Back To Basics

What is light rail? LRT is a transportation system based on electrically powered light rail vehicles (LRV) that operates on a track in a dedicated right-of-way (meaning separated lanes). It is the operating on dedicated or “reserved rights-of-ways that makes a simple streetcar or tram light rail! many simple streetcar or tram systems have sections […]

20 Minutes Into The Future

This article caught my eye. If the provincial or federal government actually created a program for regional rail systems in the country, they could also carry freight, creating a regional rail system that would not only serve the public, but businesses as well. With autonomous battery  powered rail-cars, we could see “Mixed Trains” in operation […]

How The NDP Paved Paradise and Turned It Into a Parking Lot. A Repost From 2020

This is a repost of a November 2020 blog post. The estimated cost for a 21.7 km extension of the Millennium Line (Broadway subway) and the Expo Line (Surrey – Langley extension) is now past $11 billion. The NDP are setting in motion a highway’s only planning for the future, doubling down on BC’s famous […]

Vancouver Will Need To Adopt Lower-Cost LRT In Its Lesser Corridors – Updated

The consensus is the same, Metro Vancouver will need to adopt lower-cost LRT for its future transit needs. This was first posted in 2019 and the costs and the financial numbers have changed somewhat. Currently, the province and metro Vancouver is spending over $11 billion for 21.7 km of new light-metro line, including the Broadway […]

Can A City Fall In Love With A Tram?

    Can Vancouver fall in love with trams?

Same Opportunities – Same Excuses

Light rail is not a panacea, but it is a proven method in reducing auto traffic, something those promoting SkyTrain cannot claim. Building with trams opens an opportunity for not only providing a user-friendly and environmentally- friendly alternative to the car, the mode offers an almost universal transit mode as the modern tram can operate […]

Incompatible Transit – A Taxpayer’s Nightmare

I thought this would be an interesting article as we have in Vancouver two incompatible light metro systems, the Canada Line and the Expo and Millennium Lines. The Canada Line uses ROTEM built EMU’s, standard railway fare and can be used on most standard gauge electric railways. The Expo and Millennium lines use the proprietary, […]

World’s Greatest Public Transit Systems

From Shanghai to Stockholm, these are the world’s greatest public transportation systems – as voted by the people who use them every day 1. Berlin – Metro pop. – 6.1 mil. [Trams] (Metro) 2. Prague – Metro pop. – 2.7 mil. [Trams] (Metro) 3. Tokyo – Metro pop. – 40.7 mil. [Trams] (subway) 4. Copenhagen […]

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? Chemitz TramTrain on the mainline. A Langley to downtown […]

Toronoto’s King Street 504 Streetcar

As mentioned before, the King Street A&B Streetcar routes carries more customers than the Broadway B Line bus. 99 B 35,800 Boarding’s (Fall 2022) King 504 A&B Streetcar: 48,900 Boarding’s (Fall 2022) Well let’s have a look at the King Streetcar route.