Absurdity, Hiatus, Ignominy, Irony, Paradox and Prognosis

The Cardinal cordially welcomes Zweisystem back & offers him wishes for a speedy recovery from his recent illness; – Hurry up and get the heck out of there! Zwei, remember Mark Twainai??i??s advice `be careful when reading health books; you may die of a misprintai??i?? Ai?? With Zweisystem back in the section, continuing his mission, […]

Last Weeks Snowfall Stalls The Canada Line Again!

Not reported in the mainstream media is that a Canada Line Train stalled again during last weeks snow storm! The timed out explanation, given by officials doesn't make sense, as we have a near new metro systems, operating on a totally segregated rights-of-way – what could possibly go wrong? I'm sorry, but there seems to […]

Have a Happy 2011 Toronto, love from Rob Ford

Rob Ford ready to let transit projects hold in favour of Sheppard subway Globe & Mail December 21st http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/rob-ford-ready-to-let-transit-projects-hold-in-favour-of-sheppard-subway/article1846354/   Mr. Ford has criticized light-rail transit as too similar to the streetcars he believes causes congestion in Toronto’s gridlocked roadways. He scoffed at the idea that monorails or a similar above-grade technology, which in theory […]

The Canada Line Fizzles In The Snow

Ai?? The $2.5 billion Canada line fizzled today in the 10 cm of snow that fell in the Richmond area. Unlike the SkyTrain proprietary light-metro system, which had a small army of attendants stationed on trains and station platforms to prevent the snow shy SkyTrain from stopping, TransLink seemed unprepared with the weather related problems […]

Canada Line Puzzle A?ai??i??ai??? What’s The problem?

    The cost of the Canada Line is now understood to be over $2.5 billion, with some estimates as high as $2.8 billion. The article illustrates the problems with automatic (driverless) transit systems is that when problems arise, service suffers. When metro stems stops it greatly inconveniences customers, many of whom have to make […]

Canada Line Puzzle A?ai??i??ai??? What’s The problem?

    The cost of the Canada Line is now understood to be over $2.5 billion, with some estimates as high as $2.8 billion. The article illustrates the problems with automatic (driverless) transit systems is that when problems arise, service suffers. When metro stems stops it greatly inconveniences customers, many of whom have to make […]

Come On Now Mainstream Media, Why All The Hype And Hoopla Over The Canada Line?

In the past week, the mainstream media have been singing loud hosannas about the success of the Canada Line, how it is surpassing ridership projections and all is happiness. What the MSM failed toAi??Ai??mention is thatAi??Ai??over 80% of the total trips on the RAV/Canada line have come from about 40,000 or so bus riders who […]

High ridership means Canada Line could hit break-even point 3 years early – Another Early August April Fool?

When news is slow and TransLink is in want to fund another metro line, expect good news stories.Ai??Ai?? $150 thousand a year plus TransLink spin-doctor purrs out the RAV/Canada Lines success; golly gee whiz, the Canada Line is carrying over 100,000 passengers a day and it will soon pay for itself in three years. What […]

Canada Line Metro Reaches Capacity of 100,000 riders a day? Really, that little?

Here we have a classic Vancouver Sun ‘puff story’ about the Canada line, where real questions are not asked and $150 thousand a year man, the classic spin doctor himself, Ken Hardie shows why he is paid such a stipend. The real question should be; “We just spent $2.5 billion on a metro and its […]

TransLink’s Ridership Numbers – Can They Be Trusted?

Several local blogs have trumpeted TransLink’s claim thatAi??Ai??March’s ridership is up over 19% from the same time last year. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Olympic+commuters+sticking+with+public+transit/3065957/story.html#Comments Yet ‘Zwei’ has some nagging questions as to how TransLinkAi??Ai??counts transitAi??Ai??ridership, especially on the metro system. Back in BC Transit days, the transit agencyAi??Ai??proclaimed in annual news releases; “that ridership on the SkyTrain metro has […]