Dijon tram network opens six months early
From France, the new Dijon tram (LRT) network has opened 6 months early. If TransLink was really serious in building LRT in Surrey, the city could see its first tram/LRT line up and running in as little as three years. The foot dragging on designing affordable and efficient LRT for Surrey speaks volumes about TransLink […]
Two Years Since the Leewood Report and the Silence is Deafening!
It has been two years since Rail for the Valley released the historic RftV/Leewood study and the silence has been deafening. The RftV/Leewood study is light years ahead of anything that TransLink has produced, yet it has been given the silent treatment; “being sent to Coventry“, while TransLink squanders tens of millions of dollars promoting […]
U.S. (And Canada) Taxpayers Are Gouged on Mass Transit Costs
With BC Transit quoting silly prices for LRT in Victoria and TransLink doing the same in Vancouver and Surrey, the following article from Bloomberg should be essential reading. As the previous post has shown, modern LRT/streetcar can be built cheaply, if there is the political and bureaucratic will to do so. With thank to Justin […]
As Predicted – TransLink’s Gas Tax is Faltering – Higher Taxes Predicted!
As predicted, gas tax revenue has failed to meet expectations as thousands of lower mainland residents fill up their family chariots east of Aldergrove or in the US, where gas is much cheaper. This was predicted by Zwei some years ago (the wife fills up her belch-fire in Point Roberts) and was roundly criticized by […]
A Blast From the Past – Zwei Was Advocating the Stadler GTW in 2009!
I seems Zwei has had it right all along with the Stadler GTW! Here is a repost from October 2009! The Stadler GTW ai??i?? A new generation of Diesel light rail. Posted by zweisystem on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 The Stadler GTW Diesel light Rail car The Stadler GTW, sold by Stadler Rail, Switzerland, is […]
FRA Approves First Integrated Use of Stadler GTW Rail Vehicle for DCTA – The RftV/Leewood Study is Shovel Ready!
Good news everyone, in the USA the Federal Railway Administration has approved theAi??first integrated use of the Stadler GTW Rail Vehicle for Denton County Transportation Authority’s new passenger rail line. Not quite TramTrain and not quite an old Budd RDC or Bombardier O-train, theAi??Stadler Diesel LRTAi??fits the market for light weight diesel rail cars for […]
SkyTrain Obsolete!
One can predict the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the SkyTrain lobby with long time transit advocate, Malcolm Johnston’s recent letter published in the Surrey Now. One wonders why TransLink, civic and provincial politicians almost worship SkyTrain in Metro Vancouver, as some sort of transit miracle, when the rest of world views it as […]
Myth Busting!
It seems that the same tall tales about modern LRT are being told is Sydney Australia, that are being told in Vancouver and Surrey. Like always. a lie often repeated soon becomes truth, well the following sets the record straight, but will the public remain deaf to the truth all depends on the amount of […]
War on Buses? Er…No, Just Very Bad Planning
Is there a war on buses in Vancouver? Sorry, no. Instead thereAi??has been an ongoingAi??war on good transit planning and those supporting bad transit planning won decades ago. The real problem is and always has beenAi??SkyTrain and the massive costs associated with the mini-metro. The taxpayer has paid about three to five times more for […]
CancA?n tram-train feasibility study commissioned
It is so sad that just about every country in North America and Europe are looking a TramTrain (Interurban) to help solve regional transit problems, except Canada andAi??especially BC and Metro Vancouver. That the now obsolete SkyTrain mini-metro is still being planned for the lower mainland only shows how backward and irrelevant our regional transit […]
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