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 […]

The Second letter Sent To Surrey Council

April 18, 2017 The second letter sent by Malcolm Johnston to Surrey council and a possible solution for South of the Fraser transportation woes. Mayor and council; Two weeks ago I sent a letter to Mayor and Council about modern light rail and this letter is a follow up. Our urban transit planning is an […]

A Novice’s Guide To Transit…………..

ai??i??ai??i??ai??i?? or cutting through the BS about light rail, SkyTrain and BRT. The following is a guide plus definitions about ai???railai??? transit. ALM: Automatic Light metro, the fourthAi??marketing name given for the SkyTrain family of light-metros, when Lavalin briefly ownedAi??SkyTrain before going bankrupt. ALRT (1): Advanced Light Rail Transit, the secondAi??marketing name for SkyTrain. ALRT […]

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 […]

Edmonton LRT – To Be or Not To Be, That is The $220 Million Question

The question Edmonton transit planners are being asked; “Does transit need to be user friendly or auto friendly ?” In Edmonton to be auto friendly means adding at least $220 million to the cost of the project. What this article illustrates is the cost difference between LRT and a light-metro and I think that the […]

Autonomous Trams – Coming Sooner Than You Think

Driverless trams are coming much sooner than one thinks. A recent article in Tramways & Urban Transit, illustrates the strides taken with automatic operation of trams and light rail. For several years tram manufactures have been experimenting with forward, side and rear scanning radar to prevent accidents, in fact most of the modern safety features […]

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 […]

Diva’s On Transit

Zwei always is amused when photo-op divas talk transit, especially LRT and like most politicians, they now nothing what they are talking about. The Canada Line is not LRT; rapid transit is not LRT and SkyTrain is not LRT. What the politicos are doing is mouthing “Trump” style talking points and sound bytes to look […]

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 […]

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 […]