Flexibility

This will get the SkyTrain boys knickers in a knot! The Arbutus Corridor, the classic dedicated or reserved rights-of-way. LETTER: Flexibility makes light rail the clear choice for Surrey One reader says light rail’s flexibility makes it the clear choice for Surrey. ai??i??Ai??image credit: The Now posted Feb 18, 2016 The Editor, There is myth […]

An Open Letter To The Minister of Transportation

To whom it may concern: Cutting ribbons is not the main function of the Minister of Transportation, but in BC it seems it is. Trying to justify the Premier’s (or should I say Fraser Surrey docks/SNC’s) $3.5 billion Massey Tunnel vanity bridge replacements is seemingly taking a lot of your time. I understand your many […]

What about the Patullo Bridge?

Both the Patullo and the Fraser River rail bridges have well past their “best by” dates and desperately are in need of replacement. In 1978, the GVRD were poised to install a three leg light rail system on the region and to cross the Fraser river a new bridge would have to be built. Demonstrating […]

Common Sense From Aus

Metro Vancouver is not alone with transit ills and this item from the Australian – Sydney Ferry Blog certainly fits with our transit woes. When it comes to transit and commonsense, TransLink’s planners and senior bureaucrats, as well as metro politicians, academics, the Ministry of Transportation and the Premier, seam to lack any at all, […]

Lund Sweden – New TramWay to Cost $23.3 Million/km to Build

Contrary to TransLink’s habitual gold-plating of its LRT projects, modern light rail can be built reasonably cheaply, when compared to other modes of transit. The cost of the 5.5 km. starter tram line in Lund Sweden, with seven trams is estimated to be CAD $128.1 million or about $23.3 million/km to build. Not bad considering […]

Good News Everyone – Valley Rail One Legal Step Closer

The following is from our friend Mr. Haveacow, from Ottawa, who is a transportation engineer. Zwei has always stressed that for modern LRTAi?? and TramTrain to operate in BC, the legalities of both must be dealt with. For trams and LRT, the rules of the the road must be addressed, such as who has the […]

One Tram Line Moving 250,000 Daily

On the radio last week I heard one of the SFU types go on and on about the Canada Line and how successful the mini-metro was. Really? Again, I have to remind everyone that the Canada Line has station platforms only 40m to 50m long and can operate 41m coupled sets of EMUs. The official […]

Broadways Subway – A Boondoggle In The Making

Subways are very expensive items and only built when there is no other alternative available. SkyTrain ICTS/ALRT/ART, was supposed to mitigate the high cost of subway construction, but it didn’t as it proved to almost as expensive as a heavy-rail metro to build, with the capacity of modern light-rail. The result: No one builds with […]

Broadway Subway Reality Check – Toronto’s 8.6 km Spadina Line Subway Now $3.2 Billion!

For those of you who have been pooh-poohing, Zwei’s cost estimate for the Broadway subway, the following news item from Toronto should send a not too subtle message that subways are very expensive to build and are only built when there is the massive traffic flows that demand long trains and large stations to accommodate […]

Sobering Thoughts

The future may not be as transit friendly as many would have wished. The preceding chart should send chills down TransLink’s collective spine. Metro Vancouver’s transit system is based on the “Spoke and hub” theory of transit practice where major “transit hubs” are connected by light-metro and fed by a network of bus routes (spokes). […]