The Tours Tramway
The newly opened tours tramway, classic French design.
Tours:Ai?? Population:Ai?? City 136,000; Metro Area 400,000
Distance:Ai?? 150 miles southwest of Paris, 1A? hours
System Length:Ai?? 14.5 kilometres
No. Lines:Ai?? 1
No. Stations:Ai?? 29
Year Opened:Ai?? 2013
Rolling Stock:Ai?? 21 Citadis 402
Passengers: 45,000 a day
Cost: ai??i??369.1 million Euros (2009) CAD $518.595 (20014)
An Artist rendering of the tours tramway
Classic street view of the tours tramway
The foundation for lawned rights-of-ways
How do they do it: 14.5 km and 29 stations for about $500 million Canadian? Amazing.
TransLink spent $1,400 million for 11 km of s-train and about six stations for s-train in Coquitlam. TransLink, so smart, and competent, too. As long as Kelly Sinoski of the Vancouver Sun keeps harping on ways to find more money for TransLink and won’t tear into the morons at TransLink, few people will know or care until TransLink fleeces them and it is too late.
Kelly Sinoski (moonlighting for The Province) reporting on the referendum for transit with no mention that maybe TransLink just needs to be dissolved:
“Meanwhile, backroom support for a pro-transit vote is growing among [poor grammar, she meant amongst] business, labour, environmental and student groups in the region. Delegates at the B.C. Federation of Labour convention have unanimously agreed to back the transit referendum, while the Vancouver Board of Trade is preparing strategies on how to market the campaign once it gets underway. At the same time, post-secondary student societies are already on board to ensure that tens of thousands of students in Metro Vancouver are registered to participate in the March referendum, likely to be conducted by mail-in ballot.”
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Mayors+council+TransLink+funding+referendum+ready+after+private+meeting/10447297/story.html
Its very simple how they do it! They subsidize their equipment producers, construction material suppliers, and most of the large contractors, all of this is legal. These select companies prequalify for the project and are put on a short list of bidders, there is no open competition for the contract. The government transit agency can name it’s prices for things regardless, if its way below market rates and unless those companies want to be removed from that said list they take what is offered to them. Again all of this is legal. They control the planning process to the point that everyone involved knows what they can and can’t do to stop or slow down a particular transit project in advance. They can legally bar certain pressure groups, usually right of center groups, like the common taxpayer based “keep my taxes low groups no matter what”, from the process. If they want your land they can take it but do have to offer you compensation. If you disagree with the amount they offer you for land you have very few options other than a very expensive trip to court! The courts usually always side with the government, by the way! Oh yes, court cases never stop the work on said transit projects. Court injunctions like, the stop work orders are very rare expensive and almost never work. In short, if you support the project, do not worry, there is very little people can do to stop it, especially once it starts. If you don’t like the project or want to promote a cheaper or what you feel is a better option then for the most part once you pass a certain point in their planning process, you are out of luck, simple. Try that or a similar process here and wow, line up your lawyer and watch the fireworks begin!