LRTA – How other countries see light rail and appraise light rail investments?

From from 2009 Article from the March 1999 edition of Tramways & Urban Transit As anyone involved in a British light rail scheme knows, the appraisal system is rigorous and, many feel, fatally flawed, oriented as it is to short term and financial criteria rather than a properly broad social cost-benefit analysis. It is now […]

Complaints Up and Service Down At TransLink

Nothing new here as TransLink fumbles along trying to operate the Transit system. The important question is: “Should we pay more taxes for more of the same?” The problem with Translink is that transit operation is not provided on a sound economic model, rather the hocus-pocus model of SkyTrain and densification. Vancouver is unique in […]

Worlds Longest Trolleybus Line

In Vancouver, we think of trolleybuses as a holdover from the streetcar days; a sort of green transit system used primarily in Vancouver and a few other cities in North America. What was once the replacement for the streetcars, are themselves seeing waning days. Not so in Russia, where trolleybuses are seen as a work […]

Not so reliable, our SkyTrain – Eh?

SkyTrain is on the fritz again. The problem with proprietary transit systems is that they age very poorly.   SkyTrain delayed by communication system disruption Vancouver Sun March 28, 2014 METRO VANCOUVER – TransLink says there are system-wide delays on SkyTrain today following a disruption to the communication system. SkyTrain is running single-track between Broadway […]

From the Halifax Herald

SkyTrain Strike?

One of the big advantages touted by the then Social Credit government for the SkyTrain ALRT system, was that is was an automatic transit system and being driverless could not go on strike. Ha, ha, ha, the joke is on TransLink, as the 537 SkyTrain operators, attendants, dispatchers, andAi??office andAi??maintenance staff have voted 95% to […]

Streetcar Porkies From Vancouver

You just got to hand it to Vision(less) Vancouver and its lap-dog bureaucracy in finding ways to discredit the heritage streetcar. The Olympic Line, which operated just two Bombardier Flexity trams (3050 & 3051), had about 550,000 boardings in its short two month run and was proven to be extremely successful, so successful in fact […]

Subway Economics

The difficulties of making subway lines run at a profit have existed for over ten years and, up until now, no solution has been found. It’s obvious that simply relying on revenue from ticket sales is not enough to cover the sizable operating costs. Attempts to replicate the Hong Kong model have also proved unsuccessful, […]

Worldwide Tram Market Review – 2014

The Cardinal posts hereAi??the schedule ofAi??Worldwide Tram orders as of March 2014, courtesy of Tramways & Urban Transit Manufacturer City’s Orders Options Sub-Total Orders Pending OrdersAi?? Options Alstom Aubagne, Avignon, Bordeaux, Constantine, Cuenca, Dubai, Montpellier, Nottingham, Ottawa, Oran, Paris, Rio, SAi??tif, Sidi Bel AbbA?s, SNCF, Toulouse 374 214 AnsaldoBreda Genova, Firenza, Kayseri, Zhuhai 70 7 […]

TransLink’s Subway Fiscal Time Bomb – A Repost from 2013

The SkyTrain/metro Lobby remain mute on the long term fiscal effects of operating subways, especially on routes that have low ridership, say less than 15,000 pphpd. Building a subway is a very expensive proposition and many factors should be considered before embarking on such a costly investment. The first questionAi??any knowledgeable transit planner must ask […]