Showing posts sorted by relevance for query urban trains. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query urban trains. Sort by date Show all posts

Monday, October 13, 2025

Majority polled in Calgary and Edmonton are unhappy with the pace of population growth

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/too-much-too-fast-majority-polled-in-calgary-edmonton-unhappy-with-pace-of-population-growth-9.6935121 

If you are visiting Vancouver or Victoria from Calgary or Edmonton, you will be shocked as to how narrow most of the bridges are in Greater Vancouver and Victoria. Edmonton was wise in the 1970s to have 125 m long underground LRT stations. Foolish Vancouver opted to only have 80 m stations on its first 2 lines and an absurd 50 m for the 3rd line. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(Calgary) , https://www.calgary.ca/green-line.html 

https://www.calgarytransit.com/plans---projects/lrt/green-line.html

https://engage.calgary.ca/greenline/UndergroundStations Fortunatly, any underground stations in Calgary will be closer in length to that of the Edmonton LRT and not backwards Vancouver.

https://www.railjournal.com/regions/north-america/tunnel-preferred-for-calgary-lrt-green-line/

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view

https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/stations.html

https://www.tunnelsandtunnelling.com/news/calgary-city-council-approves-green-line-lrt-construction/?cf-view 

The main roads and bridges in urban parts of Alberta are allowed to be wider than their counterparts in backwards BC. So while people in the urban parts of Alberta are concerned or even angry about rapid growth, at least Alberta can easily build more urban infrastructure. That's because Albertal isn't affect by the (unofficial) BC Mind Virus (BCMV). 

A timely example is a new bridge between Surrey & NW. Despite Surrey being expected to become the largest city in BC, the new bridge will only open with 4 lanes. No 3rd or 4th lane each way for busses, HOVs and trucks. Thus, all the road traffic at either end is funneled into just 2 lanes each way. Plus, there are no breakdown or emergency lane, just like the old bridge.   

While this new bridge can eventually be widened to 6 lanes, there is no provision for a lower deck for LRT, busses and trucks. Despite SW BC being a seaport area, trucks are funneled onto mostly narrow bridges. There has been a lack of interest to build bus bridges next to almost all of the bridges in Greater Vancouver. Yet, there is a Half-A$$ED attempt to have a better regional express bus network. This regional Rapid Bus attempt will always be a joke, unless a series of bus bridges are built. The Half-A$$ED approach is to try to have bus lanes on 4 to 6 lane bridges. Designating 2 bus lanes would reduce the narrow bridges to only 1 or 2 lanes each way for general traffic in what is suppose to be a major seaport and urban area.   

Most of the worlds population is non-white and for a big part of the history of BC, there has been a refusal to build up bigtime infrastructure for everyone. While some Albertains might wish that there was a wall built around their province or a force-field like out of Star Trek, BC is almost pretending like there is. Thus, the keep things small and backwards mentality. 

Several decades ago, BC implemented a symbolic slow-growth approach. Despite BC not having any control over immigration, or trying to establish an internal passport & checkpoint system, to KEEP PEOPLE OUT, it opted for the next best thing. Stunt or scale back the urban infrastructure to project a strong symbolic reluctance to growth and thinking big. 

When you realize how much larger things are allowed to be in Alberta, Washington State and even Western Australia & compare them to watered down BC, you see quite a difference. Despite BC & Canada in general, being multicultural, BCs cities keep finding ways to water the scale of things down. Canada has yet to have even 1% of the world's population, despite its size.  

While there are good arguments to occasionally slowdown immigration, that can eventually become problematic, just like too much immigration. Even in the 2020s, some people in the former White colonial parts of the world still wish that Canada & Australia, etc., could be a White Man's paradise. However, that seems so impractical on a planet that mostly has a non white population. 

https://humanrights.ca/story/chinese-head-tax-and-chinese-exclusion-act

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada 

https://royalalbertamuseum.ca/blog/chinese-head-tax-george-yees-story 

https://www.musee-mccord-stewart.ca/en/blog/chinese-exclusion-act/

https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/evenement-event/exclusion-chinois-chinese

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/asian-heritage-month/important-events.html

https://stanleyparkvan.com/stanley-park-van-monument-komagata-maru.html

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/10/05/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/01/30/vancouver-komagata-maru-memorial-vandalism/

Even if Alberta were to eventually become its own country, it would be extremely unlikely that it could ever impose a White Man's Paradise Agenda. The same could be stated for backwards BC. However, something very peculiar has been happening in BC for several generations. 

Several BC cities and municipalities play off each other with various slow-growth agendas. Vancouver being one of the most restrictive & backwards on the the planet. Somehow the legitimate anti freeway fears of the 1960s & 70s didn't get the city & region to still build a series of bus & HOV bridges. Plus, a long-term, high capacity urban rail system.

While Montreal planned for 152.4 m stations to accomodate 9 car trains, backwards Vancouver only built 80 m Skytrain stations for the first 2 lines. Then to top that, was a plan to build a line to Richmond with only enough level clearance for 50 m stations. The 1st line only started to run 5 car trains in 2025. Eventually, the 2nd line will also have 5 car trains. However, the line to the airport was deliberately designed not to have 5 car trains. Just a Half-A$$ED 2.5 car train, someday. WTH?

