More transit, more traffic problems, says think tank. But is that really the problem?

Interesting study out of the USA, but unfortunately wrong conclusions will be made, especially by the roads lobby. As for buses not attracting new customers, well duh, that little gem has been known for at least 30 years and if this were not so, we would not have been building new light rail lines in the […]

More Porkies – The Port Mann Bridge

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousands words……………………….. ……………..but this picture of a cross section of the new ten lane Port Mann Bridge says it all – there is no rail transit being planned for the bridge! Even Zweisystem, with his rudimentary knowledge of engineering knows if that a bridge is […]

Flagship BRT Fizzles in the USA

Bus Rapid Transit or BRT is the transit flavour ‘du jour’ of BC politicians. Any mention of transit in the region ultimately leads to BRT, as if it was the grand panacea to solve our transit woes. The trouble is, our politicos have never read a book about public transit,Ai??let aloneAi??perused the chapter on buses. […]

Now we know why SkyTrain is so expensive to operate.

The main story here is not the strike vote taken by Expo and Millennium Line workers, but the amount of workers that are needed to operate the SkyTrain mini-metro. According to the article, there are 530 CUPE members that work on the Expo and Millennium Lines, then add in senior non-union managerial staff, transit police and […]

Porkies from TransLink!

In the UK, London's Cockney's (the East End crowd) have long had an interesting rhyming slang tradition – examples: jam jar is a car; dicky dirt a shirt and so on. Well, a pork pie or porkie is – well you guessed it. The following letter from Ken Hardie, to the Delta Optimist, is full of "Porkies" […]

The Light Rail Committee Sends a Message

The Light Rail Committee sent the following letter to all municipal governments in the lower mainland, to inform municipal politicians about upcoming transit funding discussions by the mayors council, with Transportation Minister Shirley Bond for the Evergreen Line. One wishes that Mayor Walton tell Minister Bond to "take a powder", and "if the provincial government wants more […]

Why Are North American Engineers So Afraid Of European Transit Developments?

Answer: They can't plan for $1.4 Million a mile rail transit schemes, like what their European friends are doing! The Valley Rail naysayers abound, but when faced with undisputable facts that light rail and/or its many variants can be built very cheaply indeed; much cheaper than $125 million/km SkyTrain or even $20 million/km highways, they […]

High density urban living, not neccessary for good public transport

Units not crucial for good public transport, study finds Andrew West, January 5, 2011 RESIDENTS of Australia's outer suburbs do not have to wait for higher housing densities before getting better public transport, according to new research, which could defuse one of urban planning's biggest controversies. In a paper for the journal Australian Planner, Dr […]

A 2010 retrospective and a happy New Year!

Itai??i??s traditional for the media and bloggers alike to wrap up the retreating year or welcome in the New Year with a retrospective of all that was bad, depressing, frustrating, good, humorous, irritating, scandalous or just plain bizarre in the twelve months that finished on the stroke of midnight on 31st December. Stephen Reesai??i??s blog […]

The $400,000.00 Fraser Valley Transit Study – Much Ado About Nothing

TwoAi??weeks before Christmas and the provincial Liberal Government releases its long awaited Fraser Valley Transit Study and one can see why; it is badly stale-dated by the Rail For The Valley/Leewood Report. By releasing the report before Christmas, the government hoped to bury this stinker under Christmas cheer, hiding the the fact that the Fraser […]