A Subway Conversation Unheard in Vancouver

Subways sound great – at first, but when the realities of subway operation, including extremely high costs and user unfriendliness, the love affair with subways tend to wane with customers. The huge cost of subway construction, means economies must be had and in Scarborough, those economies mean a lack of stations. Subway stations are both […]

An Election come And Gone

Just brief notes on the election or deciphering the entrails before they get cold. It seems the SkyTrain/TransLink curse has now caused the Liberal Minister responsible for TransLink, Peter Fassbender to lose his seat. Regional transportation has been made the “kiss of death” for politicians by successive NDP and Liberal governments and combined with weak […]

Proposed Massey Tunnel Bridge Replacement Is Now Said To Be $8 Billion More!

$8 billion is a lot of ‘spreadin around‘ money and $8 billion for one bridge seems a tad pricey. This bridge is not about traffic congestion or better transportation, this bridge is a gift to the Vancouver Port Authority so massive Panama Max. and Cape Max. colliers and tankers can navigate up the Fraser to […]

UK Developer Must Help pay for Rail Connection

The UK is reopening once abandoned rail lines to cope with congestion and increased population. A UK developer must pay A?13.2m (CAD $23.25m) towards the restoration of the Bere Alston Tavistock railway route before building 750 new homes. This works out to CAD $31,000 per home. When one looks at the massive developments happening in […]

The NDP Support “Rail” Transit for the Fraser Valley

Well it tool seven long years for this as it is the first time any of the mainstream political parties have even acknowledged the need for a passenger/commuter rail service for the Fraser Valley. The main contender? Rail for the Valley’s Leewood Study provides the the fasted and most affordable service and must be considered […]

A letter sent to Surrey Council – LRT in Surrey Part 1.

From the usual suspect, long time LRT and tram advocate Malcolm Johnston. What has been forgotten by most, is the historical context for our light metro system has been lost, due to political, bureaucratic and academic intrigue. The illustrations have been removed for brevity.   Dear Mayor and Council; My name is Malcolm Johnston and […]

TramTrain – It’s Time To Have Another Look At The Leewood Project

While local politicians squabble about expensive transit planning and gouging the taxpayer to pay for multi billion dollar transportation vanity projects, economic and user friendly TramTrain construction and operation continue to increase. Isn’t time for politicians have another look at the Leewood/Rail for the Valley Study?   Stadler selected to supply Szeged tram-trains 19 Apr […]

Weaver and the Greens Haven’t a Clue

Weaver hasn’t a clue about transit and throwing more money after bad will not improve it. The “road pricing” issue is nothing more than a wet squib; for road pricing to be publicly accepted and successful one must have a viable and user-friendly transit system. We don’t, not even close and Weaver throwing an extra […]

Our politiciansai??i?? transit shenanigans are causing civic suicide

The Mayors Council on Transit is doing the same thing here, the huge costs of the poorly designed Surrey LRT and the insane and politically prestigious Broadway subway, which will burden the taxpayer with huge tax increases. The only difference is that the Toronto Star newspaper is actually doing good reporting on the transit issue, […]

A Letter to the Editor

This letter says it all. Our politicians still have a lot to learn when it comes to transit Delta Optimist April 7, 2017