90 Years And Counting

Well, it has taken almost 90 years for transit planners in North America to realize that by giving a streetcar a dedicated lane it becomes light rail. European transit planners clearly understood by the 1930’s that by giving a streetcar a dedicated route, its performance almost matched that of a much more expensive metro or […]

Chilliwack Is On Board

Finally! It seems the good burghers of Chilliwack see the benefits of a rail servcie connecting Vancouver to Chilliwack. A basic Vancouver to Chilliwack DMU servcie can be had for as little as $750 million and a more elaborate service using hydrogen powered trains or electric servcie, with several trips per direction each hour would […]

Historic Public Transit Systems Versus Today

From the Guardian newspaper. Mapped: historic public transit systems v their modern equivalents Artist Jake Berman plots old public transport systems in period style. From LA to Toronto, San Francisco to Buffalo, he has created maps of cities’ modern transit too, so you can click and compare Just click the title and enjoy!

Toronto’s 6.2 KM Scarborough Subway Costs Soar To $3.9 Billion – What Will be The Real Cost Of The BS Line?

I include this article from the Toronto Star to illustrate the escalating costs of subway construction. The one stop, 6.2 billion Scarborough subway cost has soared to $3.9 billion and climbing! Vancouver’s 5.7 km six station Broadway subway cost has escalated past its $2.8 billion price tag and now is said to cost $3.5 billion […]

Fiasco Brewing In Toronto

When politicians with little knowledge of transit, involve themselves with transit planning, a fiasco is soon in the making. Vancouver’s BS Line is a good example. It seems Premier Ford is entering the land of pixie dust and sparkle ponies. Instead of planning and building what will work, the Premier thinks a cheaper solution will […]

TramTrain Expands in Germany

As TramTrain expands in Germany, it is time that the mode is considered for Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Why is LRT so popular with transit planners and operators? It is the inherent flexibility of the system and TramTrain has now enabled simple streetcar routes to expand affordably far into the countryside by being able […]

How does the BS Line Compare To Edmonton, Calagary and Ottawa?

The proposed 5.7 km Broadway SkyTrain subway, just to Arbutus is funded up to $2.84 billion, but not including cars. The cost is expected to rise to $3.5 billion before the project is completed. A comparison with Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa easily demonstrates that taxpayers in those cities are getting a far bigger bang for […]

We Were Warned By Experts!

We were warned by the experts of the day to avoid the proprietary ALRT transit system, otherwise known as SkyTrain; we were warned by the best! No one listened and today, we continue to spend up to ten times more to build with a dated proprietary light metro that no one else in the world […]

Bombardier Is Building SkyTrain at LAX…..But, It ain’t Our SkyTrain!

  Los Angeles Airport (LAX)t is building a $5 billion SkyTrain system, which may cause confusion because in Bombardier’s line of transit systems, SkyTrain is a rubber tired people mover system and not the trains used on the Canada, Expo, and/or Millennium lines. Cries of shock and disbelief! The name SkyTrain, which was chosen by […]

The White Elephant Line

A white elephant is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. To recap, the Canada Line is not a true P-3, rather a mock P-3, where SNC Lavalin/Bombardier, bid against, SNC Lavalin/ROTEM. Judge Pittfield who presided over the failed Susan […]