take note, the proverbial, […]

The Collapse of U.S. Public Transit?

Interesting article and well worth reading; not all is happiness in transit land. From Zwei’s almost 40 years advocating for better transit and more affordable transit planning in the region, it seems those in charge are afraid of change. The same thing is done over and over again, ever hoping for different results, because that […]

Trackless Tram Scam

Our mainstream media always over-hypes the latest gadgetbahnen, or transit miracle from elsewhere, which turns out to be a yesterday’s failed transit experiment that was sold off on the cheap to let someone else try to sell it to rubes. This sensationalist reporting seldom, if ever reports that the very same transit miracle, in reality […]

Why the Mexico City Metro Collapsed

First, I must state that the elevated guideway for the Expo, Millennium, and Canada Lines are a completely different build than Mexico’s Metro system and such an accident would not happen, but there are several issues with concrete construction that should give pause for concern. The quideways must be inspected at regular intervals, to check […]

The Driverless Car, Coming NOT So Soon

Will driverless cars soon be on city streets? Probably not. The current hype and Hoopla about driverless cars, tend to be a little naive on the facts. Zwei remembers a meeting with TransLink Planners, back in the early 2000’s, where i was shown videos about guided and driverless buses. Embarrassingly for TransLink I knew more […]

Transit Is About Moving People -From 2011

From ten years ago. This post is pertinent today with the $4.6 billion, 12.8 km extensions to the Expo and Millennium Lines. One of great criticisms of old Zwei back in the day, was the claim that the Evergreen line was the unbuilt portion of the Millennium Line, which was piggybacked on the previous light […]

Breaking News – SkyTrain Crash In Kuala Lumpor!

Breaking News! Major accident on Kuala Lumpur’s Kelana Jaya line An accident has happened on the fully automated (driverless) Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) system in Kuala Lumpur. The Kelana Jaya line is a twin of Vancouver’s millennium line and uses MK.2 cars. Being fully automatic, this accident should not have happened, but it did and […]

For Those Who Want An Aerial Tramway To SFU

This has just happened and file it in “I told you so” department”. When things go wrong, they go wrong very badly. When aerial tramways fail, the result is catastrophic. Those who promote exotic transit modes do not think about safety or the constant maintenance needed to keep the transit mode safe. A recent comment […]

88% Favour Passenger Rail for the Fraser Valley!

 No surprise here! If anyone who has traveled into the upper Fraser Valley, especially the Chilliwack/Sardis/Vedder areas and seen the huge growth and the associated congestion must realize that a rail connection from Vancouver to Chilliwack, via North Delta, Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, Vedder, Sardis and Chilliwack is most needed. * Rail for the Valley , […]