For Greater Vancouver to mostly have narrow bridges, one would think the all the stations could ultimately be at least as long as a Montreal Metro train station. Indeed, Greater Vancouver should have built for 10 car trains, but will only have 5 car trains on the 1st  two lines & a 2.5 car joke of a train on the 3rd line. As of 2025, the 2nd & 3rd lines are still only running 2 car trains. Such a great way to symbolically show the resistance to eventually link YVR to both of the main BC ferry terminals. 

The inadequate 3 lane Lion Bridge still has no bus & HOV tunnels near it. Urban parts of Australia never seemed to have a similar reluctance to build tunnels as does backwards Vancouver. Tunnels for Montreal & Seattle aren't a problem either. At least BC is slated to have a new and improved tunnel by 2030, that's only a couple of generations late.   

Oh, if only people would stop moving to BC, especially Vancouver & Victoria. Well, that's not the case, its just that various BC cities want to only build urban infrastructure that is inadequate. Despite the frustrations that some people have in Alberta, at lest wider bridges, longer trains & taller buildings are allowed there. This watering things down in BC approach is symbolically indicative to refuse to properly build for a growing population. 

Surrey should have already had at least 1 hospital the size of VGH. At least Surrey like Burnaby, can build up taller in what is still mostly a mountain wilderness province. 

BC is a long way from New England & Southern Quebec. The restrictive urban planning measures in Greater Vancouver keep preventing it from becoming a proper big metropolitan area like Greater Boston and Montreal. 

Calgary and Edmonton each should have hand an airport+line by now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Line_(MBTA) Calgary will have its own version of a Green Line, eventually. https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary+Green+Line

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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Some Urban Trains

Fortunately, Toronto & Montreal had enough vision to plan & build 152.45m or 500 foot long subway & metro stations. Even Edmonton & Seattle have much longer underground train stations than the Vancouver-Richmond train or the YVR Canada+Line. The Vancouver C-Line is a fine example of congestive & inept planning and should be studied all around the world as a warning. It could be called the, FINANCIAL DRAINAGE LINE, or the, CATHETER LINE. That's because the ridiculous 50m stations aren't even quite a 3rd of the length of the 152.5m Montreal Metro trains & stations. Thus, it will be difficult to lengthen these very short stations.   

It's one thing if the C+Line was started off with absurdly, short 2.5 car trains, but at least the stations were already built to gradually accomodate 5 car trains, plus still have extra clearance for even 5 more coaches. That would have been a reasonable attempt of planning for future capacity, but that's something BC just isn't that good at. The stations should have been designed to be ultimately accomodate 10 car trains, not some quarter-length joke. 

Eventually, three 20m coaches could be linked together. Then an extra 20m coach at both ends of each 3 car, 60m train. While a five car, 100m train would seem too long for 50m, inadequate BC stations, a walkthrough train makes it a possibility. That and Selective_door_operation makes a 5 car train quite possible. 

It is very sad that the backward BC mentality never properly envisioned a 10 car train to provide a high capacity link between the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal, Bridgeport_station & the YVR-Airport_station, Downtown_Vancouver, Park_Royal_Exchange and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. Only a properly functioning metropolitan region can do something like that. The Greater Vancouver Region just isn't at that level yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-train

"The operation of the Central Circle is similar to the S-Train systems in Germany and other countries."




"The line is operated by 33 Siemens ES2G Lastochka trains..."
Russians aren't afraid to use good German technology.
I wish that they would allow some of that German tech in BC but BC still strives to maintain and keep things at a smaller scale. 

The Moscow Circle Line is a much more recent development than the one in London. 

"Since the beginning, platforms have been at least 155 metres (509 ft) long to accommodate eight-car trains. The only exceptions are on the Filyovskaya Line: Vystavochnaya, Mezhdunarodnaya, Studencheskaya, Kutuzovskaya, Fili, Bagrationovskaya, Filyovsky Park and Pionerskaya, which only allows six-car trains..."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Metro#Rolling_stock 

There is suppose to be secret deeper level subway around Moscow.

Of course when severe flooding occurs, the subways are among the first things to be affected.




How in the hell is the 3rd SkyTrain line constructed to have such small stations, in-spite of increasing future demand? 


No city has spent billions of dollars just to have 2 car trains, except Vancouver & Richmond.

Apparently, the 50 m platforms are only long enough to accommodate 2.5 car trains as capacity demand increases. http://www.railforthevalley.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Canada-Rail-213-e14082980653651.jpg

Sure, in the early years, Montreal could run a little 3 car train, but their Metro stations were designed to accommodate a 9 car train during the very busy times & 6 car trains for intermediate demand. 

So the BC inept planning process never allowed for a future demand of at least 152.5 m or 500 foot long stations & platforms. Instead, they designed the max potential to be only 50m or 164 feet. That's pathetic & only adds to the deliberate bottleneck planning approach that backwards BC aspires to. 


As long as a line above ground & especially underground, has level sections of 500, 600 or 700 feet, then full length stations can be constructed.
When BC planers only allowed for a 50m or 164 foot level section for each Catheter Line, 




If a system starts out with little trains but has designed the ability to triple or quadruple the length of the station platforms, then its just a matter of building that future extension right from the start or at some point later on. 

Chicago & BART can still run ridiculous 4 car trains but the capacity to run 10 car trains was built in right from the start.

