and Now…….Here is The Real Story

The reason the TransLink is making the change may prove rather interesting. The story starts with the old Broadway-Lougheed rapid transit project which was planned for light rail operating from Arbutus and Broadway to Lougheed Mall and the Tri-Cities. This is the transit line that the NDP (under the leadership of Glen Clark and Joy […]

TransLink’s Bad Day

Stalled train in the early morning and a stalled train in mid morning, does not bode well.   UPDATE: SkyTrain service resumes after second disruption of the day Vancouver, BC, Canada / News Talk 980 CKNW | Estefania Duran Posted: September 21, 2016   jmv / CC TransLink says SkyTrain service has resumed. Passengers are […]

Teething Troubles – TransLink Singing The Bombardier Blues

Bombardier’s rail division is a bit of an embarrassment with late deliveries of trams to Toronto and now something seems amiss with the new MK.3 cars, which are really MK.2 cars with fewer seats. But what caught Zwei’s attention was this little quote” Seven of the new Mark III cars have been budgeted at $91 […]

SkyTrain doesn’t Breakdown – Well Almost Never

The aging SkyTrain seems to be having a rough time lately, but it is to be expected as most proprietary transit systems age badly. TransLink has a new word for its lexicon, “temporary” and lest us hope that the delays are not permanent. The problem with SkyTrain breaking down is that there is no alternative […]

Metro Mayors Bite The Bullet

Metro Mayors, with visions of federal cash dancingAi?? in their heads approved a draft transit plan part of their so called ten year plan. Like all other transit ten year or twenty year plans that have come and gone, this one was drafted, probably on orders of the premier who is afraid of any negative […]

SkyTrain Embaresses Itself Again

Oops! Rush hour, the time that transit must work, but with SkyTrain it doesn’t matter as it craps out now all to regularly. Again, aging complicated automatic transit systems grow more unreliable, making transit less dependable, which in turn makes the car more desirable. Memo to CKNW: Tracking issues? Are they trying to hunt down […]

An Open Letter To The NDP & Leader John Horgan

To the Leader of the Official Opposition, John Horgan, Dear Sir; As the NDP have been extremely weak with urban and metro transportation policies in the past two elections, may I offer a suggestion that the NDP take another look at the Rail for the Valley TramTrain plan, providing a TramTrain service from Vancouver to […]

Calgary’s C-Train Development & Operating Costs

First published in 2009 A note from Zwei: These costs were taken directly from Calgary Transit, which once had a fine web page giving accurate statistics about the C-Train, unlike TransLink and BC Transit, which hid the real costs in a baffle-gab of nonsense and phony news releases. One did not need a F.O.I. to […]

Over to You Mr. Cow – The Vancouver Sun’s Recent “Puff” SkyTrain Story

This comment from Mr. Cow deserves a post of its own as there is so much information here, it deserves a wider audience. As Mr. Cow is a Canadian Transit Engineer, his comments are well worth reading. When SkyTrain ‘crapped-out’ in the Summer of 2014 there were no drivers or attendants to oversee the evacuation […]

More SkyTrain “Puff “Stories From the Vancouver Sun

The Vancouver Sun is famous for its ‘puff’” stories about SkyTrain but with each “puff” story comes little slips and new information. 870 employees seems a lot for a “driverless” system, which was sold to the public that it had fewer employees, thus cheaper to operate than light rail. Somewhat inconveniently, SkyTrain costs about 40% […]