BART’s Problems Today Are TransLink’s Problems Tomorrow

Aging metro systems are a big problem in North America and the more complicated the transit system, the more costly it is to maintain. Unlike TransLink, BART’s (Bay Area Rapid Transit) bureaucrats are far more forthcoming with system ills and for that they must be congratulated for their candor. We see none of this with […]

The Federal Budget – LRT Mentioned, But Not A Subway

The Federal budget did not hold any transit surprises, with $370 million to be spent over five years for transit project support. Well, $370 million will buy you about one kilometre of a Broadway subway or put another way, 200 metres a year spread over five years, big deal! We could build 2 km of […]

Has Trudeau “Caved-In” To Bombardier?

Bombardier Inc. is in trouble with their aircraft program; are near bankruptcy and need cash. So what is the Federal government going to do? Simple buy Bombardier’s light-metro and call it light rail.Ai?? The same ruse certainly fooled the Social Credit Party in BC in 1980 by renaming the unsellable Urban Development Transportation Corporation (UDTC […]

Massey Tunnel Mystery – Solved!

Ah, the truth comes out. It’s not congestion or traffic gridlock that is driving the $3.5 billion Massey Tunnel replacement, it is Port Metro Vancouver and Fraser Surrey Docks, as they want a massive subsidized bridge to replace the Massey tunnel so Panama max and Cape max vessels can venture up the Fraser River to […]

City of Vancouver Buys the Arbutus Corridor

Well kiss any thought of affordable transit goodbye, as the City of Vancouver will never agree to have trams operating on the former interurban line, the Arbutus Corridor. They may talk the talk, but will never walk the walk. The Canada Line is extremely capacity constipated and light rail on the Arbutus would be a […]

Is It Time To Get Back To Basics?

Perusing many transit oriented blogs, there seems to be a common thread appearing, we are changing our travel and commuting habits. This poses a very important question; “Is it time to get back to basics with transit planning?” This is a valid question because as driving and commuting habits change, expensive transit infrastructure just may […]

Toronto council lacking critical transit information ahead of key decisions

Sound familiar? Vancouver Councillors utterly clueless about subways and transit in general. Surrey Councillors completely naive about light rail. TransLink blunders along, without a clue what they are doing. Bureaucrats kowtowing to political whims, with no thought about the negative effects on the taxpayer. “We’re OK Jack, coz we all have six figure salaries.” Yet […]

SkyTrain for Surrey Implodes

Being an advocate for better transit in the region is no easy task, made all the harder by those who pretend they know better. Zwei has spent thirty years in the transit wars, starting with the aborted Vancouver monorail scheme in 1986. Since then I have consulted with real transit experts from companies such as […]

The Sad Fate Of Gadgetbahnen

Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Build a more expensive and complicated transit system and politicians, bureaucrats, and academics will fall all over themselves beating a path to your door; so is the sad story of proprietary transit systems. What many people, who advocated for unconventional or […]

Subways Are Very Expensive

Despite the cries of shock and disbelief from the peanut gallery, subways are very expensive to build and equally expensive to maintain. * Dusseldorf’s 2.11 mile (3.4 km) cost USD $960.6 million (CAD $1,317.45) billion works out to CAD $387.5 million/km to build, which is the upper end of the cost estimate given by our […]