SYDNEY and its metro
Not only does Sydney have much longer trains & platforms, they are double level trains! Its like BC has made sure that it must never match the capacity that NSW & New_England has allowed for.

TOP 10 of the most beautiful trains in Japan

V-BC strives to perpetually be one of the most stunted or underbuilt major cities on the planet. 




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Thursday, April 24, 2025

The Canada (embarrassment) Line

Using the limited funds and low capacity argument is excrement! It's only because of inept urban planning that the Canada+Line is such a transportation embarrassment & sad joke since 2009. Several other cities around the world are able to think big, they plan & build in a long-term way. Thus, if there are only enough funds to build a 2.5 car train, the stations could have been designed to eventually accomodate 5 car trains as demand increases. Plus, all the stations should have been designed with enough clearance to gradually be long enough for 10 car trains.

https://www.translink.ca/-/media/translink/documents/plans-and-projects/regional-transportation-strategy/transport-2050/backgrounders/transport_2050_backgrounder_action_2_rapid_transit_network.pdf

An ultimate capacity of 10 car trains connecting both ferry terminals with the airport & downtown Vancouver, would really have been properly planning for the future. 10 car trains running every 2 minutes during the busiest times of the day would efficiently allow a lot people to get around. Unfortunatly, it will be challenging enough just to eventually have 5 car trains.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-skytrain

The absurdity to design the stations to only handle 2.5 car trains is a sad joke. The ultimate capacity of two 20m cars with a 10m filler car is so inadequate & pathetic, but this is the BC part of Canada. This backwards & backwater thinking must be challenged. 

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-future-station-locations

With some modifications, three 20m cars could form a 60m train, despite the absurd platforms only having a clearance for 50m. A 60m walkthrough train makes this possible, its just that the doors at either end wouldn't reach the short station platform. Selective_door_operation could enable the Canada Line to go from a 2 car & 2.5 car joke, to a 3 car & ultimately, a 5 car train. That's still a far cry from cities with 10 car trains running every 2 minutes. However, a 5 car train running every minute could make all the difference for Greater Vancouver.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/what-you-need-to-know-north-shore-wastewater-treatment-plant-1.7235368# Aparently, there is enough money to overpay for a $HIT-PIPE and a $HIT-BOX, but not enough funds to build a proper high capacity train over a couple of decades.  

The Canada_Line opened in 2009 with its short 2 car trains & in 2025, there still aren't any 2.5 car trains. By now, it really should have been running 5 car trains, connecting the 2 ferry terminals & the airport. Fortunately, most real cities are able to do proper long range planning for their infrastructure, unlike backwards Vancouver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyTrain_(Vancouver)_rolling_stock#Canada_Line_fleet 

Any serious airport+train should be envisioned as more than just a 2 car joke. While a 3 car train might be a little better, a 4 car train should be the minimum. Then, having the stations already long enough to accomodate 6 car trains, with enough clearance for eventually 8-10 car trains. A 2 car joke of a train is almost as bad as the 3 lane Lion Bridge. 

There should have been enough informed people to not only make sure that the C+Line was properly designed, but that the whole Greater Vancouver Region had proper planning measures for future transportation infrastructure capacity. Unfortunatly, backwards BC has been under a multi-generational backwater agenda. 


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada+Line 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=airport+line

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Thursday, December 19, 2024

Capstan Station on YVR-Canada Line in Richmond

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/capstan-canada-line-station-in-richmond-to-open-friday-9984359 Why design the old & new stations to eventually accomodate 8-10 car trains? The Catheter Line wasn't even designed to officially accommodate enough space for 5 car trains. Thus, in accordance with the BC antigrowth mentality or slow growth agenda, the stations were only designed to eventually just have 2.5 car trains. However, even in 2025, the Catheter Line will still only be using 2 car trains. All the SkyTrain stations should have been designed to eventually be 150.5 meters long, just like the Montreal Metro stations, with even more long-term provisions. Unfortunatly, the first 2 lines only have 80m stations & the C+Line only has a clearance for 50m stations.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-capstan-station-canada-line-opening-date

The Vancouver_City_Centre_station is diagonally across the street from The+Bay+Building+in+Vancouver. However, despite being what is supposed to be a major underground station, its noticeably smaller than the underground train stations in Edmonton & Seattle.

It's been very difficult to get urban planners in BC to properly plan for future transportation demands. The main excuse is governmental budgetary constraints. Even if that's usually the case, at least build half the length of a proper size urban station, with a provision to eventually double or triple its length, for future demand. However, that would go against the Greater Vancouver congestion planning mentality. Thus, even if you have the skills, once you get to BC, you realize that several things are watered down & you must think small or backwards.

 https://bc.ctvnews.ca/video/c3050886-metro-vancouver-facing-population-boom With the Metro-Vancouver-population-expected-to-reach-4-million-by-2045, BC is so unprepared & inept, as usual. https://www.kelownacapnews.com/news/metro-vancouver-expected-to-push-past-4-million-by-2045-as-growth-accelerates-7717888

There seems to be an outright refusal in the Metro Vancouver Region to avoid building up to the same level of infrastructure as when Greater Toronto, Greater Montreal, Greater Seattle, Greater Sydney, Greater Melbourn & the SF Bay Area, all exceeded 4 million people.

