Merry Christmas

A very merry Christmas from Rail for the Valley! A South Shore Interurban in the snow in Michigan City. Thirty-two years later, the South Shore Interurban still trundles the route daily.

Complete Street the French Way

Complete Streets: From Policy to Implementation How the French Blend Light Rail and Complete Streets for Total Accessibility A PowerPoint presentation from Rail~Volution Minneapolis, 22 September 2014 by Greg Thompson . Tom Larwin . Tom Parkinson ofAi?? the Transportation Research Board SubcommitteeAi?? on International Light Rail Development Since 1985 when the first modern tram line […]

After Intense Pressure From the Provincial Government……………..

The following is part of an article, The direction of TTC planning in the 1980’s, by Philip Webb, which appeared in the December 1983 edition of Modern Tramway and Light Rail Transit. By 1983, the UDTC knew that the ICTS/ALRT system could not offer the capacity as advertised. The ICTS/ALRT proprietary transit system did not […]

Modern Trams – from the US Point of View

From a recent issue of the US magazine Trains ai??i?? is an article which is uploaded to the web: ai???Modern streetcars take back US citiesai??? ai??i?? ai???A Streetcar named Revivalai???. Modern Streetcars in US cities (2) andAi?? TheStreetcarRenaissance  

Oh, what fools we mortals be

In charge of our of our Metro band, Moonbeam is here at hand, With a higher PST, mistook by me, While pleading for a congestion fee. Shall we their fond referendum see? Lord, what fools these mortals be! Apologies to the bard! The regional mayors who support a $0.5% increase to fund TransLink have shown […]

Incresing Transit Capacity By Reducing Transit Stops – A New Stragety For Broadway

The following table from Bus or Light Rail – Making The Right Choice, shows that in Germany, the distance between bus stops is far greater than that of the City of Vancouver. On Broadway, from Granville Street to Alma, on average there is a bus stop every 260 metres, making bus stops very much closer […]

What is Translink Afraid Of?

I can see with the TransLink referendum, that the SkyTrain lobby is claiming all sorts of misleading information about SkyTrain; a SkyTrain subway and SkyTrain fiances. The following is from the GVRD’s 1993 The cost of Transporting People in the British Columbia Lower Mainland. Please note that the annual subsidy for one SkyTrain line was […]

The GVRD’s 1978 LRT/Rail/Road Bridge – A Bridge Too Practical

In 1978, the GVRD were poised to install a three leg light rail system on the region and to cross the Fraser river a new bridge would have to be built. Demonstrating the forward thinking of the era, GVRD planners conceived a multi-use bridge for ‘rapid transit’; the mainline railways; a cycle path; and when […]

Capacity and speed of transit vehicles in the city

In the past few weeks, the merchants of misinformation have been busy spreading their anti tram rhetoric in a vain attempt to justify a Broadway subway. Unfortunately the mainstream media have repeated the same misinformation without any independent research done. The following charts come from Bus or Light Rail Making the Right Choice, Second Edition, […]

Let The fools Rush In, The Regional Maryors 0.5% Transit Sales Tax

After a considerable time of wailing and gnashing of teeth, the regional mayors have come up with a question for the upcoming TransLink referendum. What the mayors did not do was to try to understand why TransLink is hemorrhaging money and will continue to do so even if the referendum passes. It’s all tax and […]