Light Rail Gets an Ally – We Welcome New Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi

For the first time since I have been advocating for better transit, now over thirty years, we now have a minister of the crown who not only understands modern light rail, he is an advocate of modern LRT! Let us hope new infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi is open to new ideas including the Leewood/RftV TramTrain! […]

Calgary’s LRT Expands

The Calgary C-Train will almost double in size after the Federal Government’s gift to pay one third the cost of construction. The 60 km network will expand to 110 km with the 50 km Green Line. The large cost for the new LRT line will be, in part I believe, is due to a subway […]

LRT Saves Highway Space

This is from a Siemens promo for light rail from the 1980’s. Self explanatory, it gives a good visual how modern LRT saves highway space. It also shows that modern LRT could be built on Broadway and still provide road space for autos and with parking.  

Some People Get It

Light Rail is a streetcar that operated on a reserved rights-of-way. The resounding NO vote has changed the tune, somewhat, of the Vancouver Sun’s reporting of regional transit issues. How long this will last is anyone’s guess. Zwei voted no because I thought the plan was unworkable; a $3 billion subway from Glen-Clark Station to […]

Transit Planning in the Vancouver Region ai??i?? The Years The Locusts Have Eaten

    Ai??A repost from 2012 and is as pertinent today as it was three years ago; even more so. Transit Planning in the Vancouver Region ai??i?? The Years The Locusts Have Eaten Posted by zweisystem on Sunday, June 24, 2012 In the beginning, Vancouver was serviced by a sizable streetcar network and several interurban […]

Is it time for TransLink to study TramTrain?

Another TramTrain is being installed and I thing it is time that both TransLink and BC Transit send a fact finding tour to Europe to investigate TramTrain! As expensive vanity transit projects are seriously in trouble, the time has come to study 21st century transit philosophy and rethink expensive 20th century mini-metro. The Leewood/Rail for […]

An Australian Perspective.

I will repeat this once again to prevent any misunderstanding; Congestion charges and/or road pricing will not work in our region until we have a viable public transit system to provide an attractive alternative to the car. Buses are not and I repeat, are not a viable and attractive alternative to the car and only […]

Understanding the benefits of modern light rail

What is good for New South Wales in Australia, is certainly good for BC. The benefits of building with light rail and I so wish local politicians take the time and read the following. ITLS_presentation_5_May_2015_-_McKibbin_-_Light_Rail[1] The key building with light rail is building it right, serving major transit destinations as well as areas of housing, […]

How to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse

An interesting read and quite pertinent to our transit situation in the lower mainland. Both the BRT and SkyTrain Lobby’s have so perverted the concept of modern light rail, to support their own projects, that the concept of affordable LRT has all but disappeared from the TransLink lexicon. The following quote; “……….while cities with rubber-wheeled […]

The Myth That Everyone Naturally Prefers Trains to Buses

Actually it is not a myth, transit customers do prefer rail to buses. The study does leave out the fact that rail’s operating costs can be much less than buses because the tram can operate in multiple units, thus with one driver carrying more passengers. In the end though, transit customers perceive that BRT is […]