Going into 2025, the SkyTran will still only have 2-4 car trains, not counting the old Mark 1 rolling stock. By 2025, every SkyTrain should have consisted of 6-8 car trains, not the two-car & four car congested joke that it is. 

There is no valid reason as to why the Greater_Vancouver Region can't eventually have an urban train system on par with the Montreal Metro & a regional train system that's as good & frequent as the GO Trains or the Caltrain.

The refusal to build proper bus & truck bridges to help the mostly narrow bridges, still seems to be a half-assed pipedream. Yet, the GV Region pretends that it will eventually have a good Rapid Bus Network without bus-bridges.

While the GV Region is supposed to be a major seaport, there is still a false_front approach to things. How can this false-front & half-ass approach still be the norm in backwater BC? Not only should all the freight-train bridges be at least double tracked, there should also be truck port bridges. 

The Oak_Street_Bridge, Knight_Street_Bridge & the Queensborough_Bridge are all so narrow, there is no room for truck & bus lanes. Therefore, a truck & bus bridge should be built next to all of them. Otherwise, everything can just continue to be funneled into only 2 lanes each way.

Of course the Arthur_Laing_Bridge wasn't designed to have 2 bus lanes & 2 truck lanes. Yet, a lot of trucks have to be able to get in & out of YVR. Why have any bus lanes when busses & trucks can all be funneled into only 2 lanes each way? Even though the C-Line doesn't run 24hr a day, the North_Arm_Bridge should have had two 24hr bus lanes & 2 bike lanes & a provision for a middle track. Instead, the narrow North-Arm-Bridge only has 2 tracks & just 1 bike lane.

Fortunately, watered down Greater Vancouver & backwards BC hasn't been able to get most place around the world to adopt such a ridiculously reduced infrastructure approach to things. 

The 3rd line should really be called the YVR-Canada+Line.

Officially, there is no A Line, B Line or C+Line, but that seems OK for backwards BC.  

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Thursday, January 2, 2025

Canada's population and its lacking infrastructure

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2018005-eng.htm

Despite being the 2nd largest nation in overall area, Canada is far off from housing just 1% of the world's population. 

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/corporate-initiatives/levels/population-growth-2014-2027.html 

There aren't enough big cities in the vastness of Canada.

It's strange that Halifax hasn't become a big city like Boston or Montreal. Since the 2020s, a lot more people work from home and there isn't always an industrial base in major urban areas. More people are retiring and like people working from home, might like living in a town of 1000-10,000 people just as easily as a city with over a 1,000,000 people. The point being, that the top 30 towns in Canada could be built up to at least a million people each. Winnipeg has yet to have a million people. Then the top 10 cities could be built up to 5-10 population regions. Greater Montreal has yet to reach the 5 million point and the Greater Toronto Area has yet to reach 10 million people like Greater Chicago or, CHICAGOLAND. The San_Francisco_Bay_Area is getting close to having 10 million people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_municipalities_in_Canada_by_population Vancouver is only the 8th most populated city.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_census_metropolitan_areas_and_agglomerations_in_Canada#List However, the Greater Vancouver Region is still the 3rd largest urban area in Canada. Yet, it's so far behind with the necessary infrastructure. Indeed, When Greater Toronto & Greater Montreal each exceeded the 3 million point, they had longer trains & wider roads. It seems that Vancouver & BC in general, have perpetually opted for a congestive planning approach.

Will Canada's Next Prime Minister be Pierre Poilievre? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dck8eZCpglc

Why is anti-immigration sentiment on the rise in Canada? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txyjmNXcWiU

https://www.norden.org/en/information/population-nordic-region

https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/population-growth-in-the-nordics Whether its Canada or the Nordic_Countries, places with cold winters can accommodate a lot of people. However, without setting up the proper amount of infrastructure first, its utterly foolish.

Canada hasn't kept up with building enough school & hospital facilities, as well as the overall necessary  infrastructure. 

https://www.definitivehc.com/resources/healthcare-insights/top-largest-canadian-hospitals

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_General_Hospital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foothills_Medical_Centre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Hospital_and_Health_Sciences_Centre#Facilities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul's_Hospital_(Vancouver) , https://helpstpauls.com/why-give/new-st-pauls-hospital

https://www.infrastructurebc.com/projects/announced-in-procurement/richmond-hospital-redevelopment-project-phase-2-3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Health#Regional_hospitals 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_Memorial_Hospital

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Columbian_Hospital 

https://www.infrastructurebc.com/projects/projects-under-construction/burnaby-hospital-phase-2-and-bc-cancer-centre-project/


Unlike the Montreal Metro which can accommodate 9 car trains, the strained Skytrain is only running 4 new-car trains & the inept Canada Line only runs 2 car trains. The Skytrain stations should have been designed to gradually accomodate 8-10 car trains. The Montreal Metro was built with 500 foot long or 152.5m stations right from the start. Apparently, to save money, the first 2 Skytrain lines only have 80m stations & the line to Richmond only has 50m stations, not 152.5m like Montreal. 

