Study Supports LRT

Someone should tell the SkyTrain Lobby that no one builds with SkyTrain anymore; even the Canada Line isn’t SkyTrain! Modern light rail made SkyTrain and light metro obsolete decades ago, yet no seems to read the news in this part of the world, with many people still championing SkyTrain, a transit system that costs more […]

TransLink dumps planning veterans Tamim Raad and Brian Mills – Adios Surrey’s LRT?

It seems anyone who even breathes light rail in Metro Vancouver is quietly terminated from TransLink. UBC educated Tamin Raad, was a supporter of light rail and understood the issues surrounding light metro. TransLink CEO Tom Prenderghast was forced out of TransLink because he dared to challenge the SkyTrain Lobby, by supporting light rail and […]

The Perils of Proprietary Railways

The Sydney Australia monorail was another expensive and short lived line. Now torn down, Sydney is now investing in light rail. The pitfalls of buying into a proprietary railway are many; for what was once “high tech” and “state of the art”, soon becomes yesterday’s tech and obsolete. Owners of proprietary railways, like to sell […]

Brampton, Mississauga to get new 23-km light-rail line

Another new LRT for Canada! Using both reserved rights-of-ways and mixed traffic, the Hurontario LRT is a classic 21st century light rail operation. Brampton, Mississauga to get new 23-km light-rail line At 26 stops, 23-kilometre line will run from GO stations in Brampton and Mississauga CBC News Posted: Apr 21, 2015 The Ontario government is […]

How to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse

An interesting read and quite pertinent to our transit situation in the lower mainland. Both the BRT and SkyTrain Lobby’s have so perverted the concept of modern light rail, to support their own projects, that the concept of affordable LRT has all but disappeared from the TransLink lexicon. The following quote; “……….while cities with rubber-wheeled […]

Adios SkyTrain? Bombardier is selling off its rail division.

What would happen if the region continues to plan for SkyTrain, yet there is no SkyTrain? If a potential buyer for Bombardier’s rail division already has on the market it’s own proprietary railway or railways, they would probably discontinue SkyTrain which has not had a sale in over a decade and with one SkyTrain line […]

Light Rail questioned by Langley Township planner – Yesterday’s planning at work!

The same old cliched arguments about modern light rail have surfaced in Langley Township. What old Zwei finds so tiresome is that the some planners remains so uninformed about SkyTrain light-metro and modern light rail, think both are “rapid transit“. Transit is only as ‘rapid’ as it is designed to be. Sadly, the term “rapid […]

The Compass Card – Another Gordon Campbell Fiasco!

The Compass Card fiasco is not really a TransLink problem, rather it is the epitome of why TransLink has problems; TransLink is a tool of the Premier’s Office and it must do the Premier’s bidding or face serious repercussions. Premier Gordon Campbell’s best friend, Ken Dobell, was the lobbyist for Cubit Industries makers of fare […]

A discussion about TransLink

A new transit blog is in town and I think it is well worth a read. Called Inside TransLink, it gives an insider’s view of the organization and the many problems the exist, culminating with this rather destructive transit plebiscite. http://www.insidetranslink.ca/ The ways to improve TransLink, from a voice that saw the inside. Ai??There are […]

Terence Corcoran: Hey, Vancouver: Just say ai???Noai??i?? to transit tax

Though I am trying to avoid unhappiness with the upcoming transit plebiscite, this item from the Financial Post is well worth a read. What I find interesting, is the following comment; “Even London, a world leader in public transit and congestion charges, is still bogged down in traffic. ai???Traffic jams in London getting worse, ai??? […]