Are SkyTrain’s MK. 1 Cars Safe?

As the Scarborough ICTS cars and Vancouver’s MK.1 cars are the same, one would surmise there are corrosion problems with Vancouver’s cars, especially in Vancouver with airborne salt from the sea. Does the public have the confidence in TransLink to keep them safe? Scarborough RT vehicles need repairs to avoid ai???catastrophicai??i?? corrosion failures TTC asking […]

German public transport sets new record

No surprise here! After the “locust years” of the 70’s and 80’s, German tramways have reinvented themselves and very successfully too. German tramways have set the standard for modern efficient and cost effective operation. The key for this success? German tramways are very user-friendly! On another note, buses only made slight gains in ridership, when […]

Edmonton LRT – To Be or Not To Be, That is The $220 Million Question

The question Edmonton transit planners are being asked; “Does transit need to be user friendly or auto friendly ?” In Edmonton to be auto friendly means adding at least $220 million to the cost of the project. What this article illustrates is the cost difference between LRT and a light-metro and I think that the […]

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, […]

Autonomous Trams – Coming Sooner Than You Think

Driverless trams are coming much sooner than one thinks. A recent article in Tramways & Urban Transit, illustrates the strides taken with automatic operation of trams and light rail. For several years tram manufactures have been experimenting with forward, side and rear scanning radar to prevent accidents, in fact most of the modern safety features […]

Tram-trains on test in Sheffield

TramTrain operation is expanding at a good pace in Europe, where the economy and customer friendliness of the mode is now established. Is it not time our politicians, planners and especially BC Transit and TransLink have a look at the mode? I find it disturbing that TransLink is so ready to foist an European road […]

LRT Is Not Rapid Transit

The real problem with the proposed Surrey LRT is that light rail is not rapid transit, it can be designed as such, but when it is it loses its affordability and operational edge over proprietary gadgetbahnen, like ART SkyTrain light-metro. The LRT in Surrey is being designed as a “poor man’s” SkyTrain, acting as a […]

Subway or LRT? The Debate In Toronto That We Are Not Allowed In Vancouver

This article is a must read for those in Vancouver who want to debate the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway. Three items that need attention: As Toronto does not operate with LRT, their capacity numbers for LRT are inaccurate. Since the 1980’s the capacity of a modern LRT line can be in excess of 20,000 pphpd. […]

A DMU Service, Not Gondolas, Best Option to Link North Shore!

Gondolas are a niche transit system used for solving unique transit problems. While transit servicing SFU mayAi?? present niche transit problems, especially in winter, crossing Burrard inlet does not. The SFU gondola has been reported in this blog several times; in May 2011; in June 2011; and in October 2011.It is now six years later, […]

Rapid Transit to the North Shore – 4 to 6 Billion Reasons Not!

I see politicians are floating trialAi?? balloons about transit, before the upcoming election and from the North Shore it is extending rapid transit to North Vancouver and beyond. The cost to extend the Canada Line or the ALRT/ART Lines (both lines are incompatible in operation) to North Vancouver is around $4 billion to $6 billion, […]