When accidents happen…………

The followingAi??article illustrates two items that many people here, on our side of the pond, are completely unaware of. The first item is a investigation of a death on the Manchester (UK) LRT by the RAIB or Rail Accident Investigation Branch, an English organization. When a death occurs on SkyTrain, the public is completely unaware […]

Yup, The Mainstream Media Gets It Wrong Again

Trust the mainstream media to get it wrong and with regional transit, they have been on the wrong track for a very long time. What attracts people to transit? It’s a complicated question that much time has been taken to study. Not so in TransLink’s world where it is claimed thatAi??SkyTrain’s speed alone will attract […]

Wrong Again – How Long will it Take Them To Get It Right?

They have got it wrong, but in Vancouver we have have always got transit wrong. Speed of a transit system is not the prime factor in attracting ridership, it is part of the mix. The main reasons for successful transit, according to the internationally acclaimed study ' Bus or light rail, making the right choice', by Professor […]

European latest – Croydon, Reims & Bordeaux

Stadler wins London Tramlink tram order Railway Gazette http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/stadler-wins-london-tramlink-tram-order.html 18 August 2011 Ai??Impression of Stadler Variobahn LRV for Croydon Tramlink UK: Stadler Rail has won a contract to supply six Variobahn trams to increase capacity on the Tramlink light rail system in south London, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced on August 18. The first […]

More Misleading TransLink Numbers – So What Esle is New?

A letter from a Mr. Rob Kwon certainly shreds TransLink’s CEO, Ian Jervis’s claim that the cost per revenue passenger is a$3.98 is based on questionable book keeping. Well so what else is new! The Canada line was supposed to cost a mere $1.3 billion, yet it’s final cost exceeds $2.5 billion. Translink never includes […]

Broadway rapid transit- Is the SkyTrain subway option a done deal?

 It seems Surrey mayor, Dianne Watts, have a look over her shoulder and see what her counterparts are up to in Vancouver, before she supports a gas tax increase. It seems a Broadway SkyTrain subway is a done deal and this gas tax money she wants to fund light rail in surrey, will probably not […]

A transit day in the mainstream media

The two Vancouver dailies have offered, surprisingly to, several letters and an editorial about local transit issues. From the Vancouver Sun, comes a letter from a Mr. Villegas, who seems to know a lot about modern LRT and he is quite correct that a tram would offer a comparable service as a much more expensive […]

Are modern streetcars the future?

Due to the small backlash to TransLink’s tax increases that were announced on Wednesday, the pro-LRT and pro-streetcar groups were out today promoting surface rail on CTV News as being cheaper and a fitting tribute to a past.Ai??Ai??   http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110708/bc_interurban_tram_110708/20110708/ Are modern streetcars the future? Vancouver’s interurban train system — the first in Canada — […]

The Delta Optimist gets it!

Somebody gets it! By building light metro, in the guise of SkyTrain, the taxpayer has spent three to four times more money than a light rail alternative, to get three rather mediocre transit lines. Cut through the hype and hoopla, SkyTrain and the Canada Line's ridership is made up mostly of recycled bus passengers (TransLink […]

Expanding Calgary’s Light Rail

Already emission-free, doubling in size since 2001 and taking delivery of new Siemens SD160NG LRV’s, Canada’s CTrain is a model of sucessful light rail. http://www.calgarytransit.com/html/technical_information.htm Light Rail in Calgary is in the midst of a mini revolution. New vehicles, new stations and new routes are all part of a major expansion described by the Canadian […]