The German East Frisian Islands Railways – Interurbans all the same.

The small German East Frisian Islands of Borkum, Langeoog,Ai??Ai??Wangeroog, and SpiekeroogAi??Ai??all operate narrow guage railways to help service tourist destinations on the almost car free ecologically sensitive islands. Even though the trains operated are steamAi??Ai??or diesel hauled, they preform the function of an interurban,Ai??Ai??conveying passengers fromAi??Ai??ferry piers to the main villages. Having rail transport means […]

STRASBOURG – Beautiful City – Beautiful Trams

The French city of Strasbourg (Ai??Ai??populationAi??Ai?? 276,867Ai??Ai??Ai??Ai??in 2006),Ai??Ai??which its historic city centre was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, decided in the early 1990’s toAi??Ai??build a modern tramway system,Ai??Ai??using theAi??Ai??innovative and attractiveAi??Ai??ADTranz Eurotram rolling stock .Ai??Ai??In 1994 Line A opened, with a north-southAi??Ai??route running from Hautpierre-Maillon (north-west) to the city center (where […]

Alaskan Way Viaduct – Earthquake Simulation – from U-Tube. Could this be deja vu for SkyTrain?

The following video from theAi??Ai??Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), showing the effects of a 7.0 earthquake in Seattle is telling and is very much worth a watch. Even though Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct isAi??Ai??long past its primeAi??Ai??and not designed for catastrophic earthquakes, it’s collapseAi??Ai??plus theAi??Ai??failure of other aged infrastructure is chilling. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hos_uIKwC-c] The late […]

Let’s ride on the Clermont-Ferrand TransLohr GLT -Courtesy of U-Tube

This is an interesting U-Tube of the TransLohr GLT or guided bus. The centre rail is for guidance only as the tram like bus is propelled by standard rubber tires. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTJgh50vuuw]

Tram on Tires – Guided Light Transit (GLT), the ultimate BRT

Guided Light Transit or GLT is a hybrid bus/tram system, where rubber tired vehicles are guided by a single rail and the TransLohr GLT falls into this category. It has been long realized that for a bus to obtain higher performances to compete against LRT, it must be guided. The Achilles heel of BRT in […]

Mobilien: Paris Version of Bus Rapid Transit. But could LRT do a better job?

The followingAi??Ai?? U-Tube presentation of Paris’s Mobilien BRT is interesting and shows what buses can do in congested cities,Ai??Ai??such asAi??Ai??Paris.Ai??Ai??The observation can be made:Ai??Ai?? “that for a few dollars or Euros more, would not the modern tram bring more benefits to both the city and transit customers on these routes?” The articulated diesel buses used […]

From the Guardian.Co.UK. – London transit executives may head to New York to consult on subway

Ai??Ai??The recent visit byAi??Ai??Janette Sadik-Khan serving as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, seemed to create a blog frenzy about how New York was today’s transit nirvana, but with a population of over 8 million (or about the same population as BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan combined), the city does have the […]

From the Vancouver Sun – Metro Vancouver mayors vote for an extra $130-million for TransLink. As Barnum Observed, There Is a Sucker Born Every Minute.

Metro mayors caved in to TransLink’s slick propaganda campaign, to bad because TransLink and the provincial government will forever treat municipal politicians as mindless patsies. It was time to draw a line in the sand, but regional politicians just didn’t have the stomach for it and continue to be just tax and spend politicians who […]

We have been talking about Dublin’s LUAS, now let’s take a ride!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAO3i36doo0] Here is a recent trip on Dublin’s LUAS tram, which also serves the Guinness Brewery – Cheers!

More unhappiness from South of the Fraser – From the Delta Optimist – Train offers miserable experience

It seems that the RAV/Canada Line is not swaying the transit customer’s minds to happily use the metro. It’s crowded, but over crowding could be the result of TransLink deliberately underestimating Richmond and South of the Fraser buses ridership, to crow about packed trains to a very complacent media. Obviously, TransLink isn’t operating enough capacity […]