Vancouver Will Need To Adopt Lower-Cost LRT In Its Lesser Corridors – Updated

The consensus is the same, Metro Vancouver will need to adopt lower-cost LRT for its future transit needs. This was first posted in 2019 and the costs and the financial numbers have changed somewhat. Currently, the province and metro Vancouver is spending over $11 billion for 21.7 km of new light-metro line, including the Broadway […]

A Very Close Call – The Public Needs An Inquiry

Poor maintenance can be traced to TransLink’s dire financial ills. Sadly the mandarins running TransLink do not seem to be acquainted with the nuances of maintaining the railway and the SkyTrain light-metro system is a railway. Track switches are an integral part of the railway and must be constantly maintained, yet TransLink seems to have […]

Gold Plated Union Contract For A Gold Plated Transit System

Hmmm – election coming and a fear of of another transit strike, well what can a government do? Give transit workers a “gold plated” union contract. TransLink, despite claims otherwise, is run by the premier’s office. All major TransLink decisions must have the approval by the Premier of British Columbia and this union contract is […]

Eby And The NDP Have Missed The Train

It seems Premier Eby and the NDP have been left behind at the station with this. With two railway projects that would have set BC as a leader in “Green” transportation, Premier Eby and the NDP continue to promote Greenhouse gas projects with new highway and tunnel construction: in other words, good old “rubber and […]

The Staggering cost of Subway Construction – A repost from 2019

A re-post from 2019. It seems several TransLink and City of Vancouver bureaucrats are tying the spin that subways are cheaper in the long run. Of course, they do not give firm numbers on anything! Some transit blogs seem to think that building a subway is easy peasy , costing only a little more than […]

Can A City Fall In Love With A Tram?

    Can Vancouver fall in love with trams?

User Freindliness In Berlin

In Metro Vancouver, again and again, one hears calls for the light metro system to operate 24/7. It cannot, or put in another way, it can but it would increase maintenance costs considerably and TransLink is near broke. The reason is quite simple, automatic or driverless operation. Simply, the light metro system need preventative maintenance […]

Same Opportunities – Same Excuses

Light rail is not a panacea, but it is a proven method in reducing auto traffic, something those promoting SkyTrain cannot claim. Building with trams opens an opportunity for not only providing a user-friendly and environmentally- friendly alternative to the car, the mode offers an almost universal transit mode as the modern tram can operate […]

And Then There Was Six

Alas, poor SRT! I knew of it, TTC: A system of infinite cost, of most expensive fancy: It hath taken us more than thousand times; and now, how abhorred it is! My gorge rims at it. Here, it cost much money, I know not how much. Where be your new systems now? Your LIM’s so […]

The Rail Renaissance In Europe.

As Europe is rediscovering travel by rail, in Canada rail travel is treated with disdain, yet in the age of Global Warming and climate change, the train is making a strong comeback for travel. It is my contention, that when federal and provincial politicians and bureaucrats are banned from taking planes for travel under 1500 […]