Now we know why SkyTrain is so expensive to operate.

The main story here is not the strike vote taken by Expo and Millennium Line workers, but the amount of workers that are needed to operate the SkyTrain mini-metro. According to the article, there are 530 CUPE members that work on the Expo and Millennium Lines, then add in senior non-union managerial staff, transit police and […]

Porkies from TransLink!

In the UK, London's Cockney's (the East End crowd) have long had an interesting rhyming slang tradition – examples: jam jar is a car; dicky dirt a shirt and so on. Well, a pork pie or porkie is – well you guessed it. The following letter from Ken Hardie, to the Delta Optimist, is full of "Porkies" […]

The Light Rail Committee Sends a Message

The Light Rail Committee sent the following letter to all municipal governments in the lower mainland, to inform municipal politicians about upcoming transit funding discussions by the mayors council, with Transportation Minister Shirley Bond for the Evergreen Line. One wishes that Mayor Walton tell Minister Bond to "take a powder", and "if the provincial government wants more […]

Why Are North American Engineers So Afraid Of European Transit Developments?

Answer: They can't plan for $1.4 Million a mile rail transit schemes, like what their European friends are doing! The Valley Rail naysayers abound, but when faced with undisputable facts that light rail and/or its many variants can be built very cheaply indeed; much cheaper than $125 million/km SkyTrain or even $20 million/km highways, they […]

Transit Planning In Metro Vancouver – Where Have We Gone Wrong?

The release of TransLink’s $400,000.00 Fraser Valley Transit Study continues over three decades of transit denial by politicians and bureaucrats alike. The SkyTrain driverless light metro system has brought with it, the seeds of a regional transportation debacle, where the invented claims by the SkyTrain lobby has infected all regional planning, including the universities with […]

This report merely postpones a serious attempt to grapple with crafting a long-term solution – Articles About TransLink’s Valley Transit Plans

It seems TransLink and the provincial government got what they wanted – nothing, for this is what their recently released transportation plan is really about, doing nothing. The estimated annual cost of $90 million to operate rail transit in the Fraser Valley is laughable, as well as the contention that buses would attract more ridership […]

TransLink Stuff and Nonsense!

It seems that the regional mayors got tired of Langley City Mayor Fassbender support for the Evergreen line and changed the Chair ofAi??the Metro Vancouver Mayorsai??i?? Council on Transportation and voted District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton as the new chair. No real change, as the Metro Vancouver Mayorsai??i?? Council on Transportation is as […]

The Vancouver Sun Again Embarrasses Itself With a Pro SkyTrain – Pro TransLink Editorial!

In one of the most self serving pro-TransLink, pro-SkyTrain editorials yet, the Vancouver Sun printed a "puff' editorial authored by former Premier Mike Harcourt, who championed the Canada Line, and Dale Parker, Chair of TransLink, whose planning bureaucrats still squander millions of dollars on unachievable metro plans. The aim of the editorial, of course is to try to embarrass […]

Has The “War On The Car” Gone To Far?

There is a growing problem concerning public and regional transportation that has become very worrisome and that is the so called "war on the car". This simple phrase has been used with great effect in Toronto, where anti-transit politicians have been elected in the Toronto metro region, whose sole goal is to dismantle Toronto's public transit system. The slogan […]

Transit News From Around The World – December 3rd 2010

Light rail train derails in Seattle Komonews http://www.komonews.com/news/local/70237837.html Business leaders: Build light-rail leg to Tampa airport Tampa Bay Online http://tinyurl.com/26qguhs Manchester passengers consulted over closure of Metrolink stop Rail Technology Magazine http://tinyurl.com/26fq6jj Light Rail news Rail Technology Magazine Pages 46 – 53 inclusive; Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Tyne & Wear and Liepaja http://tinyurl.com/2auqhcs Fraser Valley Interurban […]