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 […]

Helsinki tram extension gives some insight as to the cost of building LRT.

The following article from the Railway Gazette, givesAi??raw cost of laying track in Helsinki, Finland and give good insight for the cost of laying tram/LRT track on-street. The ai??i??7.5 million (CAD $9.3 million), 4.1 km double track extension on the metre gauge network alsoAi??includes the cost of the overhead. TheAi??cost of the 4.1 km extension […]

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 […]

Detroit’s “Mugger Mover” celebrates 25 years of ‘sort of’ operation

We don’t hear much about SkyTrain elsewhere and I wonder why? Well I know the answer, SkyTrain reign of operation elsewhere has not been as successful as the SkyTrain lobby would have us believe. Please take note of the serious issues regarding the Detroit’s ICTS’s guideway, as previous discussion on the RftV commnets has been […]

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 […]

Through the past – darkly

A note from Zwei…. This post is for the real transit enthusiast, who understands the nuances of transit history. Ed T., who is mentioned in the post is Ed Tennyson, who just turned 90, is one of the USA’s foremost transit experts. The following has been making the rounds in the “transit blogs” and is […]

TransLink cuts half the senior executive positions from 2009. Why not just get rid of TransLink?

What most people don’t realize is that much of TransLink does, could be done easily by outside sources;Ai??the TransLinkAi??bureaucracyAi??tends toAi??duplicate what has already been done. West Coast Mountain Bus and its bureaucracy runs the buses and SeaBus and The BC Rapid Transit Company Ltd. runs the two SkyTrain lines and a private operator runs the […]

Letters To The Editor

On-street running on Portland’s MAX LRT.Ai?? Malcolm Johnston, erstwhile supporter for modern light rail since the mid 1980’s, again has another letter published in the Surrey Leader newspaper. The letter, which is just a rehash of the operating characteristics of modern LRT, something that most European transit planners take for granted. No wild claims, no […]