Rail for the Valley: A Letter to Premier Horgan

Dear Premier Horgan, Congratulations on your recent electoral success and now fresh winds will sweeps across British Columbia. My name is Malcolm Johnston and I have been an advocate for better public transit in the Metro Vancouver region for over 30 years. Transit in Metro Vancouver is in a precarious position and funding is not […]

“The Idea Of Creating A Liveable City At This Density Is Crazy.”

A comment about land development along the proposed $3 billion Broadway Subway? No, it is a comment about over densification from high rise flats in Melbourne, Australia. So how is Melbourne going to cope, transit wise? Build a subway? No subway for Melbourne, as lawned tram track will do. The hoary old density question, where […]

Should We Convert The Canada Line to Light Rail? Updated.

First posted by zweisystem on Thursday, October 11, 2012 Subways & metros cost a lot of money to build and operate. The proposed new mega bridge that will replace the George Massey Tunnel is back in the news, as there is a good chance that incoming Premier John Horgan will cancel the the hugely expensive […]

Transportation Gridlock is Endemic in Metro Vancouver

After driving into Vancouver yesterday, it has hit home that despite a now over $10 billion spent on SkyTrain light-metro and the Canada line, congestion is getting worse. After being an advocate for better transportation in the region for now over thirty years, I am still amazed by the “SkyTrain ennui” that prevails in most […]

The French Approach to LRT Versus The American (Canadian) Approach

The following is well worthAi?? read as it compares the French Approach to Modern LRT and the American and Canadian rather dated approach to the transit mode. French v US approach to light rail What we should plan for, instead of playing games with land development. MACRO (regional strategies) * (1) Ressau: (network) Design at […]

UK Developer Must Help pay for Rail Connection

The UK is reopening once abandoned rail lines to cope with congestion and increased population. A UK developer must pay A?13.2m (CAD $23.25m) towards the restoration of the Bere Alston Tavistock railway route before building 750 new homes. This works out to CAD $31,000 per home. When one looks at the massive developments happening in […]

Autonomous Trams – Coming Sooner Than You Think

Driverless trams are coming much sooner than one thinks. A recent article in Tramways & Urban Transit, illustrates the strides taken with automatic operation of trams and light rail. For several years tram manufactures have been experimenting with forward, side and rear scanning radar to prevent accidents, in fact most of the modern safety features […]

Freight Tram Rides Again

Dresden’s famous freight tram is back in service. One of the most under rated tram success stories is the Dresden freight tram, which conveyed car parts between two factories, using the cities tram network. It is easy to see why freight trams have not been talked about much in North America, because many North American […]

LRT Is Not Rapid Transit

The real problem with the proposed Surrey LRT is that light rail is not rapid transit, it can be designed as such, but when it is it loses its affordability and operational edge over proprietary gadgetbahnen, like ART SkyTrain light-metro. The LRT in Surrey is being designed as a “poor man’s” SkyTrain, acting as a […]

Light Rail for Dummies

Quote: “……..scrapping bike lanes to make way for diverted car traffic defeats the purpose of LRT“ Exactly! To reduce congestion, one must reduce road space, but provide an attractive and affordable transit alternative. LRT has proven to be that attractive and affordable alternative, something that TransLink and the Metro mayors have yet to learn. LRT […]