As Predicted – "Mayors consider raising taxes to pay for TransLink"

Ai??Ai??As predicted yesterday: TransLink is in a conundrum; there is no money for new metro expansion and the bureaucracy refuses to plan for much cheaper light rail. There is no way out, either taxes must increase to pay for metro constructionAi??Ai??or the transit system stagnates and becomes even more unattractive product for customers. It seems […]

Mayors, Premier and Transportation Minister to meet next week – The Blind Leading the Blind

Talk about the blind leading the blind. BC Transportation Minister, Shirley Bond (who knows little or nothing about transit), the besieged premier (who knows that building glitzy metro lines buys votes), and regional mayors (who are equally unread on transit) are going to have a private meeting regarding TransLink’s ongoing financial crisis. The first hing […]

The SkyTrain Lobby – Just The Usual Suspects!

Transit again is making front page news in the dailies and regional newspapers, with TransLink claiming that the next big rapid transit (read SkyTrain) line will be in Surrey, not Broadway. A few international transit blogs have picked up the storyAi??Ai??with the usual suspects singing hosannas about SkyTrain, while in the same breathe libeling anyone […]

Surrey mayor calls for transit expansion to be low profile to make sense – From the Vancouver Province

Surrey mayor, Dianne Watts, clearly understands the costs of ‘rail’ transit (the term ‘rapid transit’ is used by lazy or uniformed people) and that to get a larger more workable ‘rail‘Ai??Ai?? network for her city, she must opt for modern light rail. While Vancouver pines for another multi-billion dollar subway under Broadway, its politicians seem […]

STREETCARS: THE MISSING LINK? – September 29, 2010

For Immediate Release A?ai??i??ai??? Please circulate! Ai??Ai??Lawrence Frank, PhD, CIP, ASLA Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation University of British Columbia 604-822-5387 ph / 604-822-1628 fx Ai??Ai??Bombardier Active Transportation Lab http://www.act-trans.ubc.ca/Ai??Ai?? Ai??Ai??——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– UBC School of Environmental Health and the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning are pleased to inform you of our upcoming symposium: Ai??Ai??STREETCARS: […]

Come On Now Mainstream Media, Why All The Hype And Hoopla Over The Canada Line?

In the past week, the mainstream media have been singing loud hosannas about the success of the Canada Line, how it is surpassing ridership projections and all is happiness. What the MSM failed toAi??Ai??mention is thatAi??Ai??over 80% of the total trips on the RAV/Canada line have come from about 40,000 or so bus riders who […]

Shameful Media Reporting

The real story is, not the ever promised Evergreen Line, but the totally lack of research done by the reporter. If the reporter in question had any knowledge at all about transit, should would have known that SkyTrain was indeed onceAi??Ai??marketed asAi??Ai??ALRT or Advanced Light Rail Transit in 1980. TheAi??Ai??acronym ALRT was the second given […]

Late Friday Night’s Musings For Saturday Reading

Zwei, with a cup of tea in hand, has been reading the various transit blogs and answering emailsAi??Ai??from interested parties around the world, trying to get a read onAi??Ai??what direction public transit is going in the near and not so near future. Sadly, I see a trend in North America towards supporting building hugely expensive […]

Notes on – Broadway merchants want light rail not SkyTrain down business corridor – meeting

A few thoughts on Tuesdays meeting put on by BARSTA regarding transit issues on Broadway or what Zweisystem calls the ‘Broadway Follies’. First though a comment on Vancouver’s pedestrians; my god does anyone in Vancouver, including pedestrians and cyclists obey the rules of the road? Driving in Vancouver reminded me of some sort of perverted […]

Broadway merchants want light rail not SkyTrain down business corridor

Last night’s adventure! Broadway merchants want light rail not SkyTrain down business corridor By Tamara Baluja, The Province June 22, 2010 A coalition of merchants and residents opposed to the building of a SkyTrain line along VancouverA?ai??i??ai???s Broadway corridor rolled ahead with a meeting Tuesday to discuss alternatives. About 120 people packed the meeting held […]