Seattle’s Light-Metro Plans……Er, LRT Plans

Seattle’s Sound Transit penchant for planning for light-metro and calling it light rail is leading regional taxpayers into a fincial fiasco. Sound familiar, well it should, it is the same type of regioanl transit policy that TransLink has. Sound Transit’s first hybrid 22.4Ai??km light-metro/light rail line, costing $3.6 billion (this is the complete cost including […]

Christmas Greetings

Seasonal Trams & Christmas lights from: BudapestAi??http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzLNouWQlWg&feature=youtu.be&hd=1 Vienna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wixBopxlTUI Graz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDANZba5Qxc&feature=related Munich http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXGVFcwE7C0&feature=related and the Budapest Christmas Tram !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcEZvwMlKMs&feature=related

Toronto Meet Your New Ride

New Toronto Streetcars http://lrv.ttc.ca/Ai?? is the website from the TTC on the new streetcars. The Toronto Transportation Societyai??i??s December newsletter has some interesting thoughts on the vehicle as well as photos of the half mock-up. The first 80 cars will have both pole and pantograph with the remainingAi?? (109 or 116 depending on the order) […]

Liar, liar, liar……….

It seems the SkyTrain Lobby has started a wee blog to compete with Rail for the Valley, called Surrey needs SkyTrainAi??and true to form, if one supports light rail, one is a liar. It is so sad to see so much time and effort is wasted on what is now an obsolete proprietary transit mode, […]

Hume: The suburbs ask: Whereai??i??s the subway? In Metro Vancouver, the ‘burbs ask: Where is SkyTrain?

Like the Vancouver Metro Region, everyone wants SkyTrain, but there is no money to pay for it. Trouble is, no one has explained this to civic and provincial politicians, who continue to promise multi billion dollar SkyTrain extensions. In the Fraser Valley mayor Watts of Surrey does get it, with her support for LRT construction, […]

A Tram Runs Through It!

IAi??couldn’t resist. In Freiburg Germany, trams co-exist with bicycles and buildings, without the doom and gloom and general transportation chaos predicted by the SkyTrain (a.k.a. metro) lobby. So sad when on this side of the pond, many regional politicians equate modern LRT as an anachronism from years gone by and not as a viable and […]

Light Rail and Streetcar Construction

The following is a series of photos showing tram construction in the French city of Tours. http://www.lineoz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17564&p=345099#p345099 The French city of Tours (population 137,000) tram project is a transit is closely related to modern light rail with most of its route located in aAi??reserved rights-of-way. Work on the new tramway started in 2010, with completion […]

TramTrain Through Town and Country

Here we have a Karlsruhe ‘streetcar’ operating as a Elzug or local passenger train on its way to Heilbronn. Two video’s that show that the “density question” doesn’t exist with TramTrain and that TramTrain is both user friendly and non-user friendly. TramTrain through the Black Forest and in a deep snow, something to think about […]

Light rail vs. SkyTrain expansion: Surrey transit a hot election issue

Well at least there is some discussion about modern LRT, but the SkyTrain lobby remains mute on one very important issue and that is funding. currently the region can afford only afford to build one metro line a decade, with light rail, we can build up to four light rail lines a decade. If Surrey […]

Is Surrey is being badly shortchanged on transit?

Is Surrey being shortchanged on transit? The entire area, South of the Fraser River, has been shortchanged with public transit and still being shortchanged with current transit planning. TransLink's myopic 1950's style of planning doesn't include, nor want to include proven modern public transit technique, such as modern LRT and its cousin Tramtrain. Tramtrain, a development of modern LRT, allows […]