NEWS FLASH – Province launches review of BC Ferries and TransLink – From News 1130

Of course the province and Transportation Minister, Shirley Bond will not look at the real reasons of Translink’s financial problems: building light-metro (RAV & SkyTrain) on routes that do not have the ridership to sustain them. It seems the newly announced combined GST/PST (now known as HST) and potential massive new TransLink taxes and auto […]

B.C. Rail, C.N. Rail & Gordon Campbell – Why it is important for ‘Rail for the Valley’ to understand the current situation.

The following item on David Berner’s blog…… http://thebernermonologues.blogspot.com/2009/07/really-big-smell.html ……is well worth a read, to understand the politics of TRIANGULATION, including Mr. Campbell, his family and the hierarchy of CN Rail. It seems that the Premier regards ‘rail’ transit issues as a political plum, for his own amusement, phony environmental claims and multi billion dollar reelection […]

Debunking the SkyTrain myth part 5. Thirty years of SkyTrain planning – the years that the Locusts hath eaten!

In the late 1970’s, after much study and with regional consensus, Greater Vancouver’s Regional Authority, the GVRD,Ai??Ai??was on the verge of approving three light rail lines; Vancouver to Whalley (via New Westminster); New Westminster to Lougheed Mall and Vancouver to Richmond. Costing $350 million to $460 million. It wasn’t to be. The then Social Credit […]

PortlandA?ai??i??ai???s Regional Planning Agency Highlights Two New Corridors for Light Rail – From the Transport Politic

Interesting news from Portland Oregon, where their light rail system keeps on growing at a steady pace, with taxpayer’s approving construction onAi??Ai??every new line. It must be remembered that Portland’s original light railAi??Ai??line cost one quarter of that to build than Vancouver’s SkyTrain and the regional taxpayer has never been allowed to vote on any […]

Light rail – The safest public transit mode!

The following item is from Phoenix’s METRO Rail and addresses the safety issue of light rail. Much is said about the safety of on-street light rail or streetcars safety, especially at intersections, yet statistical analysis shows that a light rail/tram automobile intersection is much safer than an automobile automobile intersection. Accidents will happen and in […]

All aboard: Seattle’s Light rail service starts Saturday

Even though Seattle’s new light rail service has more in common with Vancouver’s SkyTrain, with many tunnels and viaducts, it still retains the all important ability to operate on lesser rights-of-ways or even trackshare with mainline railways. Seattle’s transit planners have much in common with Vancouver’s transit planners: the more costly the transit system is, […]

Bogota TransMilenio ‘BRT’ selling ‘carbon credits’ – From the Light Rail now folks

This is an interesting article, but badly marred by very poor research by the author.Ai??Ai?? It also should be noted that bus ridership figuresAi??Ai??for South American BRT’s have proven to be greatly overstated. What also isAi??Ai??not mentioned isAi??Ai??that BRT has been disappointing in operation in North America, India, Australia and Europe, failing to achieve projected […]

Get ready, Seattle: You’re about to be a light-rail town – From the Seattle Times

Ai??Ai??Seattle’s LRT line is “four to six times costlier than other light-rail startups in western states“, as planners designed the light rail service as a light-metro, with miles of expensive viaducts and even more expensive subway tunnels. The same sort of nonsense happened with BC Transit’s LRT plans for Broadway and Translink’s light rail plans […]

Bus Raid Transit – A transit Panacea or a money pit?

Phileas woes in Istanbul. Ai?? Many politicians are calling for Bus Rapid Transit, but reallyAi??Ai??haven’t a clue what they are talking about. Internationally, BRT describes guided buses and/or large busway networks, but in Vancouver, BRT tends to mean B-Line style, limited stop, bus service. What is quietly forgotten is that BRT has not, except in […]

Seattle’s monrail versus LRT debate – Same story, different players!

This, from the Seattle Transit blog, is a short history of Seattle’s virulent monorail debate that caused much “wailing and gnashing of teeth” south of the 49th! March 19, 2008 at 11:20 am A Rehash: What Was Wrong With The Monorail by Ben Schiendelman A week ago, while talking about the viaduct, a friend said […]