Have Christi’s Liberals Washed Their hands of Public Transit?

Two items in the Tyee, How BC Taxpayers Ended Up Paying for the $3.5-Billion Massey Bridge andAi??To Critics, Massey Bridge Is an Environmental and Planning Disaster underscore the present governments reluctance to plan for a usable and affordable public transit system in Metro Vancouver. The Liberals have always been a “blacktop” political party with “rubber […]

Why TransLink Can’t Be Honest

Why can’t TransLink be honest with its customers and the taxpayer? Like B.C. Transit before, honesty is not in TransLink’s lexicon, why and why can’t TransLink be honest about SkyTrain? The answer lies with he fact each SkyTrain Line has been a political decision, with the final decision made by the Premier of the day. […]

Cowardly TransLink Hides The Truth

This is a rather strange story. A dog is scared by fireworks and ends up on the SkyTrain’s tracks, how, TransLink isn’t saying. I would wager Transport Canada would like to know. SkyTrain is a driverless light-metro and when it operates at-grade it must be completely fenced off to prevent egress by people and animals. […]

Really? TransLink Tries To Spin The Evergreen Line

In the real world, modern trams or LRT lines are not considered unless traffic flows are 2,000 pphpd or more. Light-metro’s like SkyTrain, on the other hand, need traffic flows of at least 10,000 pphpd, to justify construction. Now, TransLink is trying to spin that a meager 30,000 boarding’s a day is good news. It’s […]

Why Can’t Translink Plan For Affordable LRT?

While Surrey’s proposed LRT is topping $100 million/km to build, in Europe new LRT lines are being built much cheaper. In Weisbaden, their new LRT is pegged at $24.5 million/km to build! Analysis: Fire the Surrey LRT planning team and hire people that actually know what they are doing. WEISBADEN, a city in west-central Germany […]

Light Rail Denial And TransLink

There seems to be a general naivete about Light Rail or LRT in the media, due in part to TransLink’s war on LRT, with their well advertised preference for light-metro. Today, except for “niche transit” solutions, public transport is divided into three modes, bus, tram, and metro; with each mode built to economically deal with […]

The Return Of The Branch Line – Can You Say E&N, RftV?

Most railway enthusiasts in the UK treat Beeching as a leper. In fact, Beeching predicted the end of local railways altogether, leaving the UK with just three or four trunk lines, connecting major cities by the 21st century. This is not to argue that rationalization should not have taken place, but to tear up the […]

Even Your Auditor General Seems To Have Done His Sums On The Back Of Envelopes

Let us hearken back to the days of yesteryear and remember Zwei’s take on the AG’s audit of the Evergreen Line was. SkyTrain cheaper than LRT, not a chance unless it was deliberately designed to be so! As one overseas expert succinctly put it; “”Even your Auditor General seems to have done his sums on […]

Canada Line Ka-Put For Evening Rush Again! – CEO Kevin Desmond Must Resign!

Twice in three days, the Canada Line has called it quits during Monday’s evenings rush hour. Snow, again is the culprit, but really, that excuse is wearing thin. By world standards, it isn’t a lot of snow that has fallen (1 cm per hour) and with trains every three to five minutes crossing the bridge […]

ai???Very seriousai??i?? allegations over Scarborough subway debate referred to Ontario’s auditor general

I wonder if the same thing could happen in Metro Vancouver as well? The AG’s office did a review of the Evergreen Line and it was fraught with misinformation and professional misconduct, sadly I doubt they could do an honest review of any transit project in BC. Maybe we should invite Ontario’s AG to do […]