Power rail problem halts SkyTrain service in New Westminster

As metro lines age, maintenance problems come into the fore. With automatic or driverless transit systems, this means complete shutdowns of sections of track or an entire route. Last night, a reported failure of the power rail caused chaos all Thursday night for transit customers. Failures do happen, but a failure of a power rail […]

Ottawa LRT

CFRA News-Talk Radio posted this report on April 22nd about a possible alignment for the leg of the Ottawa starter light rail line west of downtown. http://www.cfra.com/News/Ottawa-Regional-News/City-likes-tunnel-under-Richmond-Road-for-next-pha The route dubbed Richmond Underground is the favourite of city officials for the second phase of the light rail transit route that would link Tunney’s pasture to the […]

Limiting in Honolula

The Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (HHCTCP) is the official name for the plan to construct an elevated rapid transit line serving the City and County of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. http://www.honolulutransit.org/ The line will use 128Ai??ft (39Ai??m) trains carrying about 390 passengers each, similar in weight to light rail systems elsewhere in […]

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 […]

Referendum New Transit funding For TransLink – BC Liberal Election Platform

Interesting, election gimmick from the BC Liberals which just may resonate with the regional taxpayer. For 33 years, the regional taxpayer has been shut out of the regional transit debate, but expected to shell out serious coin for mega transit projects without question. Already the SkyTrain lobby are squealing like stuck pigs with any hint […]

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 […]

An Important Message From Malcolm Johnston – A 30 Year Veteran Advocating for LRT

The South Fraser transit customers and taxpayers are about to get shafted again with regional transit investment, as South Fraser politicians are sleeping walking into a well laid trap set by TransLink and the City of Vancouver. The trap is simple, agree to build a $4 billion subway under Broadway now and promise ‘rapid transit‘ […]