An Open Letter To The NDP & Leader John Horgan

To the Leader of the Official Opposition, John Horgan, Dear Sir; As the NDP have been extremely weak with urban and metro transportation policies in the past two elections, may I offer a suggestion that the NDP take another look at the Rail for the Valley TramTrain plan, providing a TramTrain service from Vancouver to […]

Three Minutes Into The Future!

More wise words from Mr. ‘Haveacow’ who is an extremely experienced transit planner working on Ottawa’s new regional light rail line. This was originally a post from the recent Calgary blog and contains a wealth of information that the powers that be don’t really want in the public realm. What this boils down to is […]

Over to You Mr. Cow – The Vancouver Sun’s Recent “Puff” SkyTrain Story

This comment from Mr. Cow deserves a post of its own as there is so much information here, it deserves a wider audience. As Mr. Cow is a Canadian Transit Engineer, his comments are well worth reading. When SkyTrain ‘crapped-out’ in the Summer of 2014 there were no drivers or attendants to oversee the evacuation […]

Montreal, Quebec – op-ed: death of Canadian light metro ??

An interesting read. Why would Quebec’s Caisse de dAi??pA?t et placement du QuAi??bec, invest in the obsolete SkyTrain? Could the real reason be to help Bombardier out of its aerospace financial embarrassment, by buying ART? At the current rate, the proposed 67 km Montreal ART light-metro system will cost well over $8 billion or more […]

The Costly White Elephant In The Room

While Vancouver mayor Pines for a SkyTrain subway under Broadway and Trudeau the Younger smiles at the cameras with promises of transit manna from heaven, no one is addressing the real subway issue: costs! It is now estimated that the Millennium Line subway extension to Arbutus will now cost $3 billion or slightly higher, if […]

Error Code 404 – Sums Up Regional Planning to a “T”.

Well, is this a sign of things to come error code 404? The three amigos got together on ART car 404 for a photo op and one can read into it as one wishes.

Transit Funding and The Mayor’s Ten Year Plan

There is little need for an introduction as Professor Patrick Condon succinctly lays it on the table. Transit Funding and the Future of Urban Design “Skytrain in Vancouver” by Micheal Chu is licensed by CCBY The connection between public transit and urban sustainability is significant;Ai??public transportation has been shown to reduce air pollution and GHG […]

Trudeau’s Big Announcement: Big Winners – Bombardier and Bureaucrats

Ah, such a photo-op for our new PM; oh, such an announcement, but really, this just a rehash of old news releases tarted up for a photo-op so PM Trudeau can claim that BC has not been left out of the Liberals game plan of shoveling money off a back of a truck. The stumbling […]

TransLink Spies On Media Reports

One can now tell how dysfunctional TransLink is when it blames the messenger and not itself; in fact TransLink is scared of the messenger. Again, instead of spending time and energy in providing a good transit service, TransLink spies on media reports and organizations who disagree with this ossified bureaucracy. It must be getting very […]

Honolulu light metro now $1.1 billion (CAD $1.41 billion) over budget

Attention Metro Vancouver transit planners, it seems the Honolulu light-metro is now $1.1 billion (CAD $1.41 billion)over budget. As TransLink aggressively pursues light metro for regional transit planning, alarm bells are sounding in Honolulu. The trouble is, Factbender and the regional Mayors are not listening,Ai?? wanting prestigious transportation vanity projects, in the guise of SkyTrain […]