Ai??koda 30T – a new LRV in Europe
Ai??koda Transportation won the tram tender in Bratislava
PlzeA?/Bratislava, 18. 7. 2013 ai??i?? Today, the company Ai??koda Transportation signed the contract for the supply of trams for the Slovakian metropolis Bratislava. It concerns fifteen two-way modern trams for the price of 39 millions of Euros (975 millions of Czech crowns). The tender also includes the option for the supply of other fifteen trams and the option for maintenance of the vehicles for the period of 15 years.
http://www.skoda.cz/en/press-room/news/skoda-transportation-won-the-tram-tender-in-bratislava/
The new Skoda 30T would look veryAi??good, on the roadsAi??in the City of Surrey and travellingAi?? outAi??to Langley & ChilliwackAi??via the former Interurban
Face it . . . any LRT would look good . . . one made in Canada would be more economically beneficial. Keep up the good work. By 2020 Ottawa, Toronto, and Kitchener/Waterloo will join Calgary and Edmonton (the forerunners) with LRT. Hopefully Mississauga/Brampton and Hamilton will also join that . . . Also from what i read maybe Montréal is also looking into it.
Unfortunately, Montreal’s 20 km mid city line LRT plan has been shelved by the provincial government in a recent announcement that shelved or out right cancelled quite a few projects in Montreal. The only two going forward are the east end commuter train and possibly the LRT on the Victoria bridge. Even that latter project may get replaced by BRT if it does not get more funding. Even the BRT line on Pie ix has been shelved and is not expected to start any time soon.
Oops, that should be the CHAMPLAIN BRIDGE not the Victoria Bridge.
Transit reporter at the Vancouver Sun, Kelly Sinoski is back at it again telling us how transit by TransLink is vital to save us from gridlock. Really Kelly? I remember the transit strike in 2001 when the air quality improved tremendously, noise levels plummeted, the birds were singing and the traffic flow actually improved without all the stinking buses getting in the way of drivers. Maybe her memory is just short. I sure wish that TransLink would strike soon for Kelly to report on how much better traffic flows without transit.
Road congestion is relative. Seattle with a greater population than Vancouver and a much lower transit use than Vancouver is a breeze to get around in the city, about 90% of the time. Sure you might get bogged down in rush hours occasionally but after 7 pm and on weekends, travel in the car is a dream. Vancouver lacking freeways with traffic lights every few blocks is hell any time of day or day of the week.
Gordon Price who is one of the chief architects of sky train is predicting more road construction unless we spend more on transit by TransLink, sky train:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Metro+Vancouver+transit+options+meeting+demand+some/8693565/story.html#
This loon is in deep denial. So is goofball Richard Stewart who is the pitifully dense mayor of Coquitlam. Vancouver councillor, Geoff Meggs is another baffling basket case. First, sky train does not reduce the need for roads and the buses need to use roads to get the few people who might want to use sky train as the sky train stations are spaced 1.6 km apart on average. How are the bus users going to get to the sky trains, fly? Moreover, the best way to demolish roads is with heavy buses and not with light cars. Transit buses increase the cost to maintain roads, unfortunately.
Due to Marchetti effect, fast transit results in more people living farther from the centre of the city and road construction increases to meet the sprawl induced by fast transit – rapid bus and sky train. So, sky train and rapid bus are really leading to more people living farther from the centre of the city and more road construction. All the new developments near sky train stations come with garages for cars and they don’t come with transit passes, I believe.
http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/electronic/basic_instincts.pdf
Besides, transit doesn’t reduce vehicle use; it leads to new drivers who can’t tell the difference from new roads being built to create road space or some drivers giving up road space to take transit and to free up road space for the remaining drivers to drive more. This has been proven by U of T researchers:
http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/public/workingPapers/tecipa-370.pdf
If you want to reduce sprawl and road congestion you have to encourage people to use transit in the community on trams which are slower than fast transit but still get you there faster door to door and without the sprawl. However, Gordon Price, Geoff Meggs and Richard Stewart don’t understand math and statistics. If we keep building sky trains, guess what?
We’ll keep putting 30,000 more vehicles on the roads each year as we have for the last 25 plus years since sky train and transit use will keep increasing by about 8,000 people each year. You can count on it. Oh well, if you are too dim to become a lawyer, doctor or an engineer – you can always teach economics at SFU or go into municipal politics. Kelly Sinoski who isn’t too bright only interviews simple minds and she’ll interview you.
http://www.rockantenne.de/webplayer/?playchannel=alternative
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