Back To Basics

What is light rail? LRT is a transportation system based on electrically powered light rail vehicles (LRV) that operates on a track in a dedicated right-of-way (meaning separated lanes). It is the operating on dedicated or “reserved rights-of-ways that makes a simple streetcar or tram light rail! many simple streetcar or tram systems have sections […]

20 Minutes Into The Future

This article caught my eye. If the provincial or federal government actually created a program for regional rail systems in the country, they could also carry freight, creating a regional rail system that would not only serve the public, but businesses as well. With autonomous battery  powered rail-cars, we could see “Mixed Trains” in operation […]

Adding More Highway Capacity Only Increases Congestion And Gridlock

Where will the new traffic go? You cannot build yourself out of congestion, as it never works. A good example is Boise Idaho, where between 1993 and 2017, roads expanded 141 percent while population grew 117 percent. But congestion increased 446 percent. The previous example is what is happening across the united States and Canada. […]

Vancouver Will Need To Adopt Lower-Cost LRT In Its Lesser Corridors – Updated

The consensus is the same, Metro Vancouver will need to adopt lower-cost LRT for its future transit needs. This was first posted in 2019 and the costs and the financial numbers have changed somewhat. Currently, the province and metro Vancouver is spending over $11 billion for 21.7 km of new light-metro line, including the Broadway […]

The Fuel-Cell Tram Truely Green Public Transport

Trams without the electrical overhead, brings a new dimension for new tram planning, by making trams cheaper to build and operate, enabling them to penetrate further to attract more ridership. Except for Canada and our archaic rules about light rail, the fuel-cell tram will no longer have issues with winter ice on the third rail […]

Eby And The NDP Have Missed The Train

It seems Premier Eby and the NDP have been left behind at the station with this. With two railway projects that would have set BC as a leader in “Green” transportation, Premier Eby and the NDP continue to promote Greenhouse gas projects with new highway and tunnel construction: in other words, good old “rubber and […]

User Freindliness In Berlin

In Metro Vancouver, again and again, one hears calls for the light metro system to operate 24/7. It cannot, or put in another way, it can but it would increase maintenance costs considerably and TransLink is near broke. The reason is quite simple, automatic or driverless operation. Simply, the light metro system need preventative maintenance […]

Flexibility To Fight Climate Change

Flexibility is the key in today’s transit planning. More and more, freight that used to be carried on railways, then switched to heavily subsidized trucks on heavily subsidized highways, is now goring back to the railways. Ignoring Global Warming and climate change is a fools game, played by civic, provincial and federal politicians to the […]

TramTrain – It’s Time To Have Another Look At The Leewood Project

While local politicians squabble about expensive transit planning and gouging the taxpayer to pay for multi billion dollar transportation vanity projects, economic and user friendly TramTrain construction and operation continue to increase. Isn’t time for politicians have another look at the Leewood/Rail for the Valley Study? Chemitz TramTrain on the mainline. A Langley to downtown […]

If Only BC Ministry Of Transportation And Infrastructure Had a Brain

If only………………. Instead of spending $11 billion, to build a mere 21.7 km of the now obsolete MALM light metro, the government could have spent less than half that amount by building and operating hydrogen powered trains on the former BC Electric interurban route from Vancouver to Chilliwack and from Victoria to Courtney on the […]