Wrong Again – How Long will it Take Them To Get It Right?

They have got it wrong, but in Vancouver we have have always got transit wrong. Speed of a transit system is not the prime factor in attracting ridership, it is part of the mix. The main reasons for successful transit, according to the internationally acclaimed study ' Bus or light rail, making the right choice', by Professor […]

Electric Hybrid Streetcars coming to Austin?

Austin Cars ExaminerAi?? August 12, 2011 http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-austin/eclectric-hybrid-streetcars-coming-to-austin A glimpse of the possible future of mass transit in the City of Austin was shown to the public on August 11. Kinkisharyo, a global provider of high speed and mass transit rail vehicles, set up a version of their new low floor hybrid electric street car (the […]

TransLink’s Finacial Woes

The Vancouver Province's editorial has got it partially wrong. a good part of TransLink's financial woes is that they have tied themselves to the extremely dated light-metro/SkyTrain rapid transit model which can cost over fifteen times more to build than light rail, without any operational or financial benefit! Light-metro, especially the automated (driverless) product not […]

Amtrak to continue running two trains a day into Vancouver.

Common sense at last. Amtrak will continue to rumble Seattle to Vancouver route twice daily   By Susan Gilmore, Seattle TimesAugust 18, 2011     The Amtrak Cascades train from Vancouver to Seattle. Photograph by: Vancouver Sun files, . The second daily Amtrak Cascades train between Seattle and Vancouver, which was scheduled to end in […]

TransLink urged to clarify tax-and-spend plan – Or is it More Smoke And Mirrors

"Vancouver is adopting a non-commercial approach…….I hope they have lots of money."; Norman Thompson, CBE, FCA, ACMA, English transit consultant and builder of the worlds busiest subway, on the BC Government's choice for SkyTrain instead of LRT in 1980.   TransLink's precarious financial position has been long predicted because the region was forced, by the […]

More Misleading TransLink Numbers – So What Esle is New?

A letter from a Mr. Rob Kwon certainly shreds TransLink’s CEO, Ian Jervis’s claim that the cost per revenue passenger is a$3.98 is based on questionable book keeping. Well so what else is new! The Canada line was supposed to cost a mere $1.3 billion, yet it’s final cost exceeds $2.5 billion. Translink never includes […]

TransLink CEO, Ian Jarvis Strikes Back

Irked with the Vancouver provinces editorial about Translink and the proposed 2 cent a litre gas tax to fund the Evergreen Line, TransLink's CEO, Ian Jarvis sent an angry letter to the Province. TransLink's progress  By Ian Jarvis, The Province July 26, 2011 Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/TransLink+progress/5159297/story.html#ixzz1TE21EMZl TransLink takes exception to the way in which your editorial […]

A transit day in the mainstream media

The two Vancouver dailies have offered, surprisingly to, several letters and an editorial about local transit issues. From the Vancouver Sun, comes a letter from a Mr. Villegas, who seems to know a lot about modern LRT and he is quite correct that a tram would offer a comparable service as a much more expensive […]

TransLink stumbles on

Liz James, who writes for the North Shore news, is one of the very few columnists that who has both researched the regional transit issue and understands transit issues. As TransLink CEO Ian Jervis, is busy shilling for the very expensive Evergreen Line, he refuses to look a cheaper alternatives, such as light rail. SkyTrain […]

The Delta Optimist gets it!

Somebody gets it! By building light metro, in the guise of SkyTrain, the taxpayer has spent three to four times more money than a light rail alternative, to get three rather mediocre transit lines. Cut through the hype and hoopla, SkyTrain and the Canada Line's ridership is made up mostly of recycled bus passengers (TransLink […]