Some Interesting Tram Photos

Not much news on the transit front, other than the SkyTrain Subway to UBC and the endemic funding crisis with TransLink. I thought a few tram pictures would be nice. Now, for our double-deck tram friends, the Swedes are no slouches when designing a modern double-deck, articulated tram! For the LRT can’t operate in narrow […]

Is the Hawaii SkyTrain Project Bombardier’s Last Kick At The Can?

The i L i n d . n e tAi??Ai??blog has been asking many questions about the proposed SkyTrain transit project in Hawaii, questions which should be answered before embarking on a multi billion dollar rapid transit project. Recent postings point to the fact that light rail was quietly dropped from theAi??Ai??planning process, not unlike […]

Hawaii SkyTrain Project Heats Up

A Hawaiian blog by Ian Lind posted Zwei’s ‘Debunking SkyTrain Series’ and continues the hot debate on the elevated SkyTrain project in Hawaii. http://ilind.net/2010/03/03/responses-show-rail-a-very-hot-topic/ It is good that the locals are beginning to ask questions about SkyTrain and may be beginning to see that the proprietary light-metro isn’t as great as ‘sliced bread’ which the […]

From the Tyee On Line NewsPaper: Vancouver’s Street Car Gift: Keep It?

An interesting article from the Tyee. Vancouver’s Street Car Gift: Keep It? To the delight of tourists and locals, the Olympic Line streetcar has been delivering people smoothly from Athlete’s Village on lower Cambie Street to Granville Island since Jan. 21. A Bombardier Flexity Outlook on loan from Brussels for the duration of the Games, […]

Olympic Hubris – Will The Wrong Conclusions Be Made By Our Planning & Political Elites?

In the last days of the 2010 Olympics, much has been made about how well our transportation worked during the event. What has been overlooked is that for the two week extravaganza, Vancouver had much warmer seasonal weather, meaning noAi??Ai??snow to stall the SkyTrain metro and make a shambles out of the bus schedules. Added […]

A Press Release From The Light Rail Transit Association

Ai?? The following press release from the LRTA is their response to the UK Ai??Ai??All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group, regarding LRT which ‘Zwei’ commented on earlier in the week. http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/all-party-parliamentary-light-rail-group-applrg-report-should-we-do-the-same-in-bc/   PRES S RELEASE FROM Ai??Ai?? TramForward 25 February 2010 Ai??Ai??   TramForwardAi??Ai??Ai??Ai??welcomes publication of Light Rail and the City regions Report TramForward welcomes […]

All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG) report – Should we do the same in BC?

Some interesting news from across the pond. Urban transit development in the UK has been hamstrung by a very powerful and vocal ‘Roads Lobby’, within the central government (not unlike the SkyTrain Lobby in Victoria), which has all but stopped light rail development in the UK. In an era of peak oil and global warming, […]

Hamilton Looks to Europe for Light Rail Plans – How About Vancouver?

The good Burghers in Hamilton have realized that it isn’t the amount of money you spend on transit, rather how you plan andAi??Ai??build rail transit, that makes it successful. This is a lesson that BC politicians and TransLink fail to acknowledge and continue to plan for expensive light metro. The Canada line is a good […]

Light-rail ‘vision’ elevated track would run along I-405 – From the Seattle Times

It seems the hoary old elevated, tunnel, or at-grade debate continues in Bellevue Washington, which is across the lake from Seattle. The success of LRT is to be able to penetrate into city centres cheaply, on-street, where the transit customer wants to go, which is something that a certain rookie Bellevue councilor doesn’t want to […]

The Growing Popularity of TramTrains Are Again In The News

The February Tramways & Urban Transit has an excellent article on TramTrains and their growing popularity with transit planners in Europe and North America. The article ” Tram-trains: are they worth it? “, is interesting and well worth reading as very important questions are posed. The article was written mainly for the UK market where […]