An Election come And Gone

Just brief notes on the election or deciphering the entrails before they get cold. It seems the SkyTrain/TransLink curse has now caused the Liberal Minister responsible for TransLink, Peter Fassbender to lose his seat. Regional transportation has been made the “kiss of death” for politicians by successive NDP and Liberal governments and combined with weak […]

UK Developer Must Help pay for Rail Connection

The UK is reopening once abandoned rail lines to cope with congestion and increased population. A UK developer must pay A?13.2m (CAD $23.25m) towards the restoration of the Bere Alston Tavistock railway route before building 750 new homes. This works out to CAD $31,000 per home. When one looks at the massive developments happening in […]

The NDP Support “Rail” Transit for the Fraser Valley

Well it tool seven long years for this as it is the first time any of the mainstream political parties have even acknowledged the need for a passenger/commuter rail service for the Fraser Valley. The main contender? Rail for the Valley’s Leewood Study provides the the fasted and most affordable service and must be considered […]

TramTrain – It’s Time To Have Another Look At The Leewood Project

While local politicians squabble about expensive transit planning and gouging the taxpayer to pay for multi billion dollar transportation vanity projects, economic and user friendly TramTrain construction and operation continue to increase. Isn’t time for politicians have another look at the Leewood/Rail for the Valley Study?   Stadler selected to supply Szeged tram-trains 19 Apr […]

Tram-trains on test in Sheffield

TramTrain operation is expanding at a good pace in Europe, where the economy and customer friendliness of the mode is now established. Is it not time our politicians, planners and especially BC Transit and TransLink have a look at the mode? I find it disturbing that TransLink is so ready to foist an European road […]

More Highways On the Horizon

New highways always bring the so called experts into the fray. The problem is; we don’t have any, rather the region has a hodge podge of academics, planners and engineers calling themselves experts and the result is what is happening now. The real problem is this; the population is growing at a huge pace in […]

Sparkle Ponies and Fairy Dust

The appalling reporting on transit by the local media continues, all what is reported is sparkle ponies and fairy dust. Here are the financial problems that TransLink faces: Estimated cost of the Broadway subway – $3 billion+ Estimated cost to refurbish the Expo and Millennium Lines to allow higher capacity – $2 billion to $3 […]

Freight Tram Rides Again

Dresden’s famous freight tram is back in service. One of the most under rated tram success stories is the Dresden freight tram, which conveyed car parts between two factories, using the cities tram network. It is easy to see why freight trams have not been talked about much in North America, because many North American […]

Transportation planning has become a bullshit field

Interesting article on Toronto’s transit scene which mirrors Vancouver’s. In Vancouver, decades of bad planning, based on up-zoning properties adjacent to SkyTrain Lines to obtain higher densities, which benefits the “condo kings” and land speculators more than transit customers has lead to a litany of unintended consequences. One of those unintended consequences has brought a […]

Subway or LRT? The Debate In Toronto That We Are Not Allowed In Vancouver

This article is a must read for those in Vancouver who want to debate the proposed Broadway SkyTrain subway. Three items that need attention: As Toronto does not operate with LRT, their capacity numbers for LRT are inaccurate. Since the 1980’s the capacity of a modern LRT line can be in excess of 20,000 pphpd. […]