The inadequate new Pattullo-Bridge was designed to be so narrow that there won't be any emergency lanes. There won't be any bus lanes, even though the Skytrain doesn't run 24 hours. There won't be any truck lanes, despite the region being a major port. Thus, everything is supposed to be funneled into just 2 lanes each way. https://www.pattullobridgereplacement.ca/about/projectoverview Apparently, the bridge can eventually be upgraded, but to only 3 lanes each way. Of course there is no provision for a lower train & truck deck. This is another fine example of backward BC planning. Even if small-thinking NW only wanted 2 lanes each way for cars, there still should have been an extra 2 lanes each way so that there is a dedicated bus lane & a truck lane each way. 

2 lanes were removed from the Burrard Bridge, 1 removed from the Cambie Bridge & 2 lanes removed from the Granville Bridge. Many other cities can actually build bike bridges so they don't have to take away any traffic lanes from their bridges. 

Even the new Highway-99-Tunnel is designed to become just another BC bottleneck. There will only be 3 lanes each way & a bus-lane each way. However, there won't be any truck lanes & no emergency lanes. https://www.highway99tunnel.ca/project-overview-frt Of course there won't be any provision for a train tunnel, because the government doesn't see a good reason to connect the Delta ferry terminal with Richmond & the airport. They never bothered to have a train from Horseshoe Bay to Park Royal & downtown Vancouver either.

So while the Federal Government charges a carbon tax, Greater Vancouver is left with short trains & mostly narrow bridges. It's utterly foolish to not properly upgrade the infrastructure & build a lot of affordable housing, yet encourage a bunch of people to move into a country that hasn't kept up with building more housing stock. I thought that some of the carbon tax would help to properly upgrade the BC infrastructure, because backward BC just can't seem to even catch up to what Calgary & Seattle have. The trains in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary & Seattle are all longer than the short Skytrains. Yet, there is more demand in Vancouver to have longer trains, due to the narrow roads & bridges. Frequent short trains arent enough, there has to be proper big city long trains. 


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Wednesday, July 31, 2024

LRT, Semi-metro and Heavy Rail Rapid Transit...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail#Types , 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail#Comparison_to_other_rail_transit_modes


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premetro 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-metro 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_transit 


Of course when Vancouver & the greater urban region became obsessed with keeping the roads & bridges narrow, it was as if there wasn't a proper concept of having express bus lanes & dedicated rapid bus lanes.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-funding-issues-impacts-traffic-congestion


The 1959 George_Massey_Tunnel should have opened with 3 lanes each way. Plus, 2 wide emergency lanes. Then over the course of its first 2 decades, it could have become a 6 lane crossing with 2 bus & HOV lanes. 

By the 1980s, the inept 4 lane George_Massey_Tunnel should have had a parallel higher & wider bus & HOV tunnel consisting of at least another 4 lanes & at least 2 emergency lanes. Thus making it more capable as an eventual replacement to the old tunnel. Then by around 2000, there should have been a bike, truck & train bridge or tunnel as well. 

A George_Massey_Tunnel#Replacement by 2030? The first phase of this really should have been started by the 1980s. Of course the new tunnel with 8 lanes & 2 bike lanes, won't have 2 truck lanes & there won't be 2 HOV lanes. Plus, in accordance with a perpetual congestive planning mentality, there is no provision for an extension of the Canada Line to Delta.

The new tunnel should not only have had 3 general lanes each way & 1 bus lane each way, there should be 1 truck lane each way as well. Plus, 2 wide emergency lanes which could eventually be repurpose for a north & southbound rapid bus transit corridor. That's because, even if there is ever a YVR-Canada-Line to the ferry terminal, it won't be open 24 hours.

Someday the YVR-Canada-Line should not only have 2.5 car trains, but an actual 5 car train consisting of five, 20m coaches. Selective_door_operation technology would make this possible. Of course it would have simply been much better to have designed all the stations to already be at least 100m, instead of the inept 50m. Unfortunately, backward BC thinking keeps getting in the way.

https://www.richmond-news.com/local-news/province-considering-filling-george-massey-tunnel-with-sand-8777369 Despite the old tunnels height restrictions, a slightly smaller version of the Road_Train could have been ideal for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_train#Trailer_arrangements

Keeping the old tunnel as a freight corridor between Delta & Richmond would be of tremendous benefit. Delta has the Roberts_Bank_Superport & the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal.

Richmond has the Vancouver_International_Airport & the inept Canada_Line. 

Despite budget limits at the time, the Canada_Line should have been designed to eventually have 5 car trains & ultimately, 10 car trains. It should have been envisioned as a high capacity rail link between downtown Vancouver, YVR, Richmond & Delta. With an ultimate connection between the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. 

For some reason Vancouver & BC never seemed to really take off in the 1980s like Calgary, Seattle & Perth. Indeed, while Vancouver seemed to continue on its sleepwalking path after Expo_86, Brisbane really started to boom after its World_Expo_88. 

