Slander

The continued debate about the trains that operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines continues. The SkyTrain for Surrey folks have crossed the line on this issue and Rail for the Valley call for a retraction of their recent News Release or face possible legal action. The claim that Rail for the Valley and others […]

Dutch Regional Railways – A Model For The E&N?

Single track stub terminal station at Leeuwarden. (Harlingen–Nieuweschans Railway) Scheemda Station. Please note, cyclists use bicycles to commute to the station to take the train! (Harlingen–Nieuweschans Railway) A single stub terminal station at Stavoren. (Leeuwarden–Stavoren Railway) Franeker Station. Simple platform station with minimal amenities. (Harlingen–Nieuweschans Railway)

BRT – A View From a Canadian Transit Expert

Originally posted in 2015 I have updated the post but since very little has changed about BRT over the past decade, that there is little to update. Real BRT has reached its maximum potential, unless tree-articulated buses become the norm and that has made BRT a niche transit mode to deal with niche transit issues. […]

TransLink Underestimated Capacity Of LRT By 150% And The Time Penalty By Infinity

First posted by zweisystem on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 (updated) I am reposting this from November 2020 because TransLink, civic and provincial politicians are singing hosannas about Bus Rapid Transit, with some going so far to say that BRT makes light rail obsolete! What is damning today is that the numbers used in TransLink’s 2019 […]

Sobering News about The Regional Transit system

The following article in City Hall Watch has some sobering news, ridership has not rebounded to pre covid levels! Main article here, please click It is a rather long article, but worth a read because it illustrates TransLink’s big problem of declining ridership. Claims of increased ridership are more than questionable, but it seems higher […]

Listen To The Experts

Currently the full program to extend the Expo and Millennium Lines a mere 21.7 km will now cost in excess of $16 billion. The now, estimated cost to complete the Broadway subway to UBC is now past $8 billion. Yet the provincial government had be carried kicking and screaming to find a few million of […]

Bi-Articulated Buses – A Solution or More Headaches?

Bi or double articulated buses have created a demand for such buses to operate in Vancouver. I believe this would be a big mistake because from what I know about bi articulated buses, they are a niche transport system, designed to solve niche transit problems. What I do know is that they are maintenance intensive […]

The NDP Are paving Paradise And Turning It Into A Parking Lot – An Updated Repost from 2021

First posted by zweisystem on Thursday, April 8, 2021 Updated. Reinstating passenger services on regional railways, it is what government should be doing, to deal with traffic congestion and pollution, but they are not, as government would rather spend money on prestigious “rapid transit” monuments to cut for photo-ops at election time. The E&N, the […]

Memo to the M.O.T. – Time to Reread The Leewood Study – Updated

First posted by on Saturday, May 2, 2020 Now fifteen years old, the Leewood Study, done by Leewood Projects (UK), to assess the viability of reinstating a passenger rail service from downtown Vancouver to Chilliwack via the former BC Electric R.R. route, is worth a revisit. Leewood Study The Leewood Study brought a fresh set […]

Mobility Pricing – The Rapture of Megaprojects

This was first posted in 2020 and five years later mobility pricing is back on the agenda. Why? Simple, TransLink is broke. The now $16 billion price tag, for the full program to extend the Expo and Millennium Lines a mere 21.7 km has hit a financial iceberg and is $3 to $4 billion short […]