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 […]

Of Trains, Station Platforms, and Capacity

Zwie has got wind of a local transit advocate getting a nasty phone call a few evenings back from a chap incensed over a blog post on Facebook that went like this: The Canada line has station platforms 40m to 50 m long and operates 41 m long coupled sets of EMU’s, has about one […]

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 […]

Light Rail, Streetcars & Light-Metro – A Primer.

First published in the RftV blog in 2011, it is still pertinent today. Updated and edited for March 2016.   Due to many people posting, on various blogs, absolute rubbish about light rail, it is time again for a quick primer on streetcars, LRT and SkyTrain. Question: What is the difference between LRT and a […]

Medical Emergancy – TransLink Speak For Another Death

On Monday last, another suicide another death on SkyTrain, yet the media and TransLink hides the fact, with the utility phrase; “medical emergancy”. The hypocrisy of the mainstream media makes me upchuck, as if they treated suicides on SkyTrain, like the fare evasion issue, maybe TransLink would ‘lift a finger’ and do something. One of […]

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 […]

Subway Blunders in Europe ai??i?? Can “Old Dog” TransLink Learn From Otherai??i??s Mistakes?

Subway Blunders in Europe ai??i?? Can TransLink Learn From Other’s Mistakes? From a September 2012 post. Unfortunately, many of the links no longer work and have been omitted for brevity. Herr Keller is a German transit specialist from Germany and gives wonderful insight to the pitfalls of building new subways for the sake of building […]

Another Suicide

In Europe, EEC Health and Safety rules mandate that all driverless or automatic passenger transit systems must have platform gates to prevent suicides or accidental falls onto tracks. Not so in Canada, as “Death by SkyTrain” continues unabated.   UPDATED: Massive delays after SkyTrain medical emergency Terry Schintz February 02, 2016   Crowds pack SkyTrain […]

Professor Condon on CBC Radio

  A BCIT to UBC surface light rail line would reduce traffic congestion, while at the same time allow cars to access merchants along Broadway UBC Planning Professor Patrick Condon was on CBC Radio on Jan. 29, echoing the growing concern about the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway sucking away federal monies from other local transit […]