Unlike SW BC, the Brisbane Airport & seaport are much closer to each other. 

https://upload.wikimedia.org If you are from Brisbane & visiting Vancouver, you will be shocked to see such a short airport train. Being from Vancouver, its difficult to grasp how Brisbane was able to build such nice long trains. This is something to be very proud of, as it can move a lot of people in both directions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Airport_railway_station,_Brisbane This opened in 2001 & Vancouver's inept version had to be ready by 2010 with just 2 car trains. Yet, Brisbane designed their train to be high capacity capable as soon as it open for service. From a backwards BC perspective, it's amazing how Queensland is able to think & function on such a grand scale & to properly allocate the necessary funds. Who knows where so much of the funds went in BC? That's because not enough of it seems to have gone into the infrastructure. 

https:://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_International_Airport#Rapid_transit_(SkyTrain) 

Unfortunately, this is an embarrassment line because, that's not a 4 car train, its only two, 2 car trains on a single track. How can Vancouver ever rank as a proper city & metropolitan area, when the trains are so short & most of the bridges are so narrow?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YVR-Airport_station Why have a double track station allowing for at least 155m - 200m long trains? Do it the backwards BC way with only a single track & a 50m station. This isn't just an example of extreme cost-cutting. Its not properly designing crucial transportation infrastructure for eventual high capacity. Fortunately, most proper big urban areas are able to think & build big right from the start. Case in point is Queensland.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sir+Leo+Hielscher+Bridges,+Queensland,+Australia

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/Gateway_Bridge This 6 lane & then a 12 lane crossing was possible, because Queensland isn't under anything like the backwater BC restrictions. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges This has the potential to still have 4 lanes each way. Plus, 1 bus lane & 1 HOV lane each way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Brisbane , https://www.portbris.com.au , 

https://www.portbris.com.au/portbris-2060

Unlike backwater BC, Queensland is able to properly think, plan, invest & build for the future. Queensland just isn't hindered by anything like the BC Mind Virus (BCMV).


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada+Line This is almost the worlds shortest train, because it only has 2 cars.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=old+and+new+narrow+bridges 

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane+Airport+Railway+Line

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Saturday, January 17, 2026

The Great SkyTrain upgrade (potential)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D2CXdZ_4Ro 

Unfortunatly, the first 2 Skytrain lines were designed to only have 80m stations and trains. The 3rd line to YVR and Richmond was only designed to have 50m stations. In contrast, the Montreal Metro has stations long enough to accomodate 152.4m long trains. Thus, the greatest mistake was to not enable the Skytrain to eventually become a very high capacity train system. Combine that with mostly narrow bridges and roads in Greater Vancouver and you have the epitome of congestive urban planning. 

At least by late 2025 some of the new 5 car trains were out, along with some of the old 6 car little box trains on the 1st line. The 2nd and 3rd lines are still running 2 car joke trains, but that symbolically fits right in with the, KEEP BC SMALL AND BACKWARDS mentality. 

A proper big city long-term plan would have been to allow for 10 car trains, with at least 5-6 car trains at the start when each line opened.

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Wednesday, January 15, 2025

The BC carbon tax and the lack of proper big city infrastructure

The British_Columbia_carbon_tax doesn't seem to have greatly improved the transportation infrastructure for Vancouver, as it's the largest city and urban area in BC. It's very strange that the Greater Vancouver Metropolitan Region is still so far behind with its infrastructure, when compared to several other urban areas around the world. 

https://www.taxpayer.com/newsroom/b.c.-carbon-tax-not-reducing-emissions-as-promised

The first 2 Skytrain lines only have stations that are barely half the length of a Montreal Metro train. Indeed, the Montreal Metro & the Toronto Subway built most of their stations to be 152.5m or 500 ft long, not the 80m & 50m joke that is Skytrain. All of the Skytrain lines should have been designed to eventually accomodate 8-10 car trains. Despite Vancouver & backward BC not taking a big city planning approach, there is a potential remedy, in the form of Selective_door_operation technology. This would allow for the potential of 7 car trains with only the middle 5 cars accessing the short station platforms. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_carbon_tax#Effects

The Canada embarrassment Line was only designed to ultimately just have 2.5 car trains, not 5 & certainly not 8-10 car trains. The first significant challenge would be to adapt the extremely short stations to accommodate 3 car trains. Then again with Selective_door_operation, the middle 3 cars of a 5 car train could access the station. 

https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/content/just-facts-please-true-story-how-bc-s-carbon-tax-working

Most bridges in BC are so narrow that it's almost impossible to have a proper regional express bus network.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/clean-economy/carbon-tax

It's as if somehow not enough funds went towards The+Pattullo+Bridge+replacement. Despite having some good bike lanes & sidewalks on both sides of the bridge, when it opens it will be too narrow to accomodate 2 bus & HOV lanes. Thus, cars, trucks & busses will all have to squeeze into just 2 lanes each way. There didn't even seem to be any proper communication & planning to ensure that there would be 2 emergency lanes. So good luck in trying to get ambulances across what is supposed to be a major regional crossing. There is no provision for a lower deck, which could allow for rapid rail transit & extra truck & bus lanes. Thus, this new PB bridge is one of the best examples of the symbolic resistance in BC to build proper infrastructure that can accommodate future demand.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/sales-taxes/motor-fuel-carbon-tax

The 3 lane Lions+Gate+Bridge just might be the best example of congestive planning in modern human civilization. At least the Benjamin_Franklin_Bridge in Philadelphia has 7 lanes & 2 train tracks. The Sydney_Harbour_Bridge has 8 lanes & 2 train tracks. Homer_M._Hadley_Memorial_Bridge in Seattle is part of an 8 lane crossing with 2 LRT tracks. The 10 lane Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) also has 2 train tracks. The San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge has 10 lanes with 10 car BART trains running under the SF Bay.

https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-carbon-tax-drama/

https://www.pembina.org/pub/bc-carbon-tax

https://cleanenergycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Carbon-Tax-Fact-Sheet.pdf


