Repeat A Lie Often Enough…..

“If you tell a subway lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The subway lie can be maintained only for such time as the City of Vancouver and TransLink  can shield the people from the political, economic and/or environmental consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important […]

Gatineau Goes Light Rail

Some thoughts on the Gatineau light rail and the rejection of LRT in Surrey. The picture shows classic LRT, not a light-metro tarted up pretending to be LRT, such as is the newly opened Ottawa light rail. Lawned rights-of-way are both environmentally pleasing and non-user friendly. The dedicated or reserved rights-of-ways, provide a service almost […]

$4 Billion Pause For Thought

All regional taxpayer’s are losers with this. According to Ontario’s MetroLinx (Metrolinx is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Canadian province of Ontario) the 50 year cost for the 7 km Expo Line extension just to Fleetwood, will be around $4 billion!  Gives one pause for thought. It […]

Is SkyTrain To Langley Derailed?

No surprise here. The escalating cost to build with light metro, due to Covid 19, means there is little money in the pot to further extend the light-metro to Langley. TransLink is said to be in a state of shock as former customers are leaving transit in droves and not coming back. Over 80% of […]

From The South Fraser Community Rail Society

It is beginning to sink in, that post Covid-19, many things will change. The other valley passenger rail, group, the South Fraser Community Rail Society, also sees that the post Covid-19 and post Bombardier world will change the transit landscape dramatically. Light metro is just too expensive for what good it will do; why no […]

Quizz Time!

Lisbon tram climbing a steep grade! Here are ten questions to test your knowledge of transit mode and issues. Passing grade is 70%. 1) What is Light Rail Transit? 2 ) What is metro? 3 ) What is capacity? 4 ) What grade maximum is now the industry standard for light rail? 5 ) What […]

The Charleroi. Could This Be The Fate Of The Broadway Subway?

The Charleroi, the metro extension that never was. Since the story of the Charleroi pre-metro was first posted in 2009 (see story below), nothing has changed and talks of completing the line have come to naught. Could be the fate of the $3 billion Broadway subway?  Built, but far too expensive to operate and portions […]

The Expanding World Of TramTrain

TramTrain, unknown in Canada, mocked by those who have not even researched the mode, is now expanding across the world. The concept is simple and well understood a century ago, but time has erased the memory of the “interurban” from our present crop of planners. Until 1992…….. The German City of Karlsruhe opened it’s first […]

Truth And Lies About Transit

  It seems that the covid-19 pandemic has made several people busy little beavers with local transit issues. A new Facebook page has appeared, Truth and Lies About Transit in the Fraser Valley and it is worth a read. It now seems a certain railway company has called upon a certain political friend to do […]

A Letter To Premier Horgan

The Honourable John Horgan, Premier of BC * Dear Premier Horgan, * The Covid-19 pandemic has made absolutely clear, we cannot go back to normal, as it has forever changed how people behave. Covid-19 is a prelude for great change in BC. * Metro Vancouver’s regional transit system has been greatly affected by the pandemic […]