Toronto’s Mayor “Edsel’s” War On Transit – When idiots makes decisions, don’t be surprised at the results!

Toronto’s Mayor Ford’s (Mayor Edsel is a better name) amateur attempts to improve transit in the Toronto region is fast becoming a fiasco! But what else would one expect from aAi??puffed up American tea-bag style politician who has a hate on for streetcars and LRT because; “they take road space away from cars“. His solutionAi??building […]

Seattle’s Light-Metro Plans……Er, LRT Plans

Seattle’s Sound Transit penchant for planning for light-metro and calling it light rail is leading regional taxpayers into a fincial fiasco. Sound familiar, well it should, it is the same type of regioanl transit policy that TransLink has. Sound Transit’s first hybrid 22.4Ai??km light-metro/light rail line, costing $3.6 billion (this is the complete cost including […]

E & N Blues

Want to kill a Railway? Starve it of funds and let it rust away and this seems the fate of the E & N railway. For a want of a mere $15 million to upgrade the tracks, the provincial government has loudly signaled that it wants to wash its hands of the E&N, especially when […]

Toronto Meet Your New Ride

New Toronto Streetcars http://lrv.ttc.ca/Ai?? is the website from the TTC on the new streetcars. The Toronto Transportation Societyai??i??s December newsletter has some interesting thoughts on the vehicle as well as photos of the half mock-up. The first 80 cars will have both pole and pantograph with the remainingAi?? (109 or 116 depending on the order) […]

Bombardier’s Guided BRT Is A Bust In Caen

With all the hoopla about BRT, it is interesting to note that the Caen TVR (proprietary guided bus) being in operation for a few short years, is being abandoned in favour of LRT. To be competitive with light rail/streetcar, BRT must be guided and if BRT is guided, it must run on its own rights-of-ways, […]

Liar, liar, liar……….

It seems the SkyTrain Lobby has started a wee blog to compete with Rail for the Valley, called Surrey needs SkyTrainAi??and true to form, if one supports light rail, one is a liar. It is so sad to see so much time and effort is wasted on what is now an obsolete proprietary transit mode, […]

Hume: The suburbs ask: Whereai??i??s the subway? In Metro Vancouver, the ‘burbs ask: Where is SkyTrain?

Like the Vancouver Metro Region, everyone wants SkyTrain, but there is no money to pay for it. Trouble is, no one has explained this to civic and provincial politicians, who continue to promise multi billion dollar SkyTrain extensions. In the Fraser Valley mayor Watts of Surrey does get it, with her support for LRT construction, […]

Light Rail and Streetcar Construction

The following is a series of photos showing tram construction in the French city of Tours. http://www.lineoz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17564&p=345099#p345099 The French city of Tours (population 137,000) tram project is a transit is closely related to modern light rail with most of its route located in aAi??reserved rights-of-way. Work on the new tramway started in 2010, with completion […]

Road Pricing Coming To Surrey?

It seems that local bureaucrats are trying to persuade regional politicians to agree to a road-pricing or road toll scheme, to both ensure their incomes and pensions by increasing the transit and planning bureaucracies – OOPS, I meant to sayAi??increase funds for transit. For road pricing or road tolls to work, the region needs a […]

Light Rail runs in inclement weather

Trams and Streetcars "Stuttering & Crapping out" not a chance brother! As in the winter of 2010/2011 when Light Rail & Trams continued to run across Europe as well as in Calgary, despite heavy snow falls, when Skytrain ground to an ignominious halt, likewise recent floods in Europe & Australia haven't stopped the Trams! Montpellier, France […]