The Delta Optimist gets it!

Somebody gets it! By building light metro, in the guise of SkyTrain, the taxpayer has spent three to four times more money than a light rail alternative, to get three rather mediocre transit lines. Cut through the hype and hoopla, SkyTrain and the Canada Line's ridership is made up mostly of recycled bus passengers (TransLink […]

Expanding Calgary’s Light Rail

Already emission-free, doubling in size since 2001 and taking delivery of new Siemens SD160NG LRV’s, Canada’s CTrain is a model of sucessful light rail. http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.htm Light Rail in Calgary is in the midst of a mini revolution. New vehicles, new stations and new routes are all part of a major expansion described by the Canadian […]

Another letter the media ignores

Another letter from a friend of Rail for the Valley,Ai??which the mainstream media wish to ignore. HereAi??is the problem with our current financial transit debacle, very few, if any in the region understandsAi??what SkyTrain is and why the Vancouver region has it. Most politicos just repeat TransLink’s bumf ad nauseoum! SkyTrain, both the Expo and […]

Lies, damn lies, statistics and ART

From the “You’d better believe it” Department Although sometimes attributed to Mark Twain ai??i?? because it appears in his posthumously-published Autobiography (1924) ai??i?? this should more properly be ascribed to Disraeli, as indeed Twain took trouble to do: his exact words being, ai???The remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: ai???There […]

Around Canada

A column published by The National Post says Toronto has a fetish for streetcars and what the city really needs is more rapid transit subways to make it a world class urban area. The commentary compares Toronto with London and its Tube system:http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/06/10/kelvin-browne-derailed-by-the-spacehog-streetcar/ Every city with aspirations for greatness insists on good transit, and subways […]

BC’s TransLink taking taxpayers for a ride – North Shore News

It seems Ms. James now joins  the Georgia Straight's Charlie Smith, with her knowledge on regional transit issues and one hopes other commentators get up to speed on the subject of transit as well. Yes, TransLink and the provincial government are taking taxpayers for a ride and have done so since 1980 when the then Bill Bennett […]

As Predicted – Evergreen Line faces another yearA?ai??i??ai???s delay and uncertain future

Another prediction from Zwei has come to pass, The Evergreen or locally called Nevergreen SkyTrain line is in serious trouble. The truth of the matter is that for $1.4 billion dollars, the Evergreen line would attract very few new transit customers and virtually no motorists to the transit system. Every time problems with the Evergreen […]

News From Down-Under

What I like about this article from Australia is that the picture gives a clear indication of what a LRT/streetcar line should look like down Broadway or any other city street in the region. This is how Broadway could look like with modern Light Rail. Councils are on line for tram fight EXCLUSIVE by Vikki […]

Before & after – TOD French Tramway style

Angers: before and after the coming of the Tram Taken from http://www.lineoz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19049&p=317604#p317604 Ai?? The series of images shows the improvements in the urban environment that the introduction of an at-grade tram system can bring. 1. Rue de la RoAi??Ai??Ai??- before and after Ai??2. Alsace – before and after Finally a link to a `drivers eye’ […]

Taxpayers Beware – Seattle’s Newest Subway Is Costing $400 Million A Kilometre

This story should be sounding alarm bells everywhere, Seattle's newest subway, a mere 4.8 km long, is set to cost a massive USD $2 billion or about USD $400 million per km to build, making this insane project one of the worlds more expensive subway projects! 'Zwei' never supported Seattle's so-called LRT line because it is really a very expensive […]