Valenciennes Avenue Geoge Clemenceau

The Sunday Supplement Essay

The fall out from Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts State of the City report Tuesday, has raged far & wide in the BC papers and on the blogosphere, not unexpectedly much of the debate has centered on the link between transport or transit, development or land use and city planning, residential unit design or population density. […]

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Surrey Mayor Watts ups the TransLink ante – ‘We’re redefining Surrey’

Following on from Zweisai??i?? earlier posting of the Vancouver Sunai??i??s reporting of Mayor Dianne Wattsai??i??s state of city address `Surrey looks to light rail to ease huge growth’ `SkyTrain is too expensive, Mayor Dianne Watts says’ the Surrey Now paperAi?? published the following article on Tuesday: ‘We’re redefining Surrey,’ mayor says at annual State of […]

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U.S Light Rail & Tram news

Firstly a report from abc 15.com in Phoenix Arizona http://www.abc15.com/dpp/traffic/record-light-rail-ridership-due-to-gas-price-hikes Record light rail ridership due to gas price hikes? Light rail ridership has hit a new record, at the same time as gas prices did the same. But Metro is being careful about drawing conclusions. Nearly 1.2 million riders used the light rail in March, […]

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You could waste away waiting for guided bus

cambridge-news.co.uk http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/You-could-waste-away-waiting-for-guided-bus.htm Let's make no bones about it – we’re all getting on a bit while we wait for the guided bus to arrive. But two “passengers” at the busway stop in Swavesey really have reached the end of the line. A pair of skeletons have been spotted close to the track, appropriately appearing on […]

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Light Rail news from around Europe

HK order low-floor trams from Transtech Rail.co April 1 2011 http://www.rail.co/2011/04/01/hkl-orders-low-floor-trams-from-transtech/ Helsinki City Transport (HKL) and the Finnish Rail rolling stock manufacturer Transtech signed an agreement to purchase 40 new trams on 24 March. The contract comprises of 40 trams and a possible further 90, if the tram extensions of Helsinki go to plan. The […]

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Pushing a wooden stake through the heart of darkness

 I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky–seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." – Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness    It has not been a very good […]

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The Emperor has no Clothes and no Transit

Vancouver is at first glance a beautiful city. It is surrounded by sweeping vistas and a dramatic skyline. The climate is moderate butAi??spend some time here and scratch the surface and it becomes far less attractive. It is a city that is divided politically; it is parochial, narrow minded and shallow. The people are characterless, […]

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Current issue of Trains should be required reading

Matthew at Transport Action BC http://transportactionbc.wordpress.com/ writes on March 8th The April issue of Trains magazine has a special 48 page report on fast trains. It describes new high-speed trains in China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Europe, relative speed, why some Americans canai??i??t seem to embrace high-speed rail, a map showing the highest speed portions […]

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Comparing Light Rail, Bus and Subway Costs

Two  reports on Canadian Light Rail systems The following link is to a report published in 2006 by Calagary Transit Light Rail Transit in Calgary  http://www.calgarytransit.com/pdf/Calgarys_LRT_1st_25Years_TRB_revised.pdf Currently, the average hourly operating cost of LRT is approximately $163, including operating, maintenance and utility costs. With an average of 600 boarding passengers per revenue operating hour, the […]

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First interconnected tram-train service!

On 12 December 2010, the first tram-train service in the French region of Alsace commenced. 5000 daily passengersAi??are be able to travel from Mulhouse to Thann on an innovative, ecomobile transport route. read the article: http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/html/media/CH0004-Everyday-life/BR1122-Tram-train-Mulhouse/MD0005_20101206-Read-article.html Photograhs of the track system, internal & external views of the Alstom Citadis Tram-Trains Images courtesy of: http://www.tc-alsace.eu/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=87