Union urges Vancouver mayors to accept gas taxes to pay for more transit – so they can hire more union bus drivers

The the bus driver union wants regional mayors to vote to increase property taxes to pay for light metro, mainly for Vancouver, comes as no surprise; the light-metro philosophy needs more buses and bus drivers to feed the hugely expensive metro lines. With much cheaper LRT because it can serve more destinations, doesn't such need a vast bus […]

The Mufford Crescent Debate.

The Mufford Crescent overpass debate has implications for the proposed Rail for the Valley/Leewood TramTrain. The question Zwei asks is: “Why is a hugely expensive overpass being planned for Mufford Crescent at all, yet the far heavier used Langley Bypass/ Glover Road/Rail intersection/level-crossing remains almost unchanged. Would it not be better to move the overpass […]

And You Thought Busways Were Cheap – Not in Brisbane Australia

Wow, who said that Bus Rapid Transit is cheap? The cost of Brisbane’s new one kilometreAi??busway is almost the cost of the 98 km. Rail for the Valley/Leewood diesel TramTrain line from Scott Road Station to Chilliwack! The moral of this story is, when TransLink and politicans promise BRT, do they really know what it […]

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, […]

Autumn in Budapest

The Cardinal has recently returned from a short holiday in Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is a walking city and theSeptember weather makes it ideal to wander around on foot with many cozy cafAi??s and restaurants offering their retreat if needed when temperatures cool down. With over 100 museums and galleries the city also offers many indoor […]

A Light Rail renaissance

The government has set out its intention to trigger a light rail renaissance in the UK and while specialists welcome the move some are concerned about costs http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leaders-network/2011/sep/23/light-rail-renaissance?newsfeed=true Nick Appleyard Guardian Professional, Friday 23 September 2011 00.50 BST Major cities such as Leeds and Bristol are missing out by not having either a tram or […]

Surrey won’t build light rail without help

Mayor says taxpayers have poured too much into TransLink SURREY (NEWS1130) – Dianne Watts wants light rail for her city as soon as possible, but would Surrey be willing to pay for it alone? http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/280453–surrey-won-t-build-light-rail-without-help      A candidate for mayor in Vancouver has promised a city-initiated streetcar system, but Watts says Surrey is still waiting […]

Vancouver mayoralty candidate Susan Anton serious about streetcars!

Interesting and welcome news from Vancouver where right leaning mayoralty candidate, Susan Anton, is endorsing streetcars for Vancouver. Vancouver’sAi??current streetcar planning is extremely amateur, and what can one expect from a city, whose engineering departments have been so anti LRT! I do not think a private consortium will step forward to fund the current inept […]

Streetcars out for the North Shore, in for Vancouver!

Interesting local news about implementing a modern streetcar line in the greater Vancouver region. Modern trams are not as expensive as one would think as the following shows, but if TransLink is involved, the cost of a new tram/streetcar would be at almost ten times more! On October 11, 2006 he Spanish town of Véléz […]

The Depeartment of Transport in the UK releases a positive report about LRT.

Modern LRT in Strassburg France, operating on a lawned (grassed) reserved rights-of-ways Just released, a positive report from the Department for Transport for light rail in the UK. http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/green-light-for-light-rail Report: Green light for light rail (PDF – 561 KB)