Why is public transit more expensive than it used to be?

The following article from the American Conservative sums up Rail for the Valley’s long standing worries about the ever escalating cost to build light rail/streetcar. It is time to get back to basics and build LRT/streetcar cheaply or it will price itself right out of the market! One start, of course, would be to stop […]

STREETCARS: THE MISSING LINK? – September 29, 2010

For Immediate Release A?ai??i??ai??? Please circulate! Ai??Ai??Lawrence Frank, PhD, CIP, ASLA Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation University of British Columbia 604-822-5387 ph / 604-822-1628 fx Ai??Ai??Bombardier Active Transportation Lab http://www.act-trans.ubc.ca/Ai??Ai?? Ai??Ai??——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————– UBC School of Environmental Health and the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning are pleased to inform you of our upcoming symposium: Ai??Ai??STREETCARS: […]

A letter from Oslo

This has been forwarded to Rail for the Valley from the Eurotrams e-group. Now where have you heard similar arguments? Read RoyA?ai??i??ai???s last two paragraphs, a certain resonance with the situation in the Fraser Valley & Metro Vancouver? The infrastructure in Trondheim suffers from lack of interest from the city council. The tramway has been […]

Prefab tram track = fast construction! Friends of the Broadway Light Rail/Streetcar Take Note!

The following article from EccoRussia, gives an account of the installation of 670 metres of prefabricated tram track on the Athens (Greece) light rail/tram in just 10 days or about 67 metres of new tram track a day! At this speed of track laying it would take a mere 14 days to lay one kilometre […]

TramTrain’s Now Invade Australia

What is good for Karlsruhe, Germany and maybe good for the Vancouver/Fraser Valley region, is now seen as good for Newcastle Australia! For a transit mode that is yet 20 years old, the simplicityAi??Ai??andAi??Ai??cost effectiveness of TramTrain is being demonstrate not only in Europe and North America, but now also in Australia. Communities are pressurizing […]

City & Populations With Light Rail

From David Cockle. Rank City / Urban area Country Population Land area (in sqKm) Density (people per sqKm Ai??Ai?? 100 Warsaw Poland 2,000,000 466 4,300 101 Denver USA 1,985,000 1,292 1,550 102 Cologne/Bonn Germany 1,960,000 816 2,400 103 Hamburg Germany 1,925,000 829 2,300 104 Dubai UAE 1,900,000 712 2,650 105 Pretoria South Africa 1,850,000 673 […]

More U-Tube and light rail web sites

Ai??Ai?? Ai??Ai?? A thank you to David Cockle for providing these very interesting-Tube and websites! Simon Smiler A?ai??i??ai??? Citytransport.info http://citytransport.info/Frame.htm http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=citytransportinfo#g/u Agos Vaga aka Hamster A?ai??i??ai??? Tram-hiker’s Guide to BudapestAi??Ai?? http://www.hampage.hu/kozlekedes/thg2bp/ http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hamsterhamster2002#g/u

500 Posts – The story so far……………..

Todays post, marks the five hundredth post on the Rail for The Valley blog and today I want to reflect on the main themes that keep out transit debates going. The Canada line Again, anotherAi??Ai??major Canada Line storyAi??Ai??by the Vancouver Province news paper…. http://www.theprovince.com/business/Canada+Line+year+later+Next+stop+construction+controversy/3400752/story.html -and I wonder why the Vancouver Province keeps writing ‘puff’ stories […]

Come On Now Mainstream Media, Why All The Hype And Hoopla Over The Canada Line?

In the past week, the mainstream media have been singing loud hosannas about the success of the Canada Line, how it is surpassing ridership projections and all is happiness. What the MSM failed toAi??Ai??mention is thatAi??Ai??over 80% of the total trips on the RAV/Canada line have come from about 40,000 or so bus riders who […]

Light Rail Fits In! Useful Links for LRT

A reader of this blog from the UK has sent Rail For The Valley some very useful links for those advocating for light rail. Zweisystem send a a hearty thank you! http://www.eukn.org/eukn/themes/Urban_Policy/Economy_knowledge_and_employment/Urban_economy/Specific_sectors/Distribution/citycargo-freight-tram_1007.html http://citytransport.info/Street.htm http://citytransport.info/Zones.htm http://www.citymayors.com/transport/trams-europe.html http://www.etcproceedings.org/paper/trams-and-bikes-towards-good-practice-in-light-rail-planning http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/1592.pdf http://www.metrocouncil.org/media/CCLRTstreetscapeFeb09.pdf http://www.vmwp.com/projects/leland-avenue-streetscape.php http://www.pdc.us/ura/interstate/kenton.asp http://lightrailjacksonville.webs.com/whylrti.htm http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/Attachments/Internet/Transport/Walking_and_cycling/Cycling_around_Edinburgh/Cycling_and_trams_leaflet.pdf http://www.totallyriviera.com/nice/content/113 http://www.globalmasstransit.net/archive.php?id=1293 http://www.bringingbackbroadway.com/stellent/groups/electedofficials/@cd14_contributor/documents/classmaterials/lacity_007110.pdf http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/environmental-review/eirs/documents/Appendix_B.pdf http://www.metro.net/news/simple_pr/metro-hold-streetscape-design-workshop-crenshawlax/