North American light rail systems

Modern LRT is reasonably cheap to build, when compared with metro type systems, but in NorthAi??America transit planners have done the impossible, they have planned LRT to be more expensive than a metro to build.Ai?? Such stupidity should be stopped at once! From the Globe and Mail. This maybe of some interest, but the cost […]

High Costs For LRT In Waterloo Ontario Questioned! Is LRT Being Designed as a Money Pit?

It seems well known light rail advocate, Malcolm Johnston, Ai??is at it again, sticking his nose in other peoples light rail business, butAi??there there is a very good point for his interest in Canadian light rail projects, as they are farAi??more expensive when compared to new build European light rail lines. Also in the fray […]

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 […]

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 closer to reality for Surrey, Langley – From Newsradio 11:30

Some positive news – well maybe, but we have all heard this before. If TransLink is involved with light rail planning for Surrey, it will fail for sure as TransLink couldn’t even plan for an outhouse, let alone understand its function. TransLink is famous for gold-plating proposed LRT that the cost becomes more than an […]

A Tale of Two Letters

The SkyTrain lobby has entered the Surrey political arena with the all so predictable misinformation that is so common with the "metro lobby". Sadly much of their anti-LRT rhetoric is thirty years out of date.   Light rail system may be the wrong choice Published: October 31, 2011 1:00 PM I have a few important points […]

The Novice’s Guide to “Rail” Transit Or…………

…………..cutting through the BS about light rail, SkyTrain and BRT. The following is a guide plus definitions about “rail” transit for the November civic elections. ALM: Automatic Light metro, the fourthAi??marketing name given for the SkyTrain family of light-metros, when Lavalin briefly ownedAi??SkyTrain before gong bankrupt. ALRT (1): Advanced Light Rail Transit, the secondAi??marketing name […]

SkyTrain – increasing rents, but at what cost?

The following item is nothing more than a ‘hard sell’ for the Evergreen Line and for the proposed Broadway subway. Granted that office space near one of Vancouver’s three metro lines have lower vacancy rates and higher rents, but what has not been taken into account is that offices next to the present metro lines […]

The Ultimate BRT

Here we have the next generation of rapid bus. I understand Translink is sending stakeholders (first class) to see the new BRT in Action. Rumour has that the first trials will take place the first day of April, 2012. The following is a preview of the new  BRT. BRT Vision I think I'll take a tram […]

Vancouver Streetcar Controversy – Facts Please, not Anti-Tram Rhetoric!

The following is typical of the anti streetcar or tram rhetoric that is all too common in Vancouver’s mainstream media. Streetcars are deliberately made to seem inferior to SkyTrain and the SkyTrain Lobby, insure that the blogosphere is filled with anti-LRT/tram nonsense. To make sure this happens, TransLink deliberately inflates the cost of new LRT, […]