Why do some governments see Metros as more prestigious than Light Rail?

A pertinent question posed on one of the Light Rail discussion groups, particularly relevant in relation to Skytrain & the City’s of Surrey and Vancouver. A selection of answers: 1) Very simple. Because it is more expensive. There is nothing as prestigious as money. And then there is the tendency of: “The neighbouring community have […]

TransLink’s Subway Fiscal Time Bomb

The SkyTrain/metro Lobby remain mute on the long term fiscal effects of operating subways, especially on routes that have low ridership, say less than 15,000 pphpd. Building a subway is a very expensive proposition and many factors should be considered before embarking on such a costly investment. The first questionAi??any knowledgeable transit planner must ask […]

Subways dreams for dreamers

Interesting article from Toronto. I doAi??take issue with is the claim “that subways attract more riders than any other form of transit.”whichAi??is not supported by studies elsewhere, instead it isAi??modern LRT actually attracts more new ridership than other modes. That Toronto doesn’t have modern LRT and instead operates with the light rail variant streetcars (mostly […]

Transit Realities In Toronto

Transit realities are coming into the fore in Toronto and Toronto’s mayor Ford is being dragged screaming and kicking into the 21st century; even the Mayor’s political appointees are singing the light rail song! The Mayor’s anti-LRT stance is based on many factors, including; Subways keep traffic lanes open for cars, thus are poor in […]

A Ford Fiasco In Toronto

There are many in the Metro Lobby crowd that think moneyAi??grows on trees and taxpayers just love paying more taxes and modern LRT is nothing more than an “European concept” andAi??not really applicable here in Canada or the USA. What is applicable for grand metro schemes is the extremely high cost of construction and I […]

Transit agencies must put customer first

If ‘Zwei’ ever wants to createAi??howls of “shock and disbelief“, from the transit elites in the region, all ‘Zwei’ has to say is “transit is about moving people andAi??the transit customer comes first. Well ‘Zwei‘ is not alone with this thought. Custom journeys for transit customers andAi??seamless (no-transfer) journeys for transit customers both areAi??a non-subjectAi??with […]

Birmingham [UK] city centre tram project moves forward

City centre tram project moves forward Centro Press release Work to extend the Metro tram system through the streets of Birmingham city centre took a major step forward today after the Government made more than Ai??A?75 million available for the exciting scheme. http://centro.journalistpresslounge.com/centro/news/index.cfm/fuseaction/details/id/F14523AB-13D3-97AA-2D8F6458AC73B094/cnt/1/ref/main/type/News%20Releases/ses/1.cfm The joint project by Centro, the regionA?ai??i??ai???s transport authority, the Black Country […]

Have a Happy 2011 Toronto, love from Rob Ford

Rob Ford ready to let transit projects hold in favour of Sheppard subway Globe & Mail December 21st http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/rob-ford-ready-to-let-transit-projects-hold-in-favour-of-sheppard-subway/article1846354/   Mr. Ford has criticized light-rail transit as too similar to the streetcars he believes causes congestion in Toronto’s gridlocked roadways. He scoffed at the idea that monorails or a similar above-grade technology, which in theory […]

Money too tight for barriers to be installed at SkyTrain Stations – From Radio News 1130

There seems to be plenty of money for fare-gates to be retrofitted to all SkyTrain Stations, which will do little if anything to make the metro safer or deter fare evasion, yet there is no money station gates (like we have with SeaBus) which are proven to prevent egress onto metro track. It seems what […]

World transit system list as of 2006 – from the LRTA

The following is the number or various type of transit systems around the world including those under construction, excluding airport shuttles, commuter/mainline rail, entertainment parks and funiculars. Classification always brings areas of doubt, particularly in countries such as Japan and Switzerland where clear dividing lines just do not exist. Metro (including SkyTrain) – 146 Light […]