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Pattullo+Bridge

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Monday, June 19, 2023

Congestive urban planning in backwards BC

Most bridges in Greater Vancouver are so narrow, because there was no provision to have bus and HOV lanes. The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge are 2 classic examples of not constructing additional infrastructure to accommodate bus lanes, HOV lanes and especially, rail rapid transit. That's because such improvements would actually go against the congestive urban planning agenda. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacey_V._Murrow_Memorial_Bridge , https://www.historylink.org/file/21298 A narrow 4 lane BC type bridge was upgraded to an 8 lane crossing, plus 2 LRT tracks for WA. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrows_Bridge_(Perth) From a basic bridge to a nice 10 lane crossing with 2 train tracks for WA. https://structurae.net/en/structures/narrows-bridge Its great that the horrible backwards Vancouver mentality never made it to Perth. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-13/perth-narrows-bridge-60-years-since-construction/11697812 Unfortunately, Vancouver & BC have done their damndest to prevent a similar nice, wide crossing, which also includes 6_car_trains. While backwards Vancouver & BC didn't want to build wider infrastructure simply to accomodate more drivers, the funds didn't seem to go towards a regional rapid bus or at least an express bus & HOV network with its own set of bridges. The SkyTrain should have been designed with a provision to eventually have stations at least as long as those on the Montreal Metro, which can accomodate 9 car trains on a 500 ft platform or 152.5 m. https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Place:Constructing_Narrows_Bridges  

The old Champlain_Bridge_in Montreal just had 3 lanes each way & no provision for a train. Where as the new Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge provides 4 lanes each way & has 2 REM train tracks. https://www.samueldechamplainbridge.ca Fortunately, Montreal, like Seattle & Perth was able to have a nice wide bridge with 2 train tracks in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel-De_Champlain_Bridge#Construction_method 

Montreal, Seattle & Perth are allowed to exist on a larger scale than backwards Vancouver, because they don't have the same imposed restrictions. Urban Quebec and urban WA are able to do so much more, because they aren't hindered by anything like the backwards BC mentality. 

Risk assessment model of bottlenecks for urban expressways using survival analysis approach https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235214651730474X 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bunbury+WA+6230,+Australia/@-33.3399232,115.6694676,430a,35y,44.83t/data=!3m1!1e3!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x2a39279b2423314b:0x500f638247a10a0!2sVancouver+Peninsula+WA+6330,+Australia!3b1!8m2!3d-35.0599149!4d117.9307564!16s%2Fg%2F11fmh3xt4l!3m5!1s0x2a2e1d48f5a47b23:0x500f638247a1470!8m2!3d-33.3270366!4d115.6408605!16zL20vMDEycTcx?entry=ttu


https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Perth+and+Seattle

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=urban

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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Urban Tech Links .:. UTL

UTL - Personal observations of the urban world from a backwards Vancouver and backwater BC perspective. Indeed, it's always amazing to see what so many other cities can do, simply because they don't have anything like a Vancouver, Victoria & BC mentality to hold them back.

The Greater_Tokyo_Area is the most populated urban region on the planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_area#Largest_urban_areas ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_area
https://wikimedia.org/Sand_Island_and_Honolulu.jpg Honolulu hasn't permitted any buildings to be as tall as what is in Miami, LA or SF. Indeed, Honolulu, has avoided having a Singapore or especially a HK size skyline. So far, no building has been allowed to be as tall as the Custom_House_Tower in Boston or the Smith_Tower in Seattle. Indeed, no buildings are even allowed to be as tall as the Los_Angeles_City_Hall at 453 feet or 138m.
https://wikimedia.org/Perth_airport.JPG No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall as the 2 tallest in Perth & Calgary.
Honolulu and 
Perth, WA are in such nice climate zones. They are a couple of the most isolated major cities on the planet. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honolulu#Transportation , 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth#Transport
In some ways, Australia has been able to surpass Canada, despite it having a smaller land area & less population than Canada. Unlike Montreal & especially Vancouver, Perth & especially Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane, have allowed several taller buildings than what is allowed in Montreal & Vancouver. 
However, Honolulu's_tallest_buildings still haven't been permitted to even be as tall as the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex in Cairo, Egypt. 

Urban Tech Links is a basic blog about referencing tall buildings & urban technology in various cities in general. Thus, it's mostly just a list of various urban and tech links. It's also about comparing various cities & infrastructure.
Some cities like to have narrow bridges, short trains & small buildings, like Vancouver, while many others cities reach for the sky. 
There is a point when a lot of major cities start to permit buildings to be taller than the 2 tallest pyramids in Egypt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids 
Paris & London, NYC & Chicago, Tokyo & Seoul...  

www.infrastructurebc.com

The BC part of Canada has tried to keep its infrastructure as small as possible for as long as possible.
It wasn't until the 1970s when strict & stubborn Vancouver started to allow for some buildings to be almost as tall as the 2 tallest Egyptian pyramids. https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=105524651&offset=50 

1973 Royal_Centre_(Vancouver) not quite as tall as .:.
1977 Harbour_Centre not counting the flagpole, its still shorter than the original height of the tallest Egyptian pyramid.
2001 One_Wall_Centre, not including its spire, was the first building in Vancouver & BC to be taller than the tallest pyramid in Egypt. 

