Reality Check

Transit rule number 1: You got to have funding to build and operate a transit line. The Mayors Council on Transit, is a little weak on this issue, especially after a mostly federal/provincial funded $4.6 billion grant to build 12.8 km of extensions to the Expo and Millennium Lines. They also approved an increased of […]

Rorschach Test

The Zurich tram system. Overview: The tram network serves most city neighbourhoods, and is the backbone of public transport within the city. Open: 1882 Cauge: Metre Number of routes: 15 Route length: 118.7 km (73.8 mi) Owner: Zürich Propulsion system(s): Electric Track length (total): 171.9 km (106.8 mi) Track length (double): 72.9 km (45.3 mi) […]

Seriously Deluded, Or…….?

Really? Is this the best we can expect from TransLink, deception? Two quotes from TransLink CEO, Kevin Desmond, are very disturbing: Desmond called the Canada Line, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary, a “smart investment”. “But, he said, he hopes the region has learned that lesson, adding that “help is on its way” for the […]

Avignon Tram Opens In France

It seems the French clearly understand the benefits of light rail, well they should, because they have studied both LRT and light-metro (VAL). Like Vancouver’s SkyTrain, VAL was made by MATRA, the famous arms manufacturer and in the 1980’s the general political thought was, if no one used  VAL for transit, it would reflect badly […]

Future Funding Implications Threaten Regional Transit Projects.

With the clear evidence that transportation authorities around the world opting to build with LRT, one must pose, again, the question; Why does TransLink inflate the cost of light Rail? The simple answer is, “they don’t want to build with light rail, so they inflate the cost to match that of SkyTrain. From the Briefing […]

The $4.6 billion Question

  $4.6 billion is a lot of cash, but in metro Vancouver, $4.6 billion (well that is the amount funded) buys you a mere 12.8 km of the decidedly obsolete light metro system, now called Movia Automatic Light Metro, used on the Millennium and Expo Lines. So much money, for so little transit. It maybe […]

Osaka – The City of Rugby And Trams

Osaka, a Japanese city famous for rugby and trams. Hankai Tramway Co., Ltd.  (Hankai Denki Kidō Kabushiki Gaisha) is a company which owns two tramway lines in the cities of Osaka and Sakai, Osaka, Japan. The parent company is Nankai Electric Railway Co., Ltd. Osaka prefecture’s last remaining streetcar, known affectionately as “Chin Den,” is […]

Ottawa’s LRT Is Opening

Ottawa’s LRT is Opening. The term choo-choo, used by ill informed opponents of light rail is standard across the country but really has no basis as LRT remains one of the most effective way to move people. The problem in North America is that our universities are still mired in the 1950’s and all subjects […]

Streets Paved With Gold – Transit Planning is Driven By Politics

Footnotes: The author,  Adrienne Tanner,  was city editor at the Sun, a newspaper that prevented any real reporting of our regional transit issues and took orders from back east to report “SkyTrain” in a positive light. As well, there was little investigative reporting on SNC-Lavalin’s B.C. operations. Detroit’s ALRT system officially called a People Mover […]

Trams At The Heart Of The 21st Century Metropolis

With nearly 600 tram and light rail systems in operation around the world, this is hardly surprising. With Vancouver being the odd-ball city, insisting that the light-metro is the way to go, taxpayers have to have extremely deep pockets, to pay for the politicians  foolish financial excesses. During an era of record investment in urban […]