TransLink wants $23 billion to expand transit system

From your wildest dreams department: TransLink wants 23 billion dollars over the next three decades to improve transit. Ha, ha, ha; and this from an organization who has been less than honest about transit since their inception. Really boys & girls, do you still want the public to believe that subways will attract more new […]

The Great Capacity Debate – The USA Versus the World

For the past few weeks, there has been a bare knuckle debate on the LRPPro blog about light rail capacity and it seems in the USA, there is an independent view of capacity. The industry standard for light rail vehicle capacity is all seats occupied and standees @ 4 persons per metre/2. Crush load capacity […]

Why do some governments see Metros as more prestigious than Light Rail?

A pertinent question posed on one of the Light Rail discussion groups, particularly relevant in relation to Skytrain & the City’s of Surrey and Vancouver. A selection of answers: 1) Very simple. Because it is more expensive. There is nothing as prestigious as money. And then there is the tendency of: “The neighbouring community have […]

A Liberal Victory Means “No Transit For You!”

The BC Liberals have won yesterday’s election which means the transit status quo will remain, no new transit for south of the Fraser River. Regional transit issues were ignored by both the BC Liberals and the NDP and for good reason, TransLink is in a financial mess and unless new revenue streams are forthcoming, there […]

New Surrey coalition to push for light-rail transit south of the Fraser

Ai??Dianne Watts gets it, but Daryl Dela Cruz doesn’t. Rail for the Valley gets it, but TransLink doesn’t. The rest of the world gets it, but the SkyTrain lobby doesn’t. Financial managers in most major cities around the world gets it, but BC’s Auditor General doesn’t. Isn’t interesting that while the rest of the world […]

A Tale of Two Letters

Two letters to the Vancouver Province newspaper have found their way into Zwei’s inbox. TransLink is broken, probably broken beyond repair and no political candidate has the moral jam to state the obvious. “Throw more money at TransLink, that’s the ticket for improving our regional transit system” is the clarion call of prospective MLA wannabees, […]

A Question of Capacity – A Transit Primer For BC’s Auditor General

A Question of Capacity ai??i?? A LRTA Topic Sheet Contrary to the COV and TransLink, modern LRT can obtain high capacities, on transit routes, by being able to operate at close headways.Ai??Today, the main tram route through the city is being relocated in a subway because the line was seeing 45 second headways during peak […]

Karlsruhe

TramTrain in a cityscape. This is a picture that the city of Vancouver and the city of Vancouver Engineering Department do not want the public to see; user friendly trams. A Karlsruhe TramTrain S-41 service (Eutingen im GAi??uai??i??TullastraAYe / VBK Eutingen im GAi??u ai??i?? Freudenstadt ai??i?? Baiersbronn ai??i?? Forbach ai??i?? Rastatt ai??i?? Durmersheim ai??i?? Hauptbahnhof […]

TransLink, The City of Vancouver, and the SkyTrain Lobby Practice Lysenkoism

The SkyTrain Lobby Is Watching You! Lysenkoism: describes the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives. IgnoringAi?? the fact that the proprietary SkyTrain mini-metro system has been rejected by transit planners around the world […]

A Letter To BC’s Auditor General John Doyle

Long time light rail advocate, Malcolm Johnston, has sent a letter to John Doyle, BC’s Auditor General regarding the recent Evergreen Line audit. To the point, if LRT vehicles have higher passenger capacities than Skytrain cars; are cheaper to supply than Skytrain cars and LRT can be built on much cheaper rights-of-ways and operate at […]