What Is The Real Cost For The Expo & Millennium Line Extensions?

It is the civic election season, or more fondly called the “silly season” and all sorts of claims and promises are made. Recently on a local radio talk show a politcal wannabe claimed that; “SkyTrain operates almost free because it does not have any drivers and is cheaper than LRT” and the host agreed with […]

Driverless Trains

Old Zwei has told you so, operating driverless trains is very expensive. In December 2019, it was reveled that the SkyTrain Light metro system (Expo and millennium Lines, had over 900 employees. That is over 900 workers for just two rail lines. The Canada line, being a P-3, has it own employees and the number […]

The Expo Line Land Rush

Like the Millennium Line extension to Arbutus more commonly known as the Broadway subway, the main reason for extending the SkyTrain light metro system is to give politcal friends and insiders, mainly land speculators and land developers the ability of make large profits by assembling land, having council up-zone the land to allow for higher […]

Rural Railways – Who Would They Serve

A lot has been said that the Leewood/Rail for the Valley scheme would not attract much ridership because it isn’t fast, yet the same folks who use this excuse to nay say the “return of the interurban” fail to realize that the Vancouver to Chilliwack rail route will service many new destinations thus user friendliness […]

Rural Railways- Time to Invest.

Recommendations to save Japan’s rural railways issued 28 July 2022 JAPAN: A study group formed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism has published its report into whether and to what extent rural railways across the country can be revived. From the Railway Gazette. The following was sent to the usual suspects.   Around […]

SkyTrain Really Isn’t A Regional Distance Based, Rapid Transit System.

Something to think about. What Zwie has tried to convey for decades, that the driverless light-metro is a money hog and building more, will only see more tax money sucked into this heavily subsidized black hole. Part of the problem is that the mainstream media and TransLink’s lil darlin, the Hive do not report on […]

Political Documents Masquerading As Technical Documents

In BC, Business Cases are a dime a dozen and are merely politcal documents masquerading as technical ones. It is photo-op silly season and with premier Horgan desperately trying to find a legacy project, the Expo Line extension to Langley is his current baby. NDP leadership hopefuls where also there vying for their 10 second […]

A Prediction: Huge property Tax Increases In 2023

For several years now, Mr. Cow and Zwei have been reminding people that there needs to be a $3 billion or so, rehab done to the Expo and Millennium Lines before any expansion can take place. There was no budget for this. Nonsense! Screamed the SkyTrain lobby. Fake news ranted the SkyTrain boosters. Well, not […]

Of Photo-ops And 10 Second Sound Bites – The Mayor’s Council Pre Election Grift

How can one tell it is civic election time. Hint: Regional mayors, with little knowledge about transit, are promising everything, but without a mention of raising taxes to fund those gold plated pre election goodies! I have one question: Funding? It all sounds good, bike lanes here, a gondola there, a UBC subway (strange, no […]

And Now – Here Is The Real Story

  With my long association with the LRTA, I have made many contacts with professionals in the transit industry, who have guided me and given me much information on modern public transport. The following questions deserve an answer. Is current regional transit planning viable in the post Covid world? Is the current light-metro only planning […]