Tram problems in Toronto

Next time, forget Bombardier and buy from Siemens or Alstom! TTCai??i??s new streetcars plagued with manufacturing problems CEO Andy Byford wants customers to know initial cars were slow to hit the street because they were badly built. Marcus Oleniuk / Toronto Star Order this photo A TTC worker changes the track for a new model […]

TransLink dumps planning veterans Tamim Raad and Brian Mills – Adios Surrey’s LRT?

It seems anyone who even breathes light rail in Metro Vancouver is quietly terminated from TransLink. UBC educated Tamin Raad, was a supporter of light rail and understood the issues surrounding light metro. TransLink CEO Tom Prenderghast was forced out of TransLink because he dared to challenge the SkyTrain Lobby, by supporting light rail and […]

Understanding the benefits of modern light rail

What is good for New South Wales in Australia, is certainly good for BC. The benefits of building with light rail and I so wish local politicians take the time and read the following. ITLS_presentation_5_May_2015_-_McKibbin_-_Light_Rail[1] The key building with light rail is building it right, serving major transit destinations as well as areas of housing, […]

How to build light rail in our cities without emptying the public purse

An interesting read and quite pertinent to our transit situation in the lower mainland. Both the BRT and SkyTrain Lobby’s have so perverted the concept of modern light rail, to support their own projects, that the concept of affordable LRT has all but disappeared from the TransLink lexicon. The following quote; “……….while cities with rubber-wheeled […]

Light Rail questioned by Langley Township planner – Yesterday’s planning at work!

The same old cliched arguments about modern light rail have surfaced in Langley Township. What old Zwei finds so tiresome is that the some planners remains so uninformed about SkyTrain light-metro and modern light rail, think both are “rapid transit“. Transit is only as ‘rapid’ as it is designed to be. Sadly, the term “rapid […]

The Myth That Everyone Naturally Prefers Trains to Buses

Actually it is not a myth, transit customers do prefer rail to buses. The study does leave out the fact that rail’s operating costs can be much less than buses because the tram can operate in multiple units, thus with one driver carrying more passengers. In the end though, transit customers perceive that BRT is […]

Trams that never stop at traffic lights

Trams that never stop at traffic lights could be part of Melbourne’s people-moving future By Loretta Florance ABC News Trams that never have to stop for traffic lights could be the norm in Melbourne in the future, under plans being developed to deal with population growth in the city. For the past seven years, VicRoads […]

Le Mans A tram for a small city

While both BC Transit and TransLink gold-plate LRT planning with millions of dollars of extras, making tram projects almost as expensive as SkyTrain, the new Le Mans LRT/tramway demonstrates that light rail is affordable for smaller cities. The new 15.4 km Le Mans Tramway total cost is about CAD $450 million, including cars or about […]

Gerald Fox’s 2008 Letter – First posted in 2012.

“It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding.” Posted by zweisystem on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Today, in 2015, construction of the Evergreen Line is under way, yet saga continues with moving […]

April First Comes Early In Vancouver

I just do not know whether to laugh or cry at this one. Business in Vancouver (who’s co-founder is one Peter Ladner, noted Vancouver politician) has printed the puff piece of puff pieces, regarding TransLink. In Zwei’s timid way and not wanting to get TransLink’s higher purposes persons in a tissy, I have made a […]