White House Comes Out For Streetcars

Jeff McMahon writes on the Forbes Blog – April 12th http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/04/12/white-house-comes-out-for-streetcars/ President Obama’s clean-energy campaign hopped onto streetcars this morning with a government-made infomercial and testimonial for United Streetcars, a Portland company, published on the White House and Transportation Department blogs. The testimonial promises streetcars will help America “win the future.” It was penned by Transportation Secretary […]

Surrey to push TransLink for light rail, mayor says in state of city address

Welcome to TransLink’s worst nightmare, the mayor of Ai??Surrey (BC, Canada) wants light rail and not SkyTrain for the city. Three decades of deliberate misinformation, misleading studies, and anti-LRT rhetoric is going to come back and haunt TransLink, with this decision. TransLink’s grand economies of the truth about modern light rail, may cause such rancor […]

Without the right questions, transit plan could fail

Of course in the Vancouver metro region, the right questions about transit have never been asked for fear of getting ‘correct’ answers. Building Metro Vancouver’s mini-metro system has always been about land development, political prestige and vote getting and not providing the best transit choice or the most affordable transit choice for the transit customer. […]

U.S Light Rail & Tram news

Firstly a report from abc 15.com in Phoenix Arizona http://www.abc15.com/dpp/traffic/record-light-rail-ridership-due-to-gas-price-hikes Record light rail ridership due to gas price hikes? Light rail ridership has hit a new record, at the same time as gas prices did the same. But Metro is being careful about drawing conclusions. Nearly 1.2 million riders used the light rail in March, […]

You could waste away waiting for guided bus

cambridge-news.co.uk http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/You-could-waste-away-waiting-for-guided-bus.htm Let's make no bones about it – we’re all getting on a bit while we wait for the guided bus to arrive. But two “passengers” at the busway stop in Swavesey really have reached the end of the line. A pair of skeletons have been spotted close to the track, appropriately appearing on […]

Light Rail news from around Europe

HK order low-floor trams from Transtech Rail.co April 1 2011 http://www.rail.co/2011/04/01/hkl-orders-low-floor-trams-from-transtech/ Helsinki City Transport (HKL) and the Finnish Rail rolling stock manufacturer Transtech signed an agreement to purchase 40 new trams on 24 March. The contract comprises of 40 trams and a possible further 90, if the tram extensions of Helsinki go to plan. The […]

Pushing a wooden stake through the heart of darkness

 I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky–seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." – Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness    It has not been a very good […]

The Good & Bad; News from Toronto

Firstly the good news; Toronto's transit system will receive 39 kilometres of new subway and light rail track in a $12-billion expansion package announced by the province and city on Thursday. Ontario invests billions in Toronto transit 'spine' http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110331/toronto-transit-announcement-110331/ ctvtoronto.ca Thu. Mar. 31 2011 1:01 PM ET Toronto's transit system will receive 39 kilometres of […]

Sydney- light rail to be built into Central Business District

All change for light rail  Jacob Saulwick Transport  The Sydney Morning Herald March 31, 2011 http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/all-change-for-light-rail-20110330-1cgdc.html THE O'Farrell government will soon be asked to approve a sweeping overhaul of Sydney's central business district, including plans for light rail down George Street and significant changes to bus routes. Transport bureaucrats and consultants are close to finishing two […]

Broadway Transit Follies – TransLink Does The Gong Show – Part 2

Want to know how TransLink spends taxpayer’s hard earned money? It is easy, TransLink studies transit options for Broadway. TransLink’s Broadway “Rapid Transit” (which means metro) study for Broadway is dated and extremely misleading, but what else would one expect from an organization that has done little, but to waste time, justifying their existence. TransLink’s […]