A Tram Runs Through It!

IAi??couldn’t resist. In Freiburg Germany, trams co-exist with bicycles and buildings, without the doom and gloom and general transportation chaos predicted by the SkyTrain (a.k.a. metro) lobby. So sad when on this side of the pond, many regional politicians equate modern LRT as an anachronism from years gone by and not as a viable and […]

Light Rail and Streetcar Construction

The following is a series of photos showing tram construction in the French city of Tours. http://www.lineoz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17564&p=345099#p345099 The French city of Tours (population 137,000) tram project is a transit is closely related to modern light rail with most of its route located in aAi??reserved rights-of-way. Work on the new tramway started in 2010, with completion […]

TramTrain Through Town and Country

Here we have a Karlsruhe ‘streetcar’ operating as a Elzug or local passenger train on its way to Heilbronn. Two video’s that show that the “density question” doesn’t exist with TramTrain and that TramTrain is both user friendly and non-user friendly. TramTrain through the Black Forest and in a deep snow, something to think about […]

Road Pricing Coming To Surrey?

It seems that local bureaucrats are trying to persuade regional politicians to agree to a road-pricing or road toll scheme, to both ensure their incomes and pensions by increasing the transit and planning bureaucracies – OOPS, I meant to sayAi??increase funds for transit. For road pricing or road tolls to work, the region needs a […]

Light Rail runs in inclement weather

Trams and Streetcars "Stuttering & Crapping out" not a chance brother! As in the winter of 2010/2011 when Light Rail & Trams continued to run across Europe as well as in Calgary, despite heavy snow falls, when Skytrain ground to an ignominious halt, likewise recent floods in Europe & Australia haven't stopped the Trams! Montpellier, France […]

Transit agencies must put customer first

If ‘Zwei’ ever wants to createAi??howls of “shock and disbelief“, from the transit elites in the region, all ‘Zwei’ has to say is “transit is about moving people andAi??the transit customer comes first. Well ‘Zwei‘ is not alone with this thought. Custom journeys for transit customers andAi??seamless (no-transfer) journeys for transit customers both areAi??a non-subjectAi??with […]

The Incident At 152nd Street in Surrey

A week or so ago I was traveling on 152nd Street in Surrey, when I encountered a traffic light turning to amber then to red. I promptly stopped of course, but not the car in the right lane, which continued on at speed through the intersection and causing a collision. The accident looked somewhat nasty […]

A Tale of Two Letters

The SkyTrain lobby has entered the Surrey political arena with the all so predictable misinformation that is so common with the "metro lobby". Sadly much of their anti-LRT rhetoric is thirty years out of date.   Light rail system may be the wrong choice Published: October 31, 2011 1:00 PM I have a few important points […]

The Novice’s Guide to “Rail” Transit Or…………

…………..cutting through the BS about light rail, SkyTrain and BRT. The following is a guide plus definitions about “rail” transit for the November civic elections. ALM: Automatic Light metro, the fourthAi??marketing name given for the SkyTrain family of light-metros, when Lavalin briefly ownedAi??SkyTrain before gong bankrupt. ALRT (1): Advanced Light Rail Transit, the secondAi??marketing name […]

BRT Buffoonery and a word about Susan Heyes

Some interesting costs associated with BRT. If the following is to be believed, then BRT is more expensive to build and operate than light rail. Maybe that’s why TransLink wants to build BRT in the Fraser Valley. With TransLink, if it costs more to build and operate than light rail, they build it! Pittsburg BRT, […]