This Is Light Rail.

The new Camberra Australia, light rail line. This is classic light rail. Reserved or dedicated, at-grade rights-of-way and easy pedestrian access across the line is the hallmark of LRT. All the benefits of a metro at a fraction of the cost. So, why does the provincial NDP, the City of Vancouver and the Mayor’s Council […]

Trams Having Limited Capacity On Broadway? – SURELY NOT!

The ongoing planning charade currently being played out by the cities of Vancouver & Surrey, and TransLink with the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway, is being fueled by professional misconduct, by all professionals and most politicians involved. A notable exception is Vancouver City Councillor Colleen Hardwick. Today, the message being relayed around the world is that […]

BCIT to UBC and Picnics In The Park

First published in 2009. Updated 2014, 2016 and in 2019   A Wee Bit Of Local History In early 1996, during BC Transit’s meaningless public consultation period for the Broadway Lougheed Rapid Transit Project which later morphed into the Millennium Line, Zwei received a phone call from an European Transit specialist, who worked for Asea […]

90 Years And Counting

Well, it has taken almost 90 years for transit planners in North America to realize that by giving a streetcar a dedicated lane it becomes light rail. European transit planners clearly understood by the 1930’s that by giving a streetcar a dedicated route, its performance almost matched that of a much more expensive metro or […]

B.S. Line Rethink?

The B.S. line, an apt name for the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway. What is more remarkable is that Postmedia allowed this to be printed. Could it be that the SkyTrain Lobby in Postmedia is beginning to weaken? Here is the real reason why the Broadway subway should not be built. The Canadian and North American […]

Am I the Last Voice against SkyTrain to UBC?

Professor Patrick Condon vents about the Broadway SkyTrain subway. The question is; “Who is listening?”   Am I the Last Voice against SkyTrain to UBC? It will drive unaffordable condos in Vancouver. Which drives me nuts.   By Patrick Condon | TheTyee.ca Patrick Condon is the James Taylor chair in Landscape and Livable Environments at the University […]

The McElhanney Study is a political document masquerading as a technical one

“It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding.” Gerald Fox, 2008 Malcolm Johnston, 2019 Please deliver to Mayor and Council. My name is Malcolm Johnston and I have been involved in Metro […]

A Matter Of Perspective

What is interesting with this story is the matter of perspective comparing Vancouver and Toronto. In Toronto, the 504 streetcar servicing carries around 80,000 riders a day in 2018. In Vancouver, where a subway is being proposed for Broadway, as far as Arbutus and with some promoters wanting it to terminate at UBC; in 2012 […]

If the SkyTrain News Fits, the Globe & Mail Will Print It.

So, where are the important stories about SkyTrain and transit Ms. Bula? Any mention that Transport Canada’s Operating Certificate for the Innovia SkyTrain system (Expo and Millennium Lines), limits capacity to 15,000 pphpd? No? Have you ever penned a story about how the Expo line is worn out and much of it’s existing infrastructure needs […]

The Sum of Zwei’s Fears – Part 3 The New FastFerry Fiasco

It is interesting indeed that Vancouver Sun columnist, Vaughn Palmer is writing about transit and the two massively expensive rapid transit projects, the Surrey LRT and the Broadway subway. With both federal and provincial backing, these two ill conceived projects will cripple transit planning for the next quarter century. In the long term at least, […]