€300 (CAD $455) Million For 25 km of New Tram Line

€300 converts to CAD $455 million for 24km of tram line or about CAD $18.2km per km to build. This of course does not include vehicles or a maintenance depot, but does give a good indication of the cost for an economy light rail line to be built in Metro Vancouver. Even if the total […]

Unacceptable

Unacceptable! The Canada Line morning rush hour fiasco, last Friday was and is completely unacceptable and demonstrates TransLink completely inane policy of forcing as many bus riders as they can onto the light-metro system. What happened Friday, demonstrates the Achilles heel of TransLink’s lack of management and the photo-op CEO’s disdain of the traveling public. […]

Delusion Drives SkyTrain Planning South of the Fraser

The old fogies of politics are now driving the change from LRT to SkyTrain in Surrey. The same old lies. The same old deceit. The same old ignorance is now gaining control of regional transit south of the Fraser, as it has done in the rest of Metro Vancouver. The SkyTrain Lobby doesn’t care about […]

Surrey’s LRT Costs Skyrocket – As Planned?

And now, the real story. There is a growing number of politicians who want to build with SkyTrain instead of LRT in Surrey. What they ignore at their own peril is that SkyTrain will not cost $1 billion more than LRT to build, but it will cost over $6 billion! Why? TransLink has neglected to […]

The Greer Report – 20 Years On

This item is a reprint from 2009. After rereading the Greer Report, I see TransLink making the same unsubstantiated claims about SkyTrain. Another decade has passed and TransLink is still the autocratic organization, as it was twenty years ago! Who is not afraid to “Bell the Cat?” The Greer Report – Review of Rapid Transit […]

Bombardier Inc. Doesn’t Give a Damn

This is a major problem for Metro Vancouver, Bombardier Inc. doesn’t give a damn about its rail products and this should make Metro Vancouver mayors and TransLink very worried. Why? Bombardier is the sole suppliers of the Innovia metro car used on the Expo and Millennium/Evergreen lines and if Bombardier were to stop production, new […]

The Regional Mayor’s $7 Billion FastFerry Fiasco!

FastFerry fiascos tend to be common in BC, where politicians play the part of transit experts and squander the taxpayer’s money on prestige projects, that are great for ribbon cutting photo-ops, but little more. That Translink’s American CEO applauds this only shows the Mayor’s Council on Transit picked nothing more than a “Useful Idiot” to […]

All Quiet On The Eastern Front

  Zwei has a habit of making people mad and the list is long. So, in an effort to even more people mad, I will recall a conversation I had a week or so back with a former NDP politician. The former NDP politician wishes to remain anonymous as the person does not want to […]

Some Smart People Out There, Not Here Apparently……

In Europe, transportation needs are designed to meet the needs of transit customers. In BC, transportation needs are designed to further political careers and money laundering. Example: The $3 billion Broadway SkyTrain subway, being built on a transit route which has peak hour traffic flows under 4,000 pphpd! Who is the subway being built for? […]

Mobility Pricing -TransLink’s Desperate Ploy.

Mobility pricing, TransLink’s desperate ploy to hide their inept planning to date. TransLink happily spends twice or three times more for “rail” transit than they should. TransLink also spends at least 60% more operation “rail” transit than they should. The result, large deficits operating the transit system, requiring large subsidies to pay for the large […]