TramTrain Trial OK’ed in the UK

TramTrain is coming to South Yorkshire, in the UK. If TramTrain passes muster with her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate, it would past muster in BC for operation in metro Vancouver. The real question, of course, is why TransLink must be forced kicking and screaming to accept TramTrain as a 21st century transit mode? From the LRTA […]

Provincial Auditors Ignore SkyTrain – TransLink’s Financial Chaos Will Continue

What is interesting about this item in the Vancouver Sun, is that provincial auditors, looking for maintenace cost savings in TransLink, are ingoring the SkyTrain light-metro system and I wonder why? “The report, which didnai??i??t examine maintenance costs for SkyTrain ai??i?? run by BC Rapid Transit Co. ai??i?? suggested TransLink must ai???re-evaluate maintenance services and […]

Eric Chris on Fare Evasion and Opens A Pandoras Box

It seems from TransLink’s ownAi??numbers that it will be extremely difficult if not impossible for TransLink to reach ridership goals set for 2020. Eric Chris, has done some very good research on the fare evasion issue and heAi??brings up some very important points. Focusing on the light-metro network, is TransLink doing a good job moving […]

“Lightness” of light rail

TransLink, BC Transit, SNC Lavalin, UBC, SFU, and a host of North American Engineering firms, please take note! ThisAi??”lightness” of light rail – a combination of flexibility, low impact,Ai??modest cost, and environmental softness – is ephemeral. It mustAi??be carefullyAi??guarded. Ignorance orAi??ineptitude during the planning, design, specification writing, engineering, orAi??construction phases of a project can lose […]

Eric Chris’s Broadside At TransLink

Transit advovate, Eric Chris, again tackles TransLink on various trolleybus related issues in the City of Vancouver. Electric buses are quiet, pollution freeAi??and able to tackle steeper grades than diesel buses, are used on many Vancouver transit routes. Haydn Acheson, President and General Manager, Coast Mountain Bus Company:   Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) under […]

Karlsruhe – More fuel on the fire

A few weeks back, Zwei created a firestorm of denial by the anti-tram crowd, when I reported that the main tram route in the city was being replaced by a subway; “because of the success of Karlsruhe’sAi??regional tramtrain service, the main tram route through the city was seeing 45 second headways“. All Zwei did was […]

Eric Chris on Bi-Articulated Buses For The 99-B

A bi-articulated bus or double-articulated bus is a higher-capacity type of articulated bus. It is an extension of a conventional or single-articulated bus, in that it has three passenger compartment sections instead of two. This also involves the addition of an extra axle and a second articulation joint. Due to the extended length, bi-articulated buses […]

TransLink eliminates planning VP – The Sacrificial Lamb

It seems that transit planning is/was not aAi??TransLink forte, in fact the move to remove the VP of Planning certainly indicates that the Premier’s office is in full control of Metro Vancouver transportation planning and no encumbrances from the TransLink bureaucracy is needed.Ai??TransLink’s VP of planning has been determined to be the sacrificial lamb with […]

TransLink postponing some expansion plans – Take that you bad old taxpayer!

As expected, TranLink’s brass is postponing transit projects to punish those nasty people who don’t want to be gouged by new taxes to keep TransLink’s bureaucrat’s pensions and bonuses well funded. That the Evergreen Line light-metro line (the main cause of TransLink’s financial problems) is allowed to continue, demonstrates an utter ignorance by TransLink and […]

The Canada Line is on the fritz again

Well it seems the $2.5 billion Canada Line gadgetbahnen is on the fritz again, so much for the myth that driverless transitAi??are more dependable than light rail. The problem is a signalling problem and the sort of problem that bedevils automatic metros around the world, it is also a problem that doesn’t greatly effect light […]