Another letter the media ignores

Another letter from a friend of Rail for the Valley,Ai??which the mainstream media wish to ignore. HereAi??is the problem with our current financial transit debacle, very few, if any in the region understandsAi??what SkyTrain is and why the Vancouver region has it. Most politicos just repeat TransLink’s bumf ad nauseoum! SkyTrain, both the Expo and […]

Lies, damn lies, statistics and ART

From the “You’d better believe it” Department Although sometimes attributed to Mark Twain ai??i?? because it appears in his posthumously-published Autobiography (1924) ai??i?? this should more properly be ascribed to Disraeli, as indeed Twain took trouble to do: his exact words being, ai???The remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ai???There […]

Death, taxes and TransLink

We all want better transit options, but are we willing to pay for them? Well our rather confused regional mayors think so. The root of TransLink's financial woes has been the SkyTrain proprietary mini-metro system and its clone, the Canada Line. Skytrain costs about four to five times more to build than LRT and about fifteen times more […]

Chilliwack passenger rail supporters: Volunteers, donations needed!

Attention Chilliwack supporters of passenger rail… Rail For the Valley plans to be a major presence at Chilliwack's Party in the Park this summer, and we need volunteers. Party in the Park  http://www.downtownchilliwack.com/page.php?id=55   Friday evenings in July and August, at Central Community Park (corner of Victoria and Young) beginning THIS FRIDAY.   Through our Society, we […]

Copenhagen to get light-rail network by 2020: transport ministry

LRT in Copenhagen One welcomes the announcement that Copenhagen will have its first tram/LRT line built by 2020.  In several transit oriented blogs, much has been made that the Danish capital, Copenhagen, opted to have a driverless metro, instead of light rail. Automatic metro is the way of the future, was the clarion call by many […]

Metro mayors pitch ideas to keep Evergreen Line from going off the rails

Looks like the regional mayors are trying to save face with the delay in building the Evergreen Line. How about just saying no. Regional mayors should tell the Minister of Transportation and TransLink this: "If your government compels TransLink to plan and build with the proprietary SkyTrain light-metro system, then your government should pay the […]

SkyTrain justifications are way off track

It seems The North Shore News’s Liz James has scored a direct hit with her most recent article andAi??I hope the rest of the Post Media papers pick this up and print it. BC Transit and now TransLink has made the LRT/SkyTrain debate an idealogicalAi??one and not a debate about what is best for the […]

A letter about light rail, the Vancouver Sun refuses to print.

It is strange that the pro-SkyTrain Vancouver Sun printed an article about the proposed Victoria LRT project, unless the Sun wanted to cool the anti-Evergreen Line, pro-LRT stance taken by many regional mayors, especially mayor Watts of Surrey. The gist of the Victoria story….. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Opinion+plan+Victoria+mayor+nervously+eyeing+bill/4917237/story.html#ixzz1Oshzwu6NBy …. is that LRT is also very expensive and that […]

Maybe Evergreen Line just isn’t affordable – From the Vancouver Province

Maybe Evergreen Line just isn’t affordable – you think? 11 km. of transit route for over $1.4 billion seems to be just a tad too much especially when it is compared with other transit modes, but Translink has created a lot of spin for the (N)Evergreen Line and it would be truly embarrassing for them if […]

BC’s TransLink taking taxpayers for a ride – North Shore News

It seems Ms. James now joins  the Georgia Straight's Charlie Smith, with her knowledge on regional transit issues and one hopes other commentators get up to speed on the subject of transit as well. Yes, TransLink and the provincial government are taking taxpayers for a ride and have done so since 1980 when the then Bill Bennett […]