A Pre Election Band Aid

When the provincial government spends in excess of $16 billion to extend the somewhat obsolete Movia Automatic Light Metro (a.k.a. SkyTrain) system a mere 21.7 km, the regional transit system as a whole suffers. The federal government is partly at fault for this growing financial debacle by compelling the provincial government to continue building with […]

The Westerwald Railway Another German Regional Railway

The Westerwald Railway of the district of Altenkirchen GmbH (WEBA, Westerwaldbahn GmbH) is a regional railway infrastructure (EIU) and a railway company (EVU) owned by the district of Altenkirchen (Westerwald) in Rhineland-Palatinate. The company operates the and Betzdorf–Daaden railway lines, the latter as line RB97 in local passenger rail transport. Here it transports approx. 365,000 […]

$7 Billion to Move 56,000 (or less) Persons A Day.

If one wishes to know why emergency rooms are being closed on weekends in hospitals around the province, the NDP are spending $7 billion to move 56,000 people a day. 56,000 thousand riders a day? According to Wikipedia, the Broadway 99-B Line bus to UBC, averages 39,900 customers a day (2023)! One thinks that the […]

Time To Rethink SkyTrain Premier Eby

With a looming trade war with the USA, it is time to rethink the BC Governments exclusive planning, centred around the proprietary SkyTrain light metro system. Yes, I know the NDP government ministers call SkyTrain a world class system, but it is the only world class system I know of that no one wants to […]

Off The Rails – Part 2

I have issues with all of these projects as most have wandered from being light rail and instead become a light-metro. Part of the 19km Eglinton Crosstown LRT is in a 6 km subway and the costs of subway construction is huge. Though the line does operate as classic LRT on portions of line a […]

Eby’s Reality Check On Transit

From what I can read, Eby is playing footsie with the Broadway subway to UBC. Farnsworth, who is now minister in charge of transit is doing penance for his complete screw-up of the Surrey RCMP/police fiasco, which many in the NDP blame their poor showing in the recent election. Subways are expensive, both to build […]

Notes From The Past

The preceding graph is from the late 1980’s and adjusted for 2024 Canadian dollars: San Diego: $10.25 million/km Portland: $20.25 million/km Nantes: $25.15 million/km Calgary: $30.26 million/km VAL: $56.7 million/km SkyTrain: $66.82 million/km. Please note, the current 16 km Expo Line extension to Langley is now costing in excess of $375 million/km or put another […]

For Mr. B – Dealing With The Facts

Again, a SkyTrain supporter casts doubt on veracity of statements contained in posts. So, to clarify any doubt, the following comes from a December 1983, article,The Direction of TTC Planning For the 1980’s by Phillip Webb, which appeared in Modern Tramways. This interesting item certainly raised my attention. For further clarification, ICTS was renamed ALRT […]

Thoughts For 2025

If You Build a Better Mousetrap the World Will Beat a Path to Your Door. TransLink would like the public to think that our transit system is world class and spends a lot of money on ‘spin-doctors’ to convince the taxpayer of this. Sadly, the centerpiece of TransLink’s transit empire is the now obsolete and […]

The Transit Deficit Begins To Bite

Thursday night’s massive traffic accident on Highway 99 was to be expected, as it could not be otherwise. Zwei drives this route twice a week for my cardio-rehab in White Rock and my eyes have been opened wide at the utterly poor driving habits by both car and commercial drivers. Just on Wednesday, I witnesses […]