TramTrain Gains Favour In The UK

TramTrain development in the UK is gaining momentum as the Yorkshire Post reports that a study indicates a tram-train link between MANCHESTER and its airport in north-central England would be a better choice than passenger rail because of grades along the route. Victoria and Metro Vancouver are candidates for TramTrain, yet the powers that be […]

Subways Are Very Expensive

Despite the cries of shock and disbelief from the peanut gallery, subways are very expensive to build and equally expensive to maintain. * Dusseldorf’s 2.11 mile (3.4 km) cost USD $960.6 million (CAD $1,317.45) billion works out to CAD $387.5 million/km to build, which is the upper end of the cost estimate given by our […]

Try Asking TransLink To Do The Same!

Imagine TransLink changing their schedule to suit a customer, imagine TransLink doing anything to help a customer? Russian Railways adjusts timetable so girl didnai??i??t miss dancing class Published time: 21 Feb, 2016 Get short URL Ai?? Alexandr Kryazhev / Sputnik One lucky Russian girl obviously has a golden ai???ticket to rideai??i??. Russian Railways adjusted its […]

A good read

  There is an interesting article making its rounds, “5 lessons from Los Angles on transforming transportation (and coming after Portland)”,Ai?? in the various transit blogs and I believe it is well worth a read. Zwei is going to comment briefly on each of the five lessons and how they would apply to Metro Vancouver. […]

Flexibility

This will get the SkyTrain boys knickers in a knot! The Arbutus Corridor, the classic dedicated or reserved rights-of-way. LETTER: Flexibility makes light rail the clear choice for Surrey One reader says light rail’s flexibility makes it the clear choice for Surrey. ai??i??Ai??image credit: The Now posted Feb 18, 2016 The Editor, There is myth […]

An Open Letter To The Minister of Transportation

To whom it may concern: Cutting ribbons is not the main function of the Minister of Transportation, but in BC it seems it is. Trying to justify the Premier’s (or should I say Fraser Surrey docks/SNC’s) $3.5 billion Massey Tunnel vanity bridge replacements is seemingly taking a lot of your time. I understand your many […]

80% Support For Light Rail In Surrey

Good news everyone! 80% of the people polled support light rail in Surrey, BC. The bad news is that TransLink is still involved with the planning process. As for the jobs created, especially maintenance jobs, god knows how they come by those figures and is a good example of pulling numbers out of a hat, […]

What about the Patullo Bridge?

Both the Patullo and the Fraser River rail bridges have well past their “best by” dates and desperately are in need of replacement. In 1978, the GVRD were poised to install a three leg light rail system on the region and to cross the Fraser river a new bridge would have to be built. Demonstrating […]

Common Sense From Aus

Metro Vancouver is not alone with transit ills and this item from the Australian – Sydney Ferry Blog certainly fits with our transit woes. When it comes to transit and commonsense, TransLink’s planners and senior bureaucrats, as well as metro politicians, academics, the Ministry of Transportation and the Premier, seam to lack any at all, […]

TransLink names Kevin Desmond new CEO

Is this just changing the chairs on the Titanic, or will Mr. Desmond actually achieve? I am not holding my breathe, as a far better former CEO, Tom Prendergast soon understood the root cause of TransLink’s ills and was promptly sent to Coventry by senior bureaucrats. The result, he left TransLink. Building subways and ill […]