For most of Vancouver's history, the city refused to permit any building to be taller than the pyramid on top of the 496' Custom_House_Tower in Boston, the 462' Smith_Tower in Seattle, the 453' Los_Angeles_City_Hall. Of course today they are all just like stumps. 481' and 471' are the original heights of the 2 tallest in the Giza_pyramid_complex.
https://wikimedia.org/Pyramids_of_the_Giza_Necropolis.jpg
https://wikimedia.org/Kheops-Pyramid.jpg
"Initially standing at 146.6 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the world's tallest human-made structure for more than 3,800 years. Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid's height to the current 138.5 metres (454.4 ft)" 
HeightOriginal: 146.6 m (481 ft) or 280 cubits
Current: 138.5 m (454 ft)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza 
HeightCurrently: 136.4 metres (448 ft)
Original: 143.5 m (471 ft; 274 cu)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Khafre

"The 1997 study noted that the opportunities for buildings significantly exceeding existing permitted heights were limited. There were a total of five sites where buildings exceeding the 450 foot height limit are possible and two sites in the northwest corner of the Central Business District where heights up to 400 feet (exceeding the 300 foot limit) could be considered." https://council.vancouver.ca/20030515/pe2.htm

Indeed, it's tough to believe that for the longest time, any building in the BC part of Canada had to be considerably shorter than the Washington_Monument in DC or the Philadelphia_City_Hall.

Then Vancouver wouldn't permit any building to be as tall as the Cairo_Tower. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Tower "At 187 m (614 ft), it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998..."
2016 was when a Hotel-Condo was allowed to be slightly taller than the Cairo-Tower. 

The Cairo_Flagpole is the world's tallest flagpole, at 201.952 m (662 ft 7 in) tall. No building in Vancouver is allowed to be as tall.
The Living_Shangri-La tower is close, but not quite.
Of course Vancouver, BC & even Canada can't stop Egypt from building big & tall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Egypt#Tallest_structures
{The origin of Al-Qahirah is said to come from the appearance of the planet Mars during the foundation of the City of Cairo. The planet Mars, which in Greek was called Ares, was associated with ruin or destruction and was called Al Najm Al Qahir in Arabic. Al Najm Al Qahir is transliterated as "the destroyer star [planet]".} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo#Etymology


https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cairo-washington-dc Washinton, DC made sure that going into the 20th century, it was going to have mostly low rise buildings like Paris & London or Berlin. However, the Greater Paris Region would eventually allow some tall buildings in certain areas. London even moreso. Yet, Greater London & Metropolitan Paris, certainly have allowed some tall buildings. 

Vancouver has been under a multigenerational set of restrictions as well as a small thinking & planning agenda. Part of this might be attributed to a backwater BC mentality. However, some parts of Greater Vancouver are allowed to build on a grander scale.

Edmonton, Seattle, Portland & eventually Calgary will all have underground train stations longer than what's in Vancouver. Yet, Vancouver could have really benefited from having proper big city long stations. Most of the regions bridges are so narrow that its difficult to have a proper bus lane & HOV lane system. But Vancouver & BC are all about inefficiency. Things might eventually improve if enough people someday start to see the growing gap between what most cities allow vs. stubborn Vancouver.

https://metropolisfilm.fandom.com/wiki/Joh_Frederson

Alphaville is one of the best cautionary stories about the AI run, totalitarian smart-city scenario. 

THX_1138 is the quintessential movie about AI & machines running an underground totalitarian city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138#Plot

Logan's_Run is another interesting totalitarian smart-city movie. 

Blade_Runner is one of the best urban Sci-Fi movies ever made.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner#Plot

Jacque_Fresco is one of many people throughout history with their own perspectives on civilization. https://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/jacque-fresco-prediction-tech-future07-cx_1015fresco.html?sh=4107813c607f Some interesting ideas, but perhaps with a utopian angle.


http://www.city-data.com/forum/religion-spirituality/845605-humans-originate-mars.html,
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/marte/esp_marte_14.htm,
http://mars-earth.com/earthpage.htm

http://fusionanomaly.net/orion.html, http://fusionanomaly.net/bladerunner.html,
http://vigilantcitizen.com/hidden-knowledge/connection-between-sirius-and-human-history

More about, UDL: https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=urban

https://www.polygon.com/gaming/2012/9/11/3318910/nasa-scientist-believes-we-could-all-be-in-a-video-game
Civilization_(computer_game)


The Universe seems to be a vast Multi-channel of space & time that originated from a central point of energy. But what or who started this Big_Bang of cosmic information? Its like a cosmic projection program running inside an immense planetarium. The energy of nature or part of a creators plan. Thus either nature or a conscious creator has set up a cosmic matrix of space & time. Humans are just beginning to try to understand how an intelligent force of creation set this all up. Computer models factor into the study of reality & VR helps to illustrate different phases & parts of the universe.
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The Hundredth_monkey_effect isn't supposed to be true, but in backwards Vancouver & backwater BC, it does seem to be happening. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_monkey_effect#History
Almost everything in Vancouver is like a watered down knockoff. So many people from different backgrounds keep wanting to hold Vancouver back. The NO FUN CITY mentality keeps emerging, but that's just part of the phenomenon.


This reference blog is of a non profit nature.  


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