How other countries see light rail and appraise light rail investments? From the Light Rail Transit Association

Article from the March 1999 edition of Tramways & Urban Transit As anyone involved in a British light rail scheme knows, the appraisal system is rigorous and, many feel, fatally flawed, oriented as it is to short term and financial criteria rather than a properly broad social cost-benefit analysis. It is now also heavily influenced […]

What is guided bus? Is it B-Line BRT?

Guided buses are buses steered for part or all of their route by external means, usually on a dedicated rights-of-ways, thoughAi??Ai??not to be confused with a busway. This track, which often parallels existing roads or railways, excludes all other traffic, permitting theAi??Ai??operation of reliable schedules on heavily used corridors even duringAi??Ai??peak hours. Guidance systems can […]

TransLink mired in political standoff – Francis Bula, Globe and Mail

Ten years on, and TransLink remains stuck on the road to nowhere Frances Bula Vancouver A?ai??i??Ai??Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon unveiled a $14-billion public transit plan to be completed by 2020 today. It is a key measure in the province’s greenhouse gas reduction plan, touching every region of the province.A?ai??i??A? Those were […]

Debunking the SkyTrain myth part 5. Thirty years of SkyTrain planning – the years that the Locusts hath eaten!

In the late 1970’s, after much study and with regional consensus, Greater Vancouver’s Regional Authority, the GVRD,Ai??Ai??was on the verge of approving three light rail lines; Vancouver to Whalley (via New Westminster); New Westminster to Lougheed Mall and Vancouver to Richmond. Costing $350 million to $460 million. It wasn’t to be. The then Social Credit […]

PortlandA?ai??i??ai???s Regional Planning Agency Highlights Two New Corridors for Light Rail – From the Transport Politic

Interesting news from Portland Oregon, where their light rail system keeps on growing at a steady pace, with taxpayer’s approving construction onAi??Ai??every new line. It must be remembered that Portland’s original light railAi??Ai??line cost one quarter of that to build than Vancouver’s SkyTrain and the regional taxpayer has never been allowed to vote on any […]

The high cost of subway construction compared to LRT

Ai??Ai??The following excerpt from the UK House of Commons Select Committee on light rail, 2000, reported the following subway construction costs in 2004 Canadian dollars:Ai??ai??i?? Toulouse metro line B – CAD $161 million/km. Turin metro extension – CAD $196 million/km. Meteor Metro, Paris – CAD $290 million/km. Singapore metro – CAD $420.7 million/km. Jubilee Line […]

Take Transit Campaign to Province – From the Aldergrove Star

The following is a letter from VALTAC, published in many Fraser Valley newspapers and I believe sums up what the majority of residents think. Regional mayors should think twice before supporting any moreAi??Ai??TransLink inspired taxes, until the TransLink behemoth itself, cleans house. Editor: Re: TransLink Workshop Consultation Process, June 1-2. Kicked off with a May […]

TransLink funding crunch has mayors worried about Evergreen – From the Tri-City News

This is not surprising at all, with very little ridership potential and massive costs, it is real challenge to make the Evergreen Line SkyTrain, light-metro line successful! Again, TransLink completely ignores the folly of building hugely expensive metro lines on transit lines with not nearly enough ridership to demand metro service. TransLink is bankrupt, yet […]

Time to Bell TransLink’s Cat

A letter that appeared in several lower mainland weeklies. Editor: TransLink is bankrupt, but as every bureaucracy knows, the taxpayer can be forced to ante up; in Canada, higher taxes cures all ills. TransLink may not know how to plan for affordable transit, but the ‘boys and girls in the ivory towers’ know how to […]

Bogota TransMilenio ‘BRT’ selling ‘carbon credits’ – From the Light Rail now folks

This is an interesting article, but badly marred by very poor research by the author.Ai??Ai?? It also should be noted that bus ridership figuresAi??Ai??for South American BRT’s have proven to be greatly overstated. What also isAi??Ai??not mentioned isAi??Ai??that BRT has been disappointing in operation in North America, India, Australia and Europe, failing to achieve projected […]