Is it time to bring back the streetcar to Vancouver?

Both Stephen Rees http://stephenrees.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/is-it-time-to-bring-back-the-streetcar-to-vancouver/ and Voony http://voony.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/is-it-time-to-bring-back-the-streetcar-to-vancouver/Ai?? The motion has been launchedAi??by Vancouver-based online consultation platform PlaceSpeak https://www.placespeak.com/topic/399/streetcar-city-2050/ Vancouver is currently exploring the use of streetcars as a key element of our transition to more sustainable transportation modes. But if streetcars are to be reintroduced in todayai??i??s economic climate it is important that they are […]

Surface LRT will “corrupt” rail system

In a letter to the Langley Advance, a spokesman for “SkyTrain for Surrey” says adding surface light rail to the Vancouver area rail transit system will “corrupt” the efficiency and cost recovery of the existing rapid transit system: http://www.langleyadvance.com/TransLink+SkyTrain+boosting+profits/6672346/story.html This is the link to the letter that, Daryl Dela Cruz ofAi??SkyTrain for Surrey objects to: […]

The Emperor has no Clothes and no Transit – First published in March 2011

Zwei has decided to reprint this post from March of last year. In the ensuing year nothing has changed; the same oldAi??tired cast of characters trundling out the same old tired transit plans,Ai??desperately tryingAi??to convinceAi??the ever increasingly skeptical taxpayerAi??to ante up more and more tax money to fund transit improvements that everyone knows will fail […]

Eric Chris on the West Coast Express and TransLink Ridership in General

Eric Chris takes on TransLink’s appalling history of exaggerating ridership on Vancouver’s metro transit system. Zwei has known since the mid 1980’s that BC Transit exaggerated ridership on the SkyTrain Expo Line to impress visiting transit types, but they were not fooled as they could see that the light loadings on the mini-metro did not […]

TramTrain Trial OK’ed in the UK

TramTrain is coming to South Yorkshire, in the UK. If TramTrain passes muster with her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate, it would past muster in BC for operation in metro Vancouver. The real question, of course, is why TransLink must be forced kicking and screaming to accept TramTrain as a 21st century transit mode? From the LRTA […]

Urban Compass – Subways wont win Rob Ford Votes

In a meeting room in Scarborough earlier this month, Mayor Rob Fordai??i??s grand plan to ride to re-election on subway promises drift further off track. It happened deep in the heart of Ford Nation, with a few dozen people gathered in Agincourt for an information session put on by CodeRedTO, a non-partisan group thatai??i??s been […]

More on Karlsruhe, new Trams, headway, pedestrians & bicycles

Ai??Germany-based Vossloh has won a ai??i??75m contract from Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) and Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) to supply 25 low floor tram trains, with an option for 50 additional trains to be deployed in Karlsruhe, Germany. Under the contract, the company will supply its new tram train, the Citylink NET 2012, equipped with the modern traction system […]

Connected Cities Ai?? Light Rail Transit or LRT

The Cardinal has posted details on the Connected Cities project before. Connected Cities is a European Union [EU]Ai??investigation into the question of how we can provide unrestricted but sustainable transport and mobility to cities and regions in such a way that it will strengthen their territorial cohesion and improve the quality of life of its […]

Karlsruhe – More fuel on the fire

A few weeks back, Zwei created a firestorm of denial by the anti-tram crowd, when I reported that the main tram route in the city was being replaced by a subway; “because of the success of Karlsruhe’sAi??regional tramtrain service, the main tram route through the city was seeing 45 second headways“. All Zwei did was […]

A recent spike: Canadaai??i??s abandoned railway lines given second life by search for cheaper transport

An interesting article from the National Post. Of course, Rail for the Valley has been advocating for this for the past four years! A recent spike: Canadaai??i??s abandoned railway lines given second life by search for cheaper transport Tristin Hopper Apr 27, 2012 One hundred and 26 years after Sir John A. Macdonald drove its […]