As Predicted – "Mayors consider raising taxes to pay for TransLink"

Ai??Ai??As predicted yesterday: TransLink is in a conundrum; there is no money for new metro expansion and the bureaucracy refuses to plan for much cheaper light rail. There is no way out, either taxes must increase to pay for metro constructionAi??Ai??or the transit system stagnates and becomes even more unattractive product for customers. It seems […]

Mayors, Premier and Transportation Minister to meet next week – The Blind Leading the Blind

Talk about the blind leading the blind. BC Transportation Minister, Shirley Bond (who knows little or nothing about transit), the besieged premier (who knows that building glitzy metro lines buys votes), and regional mayors (who are equally unread on transit) are going to have a private meeting regarding TransLink’s ongoing financial crisis. The first hing […]

The SkyTrain Lobby – Just The Usual Suspects!

Transit again is making front page news in the dailies and regional newspapers, with TransLink claiming that the next big rapid transit (read SkyTrain) line will be in Surrey, not Broadway. A few international transit blogs have picked up the storyAi??Ai??with the usual suspects singing hosannas about SkyTrain, while in the same breathe libeling anyone […]

Surrey mayor calls for transit expansion to be low profile to make sense – From the Vancouver Province

Surrey mayor, Dianne Watts, clearly understands the costs of ‘rail’ transit (the term ‘rapid transit’ is used by lazy or uniformed people) and that to get a larger more workable ‘rail‘Ai??Ai?? network for her city, she must opt for modern light rail. While Vancouver pines for another multi-billion dollar subway under Broadway, its politicians seem […]

The LR55 Rail System – Cheap track for trams!

This item first appeared in August 20,2009, but I think it is so important to reprint the article in light of todays interest in streetcars and light rail in Vancouver and Surrey. The LR55 rail, not only provides a cheaper solution to tram track construction, it makes a quick job of construction, making life a […]

Metro Vancouver pushes rapid transit for Surrey, not UBC – Why Not Build Both?

It seems that thatAi??Ai??METRO Vancouver’sAi??Ai??chief honcho wants to extend ‘rapid transit’ (read SkyTrain) in Surrey and not on Broadway. But don’t hold your breathe for any action anytime soon. The Tri-Cities have been waiting for their ‘rapid transit’ (read SkyTrain) for over two decades and were pipped at the post by Premier Campbell (and former […]

Why is public transit more expensive than it used to be?

The following article from the American Conservative sums up Rail for the Valley’s long standing worries about the ever escalating cost to build light rail/streetcar. It is time to get back to basics and build LRT/streetcar cheaply or it will price itself right out of the market! One start, of course, would be to stop […]

Plans for a New, Six Lane Pattullo Bridge Revealed – TransLink’s Next Fiasco!

TransLink once again proves that its highly paid bureaucrats just can’t think out of the box or “think three minutes into the future.” As well, TransLink, which alsoAi??Ai??known by many as, ‘Transclunk‘, has firmly shown its true colours as a ‘rubber on asphalt’ organization, whichAi??Ai??only builds a few ‘showcase’ metro systems to pretend they are […]

STREETCARS: THE MISSING LINK? – September 29, 2010

For Immediate Release A?ai??i??ai??? Please circulate! Ai??Ai??Lawrence Frank, PhD, CIP, ASLA Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation University of British Columbia 604-822-5387 ph / 604-822-1628 fx Ai??Ai??Bombardier Active Transportation Lab http://www.act-trans.ubc.ca/Ai??Ai?? Ai??Ai??——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– UBC School of Environmental Health and the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning are pleased to inform you of our upcoming symposium: Ai??Ai??STREETCARS: […]

World wide Transit and Light Rail News

Nanjing. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/nanjingmetro/ Lagos. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/lagosrailmasstransit/ Ho Chi Minh http://www.railway-technology.com/news/news94402.html http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/ceremony-launches-work-on-ho-chin-minh-city-metro-line-2.html Phoenix http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/ Keep rail local, says pteg http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/dataview/News/News_Article.aspx?KeyValue=2262 Edinburgh http://news.scotsman.com/news/Tram-shifts-for-Pope.6498683.jp http://news.scotsman.com/transport-news/Platform-Richard-Jeffrey-defends-the.6497807.jp