The Whiterock King George Whalley LRT – Revisited & Updated

First published in 2011, the concept of the Whalley King George Whiterock Line, operating in conjunction with the Rail for the Valley’s Leewood Study TramTrain would bring an affordable and successful 21st century public transportation solutions to Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. It has has been seven years year since I entertained the idea […]

TramTrain – It’s Time To Have A Serious Look At The Leewood Project For a Valley Passenger Rail Servcie

As the Surrey LRT slowly gather’s steam, it seems the regional taxpayer is paying a lot of money for very little. Despite the hype and hoopla about the Surrey LRT, does not do anything really, just provide a somewhat faster trip to the nearest SkyTrain station if you want to cross the Fraser. It has […]

The $11 billion Solution!

It seems our politicians and political wannabees are living in a financial ennui. The massive costs of our current transit planning are being ignored, with the rah, rah rant of the various rapid transit promoters glossing over the real costs of their various pet projects. Our so called experts ignore the costs and it is […]

€300 (CAD $455) Million For 25 km of New Tram Line

€300 converts to CAD $455 million for 24km of tram line or about CAD $18.2km per km to build. This of course does not include vehicles or a maintenance depot, but does give a good indication of the cost for an economy light rail line to be built in Metro Vancouver. Even if the total […]

Delusion Drives SkyTrain Planning South of the Fraser

The old fogies of politics are now driving the change from LRT to SkyTrain in Surrey. The same old lies. The same old deceit. The same old ignorance is now gaining control of regional transit south of the Fraser, as it has done in the rest of Metro Vancouver. The SkyTrain Lobby doesn’t care about […]

$580 Million Per Kilometre

Something TransLink and the Mayors Council on Transit likes to keep hidden. The cost of subway construction in Toronto is pegged at $580 million per km. By comparison, the cost for LRT (not in BC mind) is pegged at $35 million to $50 million per km. We can build 10 or more km of LRT […]

The Regional Mayor’s $7 Billion FastFerry Fiasco!

FastFerry fiascos tend to be common in BC, where politicians play the part of transit experts and squander the taxpayer’s money on prestige projects, that are great for ribbon cutting photo-ops, but little more. That Translink’s American CEO applauds this only shows the Mayor’s Council on Transit picked nothing more than a “Useful Idiot” to […]

The Vancouver Sun Out Does Itself

Not high speed rail, but TramTrain is an affordable rail option in lightly populated regions. Vancouver’s mainstream newspapers have been famously ill informed on the subject of “rail”, whether be it, SkyTrain, light rail, or regular railways. I don’t even think there ever has been a honest story about light rail appearing in the Vancouver […]

Horgan’s Great Blunder, The Pattullo Bridge Affair – A Complete Lack of Foresight

Foresight:Ai??The ability to predict what will happen or be needed in the future. The announcement for the Pattullo Bridge replacement, by Premier Horgan, displayed a complete lack of foresight for transportation needs in Metro Vancouver. The key to improving regional mobility in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley is a new railway bridge crossing the […]

Election Season Is Near – Abbotsford Mayor Proposes LRT For The Fraser Valley

In BC, when election time nears, politicians are looking for issues to garner votes. In the Fraser Valley, traffic chaos grows with population, with the obvious results – gridlock. Rail for the Valley has an affordable plan, yet it fell on deaf ears and still does. The key word is “affordable” because if a plan […]