Non News From TransLink – Canada Line to Operate Two More Trains

What would not be considered a news story elsewhere, the Vancouver Sun makes much hoopla that the Canada Line will operate two extra trains during peak hours as per the operating contract. Adding two more trains will slightly ease congestion but unless Translink operates the bus services to feed the Canada line, the $2.5 million metro […]

Are modern streetcars the future?

Due to the small backlash to TransLink’s tax increases that were announced on Wednesday, the pro-LRT and pro-streetcar groups were out today promoting surface rail on CTV News as being cheaper and a fitting tribute to a past.Ai??Ai??   http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110708/bc_interurban_tram_110708/20110708/ Are modern streetcars the future? Vancouver’s interurban train system — the first in Canada — […]

Appeal Court upholds Canada Line class-action of Cambie Street merchants – From the Vancouver Sun

It seems in BC, justice from the courts depends on the judge presiding over the case and not the law. From the same court of appeal which rejected former Cambie Street merchant Susan Heyes award for ‘nuisance‘ due to Canada line cut-and-cover construction, now upholds a class-action lawsuit by Cambie Street merchants for nuisance for […]

Vancouver considers higher-density housing plans for Cambie Street corridor – Have we given land developers a $2.5 billion subsidy?

From the ‘Well I told you so department’. In Vancouver, expensive subways are built not to move people, but toAi??subsidize land development. Readers of the Rail for the Valley blog know that this announcement was predicted and why there much hype and hoopla in the mainstream media with the recently opened Canada line metro; the […]

MLA says TransLink priorities are wrong

From the Oh what a suprise Department Look after south of Fraser before considering UBC http://www.langleyadvance.com/news/says+TransLink+priorities+wrong/4646857/story.html Ai?? The Delta Optimist April 20, 2011 Ai?? TransLink better get its priorities straight and look at improving services south of the Fraser River before looking for money to build a SkyTrain line to UBC. Ai?? Delta South MLA […]

The Sunday Supplement Essay

The fall out from Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts State of the City report Tuesday, has raged far & wide in the BC papers and on the blogosphere, not unexpectedly much of the debate has centered on the link between transport or transit, development or land use and city planning, residential unit design or population density. […]

Pushing a wooden stake through the heart of darkness

 I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky–seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." – Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness    It has not been a very good […]

Transit a hit-and-miss affair in B.C.A?ai??i??ai???s Lower Mainland

Wendy Stueck Vancouverai??i?? Globe and Mail Update Published Friday, Mar. 25, 2011 11:00PM EDT http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/transit-a-hit-and-miss-affair-in-bcs-lower-mainland/article1957867/page2/ Shuttling sleekly between Richmond and downtown Vancouver, the $2-billion Canada Line has been a hit since it opened in 2009. But while the Canada Line whisks hundreds of passengers a day to their destinations, hundreds more huddle at bus stops […]

Added costs for the Canada Line – Has The Taxpayer Assumed Risk?

It seems that TransLink’s costs are rising but what peaked Zweisysytem’s interest is that there has been a cost escalation of the Canada Line contract – what cost escalation? Isn’t the Canada Line supposed to be a P-3 project and that SNC Lavalin and not the taxpayerAi??assumed risk? Now we know all the hype and […]

Toronto again! Ford & Gilbert sound-off & more irrelevant comparisons

Toronto owes mayor a thank you on transit Toronto Star.com February 24th http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/943888–toronto-owes-mayor-a-thank-you-on-transit#article Toronto owes Mayor Rob Ford a big thank you for three things. [Most definitely not] The first is for raising timely doubts about the wisdom of proceeding with Transit City. This was the previous council’s expensive one-size-fits-all plan to replace buses on […]