Category Archives: Transit, Skytrain, LRT

Riding Vancouver’s fast train to nowhere

May 11, 2018 By in Transit, Skytrain, LRT, Vancouver, City of Tags: , , 6 Comments

Adam Fitch’s rapid transit map. His LRT line would run from a proposed new Emily Carr SkyTrain station in east False Creek to UBC. The red line on the map, with marked stations, traces TransLink’s SkyTrain route plan as of about 2012. In the real world, stations from Arbutus are to go into service before 2025; stations west of Arbutus have been delayed indefinitely. Adam posted a video on YouTube in October 2018 to advance his proposal.

My thanks to Kamloops-based planner Adam Fitch. He invited me to join him on a May 4 “Jane’s Walk” to consider a cheaper alternative to the Broadway Extension rapid transit project.

Fitch’s proposal would take advantage of a corridor owned by the City of Vancouver, and would avoid most of the tunneling costs associated with the Broadway scheme. It’s an entertaining concept, but it won’t get built, largely because it won’t take people where they want to go.

Continue reading →

Funding for Metro Vancouver transit: are we there yet?

April 22, 2018 By in Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: Leave a comment

Surrey Central SkyTrain station

Over the past 20 years, British Columbia and local governments have failed to agree on a long-term transit funding formula for Metro Vancouver.

The regional transit authority (TransLink) sits in a governmental neutral zone, neither provincial nor local, and it suffers for a lack of political champions. Continue reading →

Transit funding and election speculation

April 5, 2017 By in Around B.C., Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: , , Leave a comment

Focus on Surrey: the B.C. government’s $2.2 billion transit announcement, March 31, 2017. Transit minister Peter Fassbender, MLA for Surrey Fleetwood, is flanked by Marvin Hunt, MLA for Surrey-Panorama, first elected to Surrey City Council in 1988; and by technology minister Amrik Virk, MLA for Surrey-Tynehead, formerly a prominent RCMP officer in Surrey. The photo by Arlen Redekop is clipped from the Vancouver Sun.

British Columbia’s Liberal government took a surprising step late last week with a rapid transit announcement that exceeded most expectations.

The Province will match the federal government’s $2.2 billion pledge toward Phase 2 of the 10-year transportation plan put forward in 2016 by the Metro Vancouver Mayors Council. This phase includes construction of a Clark Street to Arbutus SkyTrain extension in Vancouver, and the Newton-Guildford light rail line in Surrey. Continue reading →

Riding the Evergreen Extension

February 28, 2017 By in Days Out, Transit, Skytrain, LRT Tags: Leave a comment

screenshot-2017-02-28-09-17-42

My Facebook friend Trevor Batstone has posted a rider’s eye view from the front of the new Evergreen Extension elevated train through Coquitlam and Port Moody, stopping at Lougheed Town Centre.

We’ve reported in the past on Evergreen Line construction and anticipated effects, most recently in October 2016. The line opened in December. After a late reconfiguration, the track from Coquitlam City Hall (Lafarge Lake/Douglas) to Lougheed Town Centre has been renamed the Millennium Line, Evergreen Extension. The traveller gets a close look at the extensive high-rise development that has been mentioned on this site.

The train continues through Burnaby, (that is, beyond where the video takes us). With a transfer to the Expo Line at Broadway/Commercial the trip from Lafarge Lake to downtown Vancouver takes about 45 minutes.