Saturday, January 24, 2026
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
SkyTrain's Canada Line service disruption
(service disruption ends after 14 hours) https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-service-disruptions-january-14-2026
For a rapid transit line that opened in 2009, on the surface, it sure wasn't designed to be an efficient high capacity line for the future. It's still just a 2 car joke of a train. Fortunately, most real cities around the world planned for not only 6 car trains, but even 8-10 car trains.
Unfortunatly, Vancouver has been hit very hard with a multigenerational agenda of continually imposed small scale infrastructure. Vancouver has water on 3 sides, as its on a peninsula. Since the powers that be couldn't build a Boundary+Road moat or trench, the next best thing was to symbolically show the reluctance to build proper big city size infrastructure. This stunted approach to things is about symbolically holding the scale of the city back for as long as possible.
Despite backwards Vancouver not being able to apply a castle-moat-and-drawbridge control system, the next best thing was to symbolically keep things smaller than what normal or proper big cities allow.
Here are some of the best examples of holding the size of things back. The 3 lane joke that is the Lions+Gate+Bridge has never had a rapid transit rail tunnel and no express bus tunnel next to it. Especially, no 6 lane highway tunnel. It's a classic BC bottleneck-chokepoint, by design.
From a 3 lane joke of a bridge to a two car Canada+Line joke of a train. It met the symbolic requirement to be shorter than the LRT in Edmonton, the C Train in Calgary and the trains in Seattle and Portland.
The+Post+building+complex could have been Vancouver's first 50 story office tower, it's not even 25 floors. It would be impressive if it were in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops or Prince George. That's the unfortunate thing about Vancouver, so much is done to only be impressive to small cities or towns.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+small+Westin+Bayshore+Hotel+in+Vancouver
Things have been kept so small in Vancouver throughout its history, that any big city stuff might seem overwhelming. There has been an unofficial KEEP THEM OUT mentality, but since the city cant have checkpoints, building things small symbolically demonstrates the perpetual reluctance to not allow a big city in backwater BC.
Since Vancouver can't control Burnaby and can't stop Surrey from eventually becoming the biggest city in BC, they are able to build things on a larger scale than Vancouver.
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
London Drugs closing its Woodward’s location, citing safety and operational issues
https://globalnews.ca/news/11602959/london-drugs-closing-woodwards-location-safety-issues/
While Kelowna is gradually fitting into its role as the 3rd largest urban area in BC, Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria need to function more like properly growing metropolitan areas.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11602086/victoria-store-owner-frustrated-911-services-hung-up-on/
Giving up and letting crime take over is foolish. An effective effort needs to go towards dealing with the various urban social issues.
Friday, October 10, 2025
Tron: Ares in little backwards Vancouver
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tron-ares-review-9.6933888
Unfortunatly, using special effects is the only way to make Vancouver, BC look like its a proper big city.
No bridge within the small city limits of Vancouver has been allowed to be as big or wide as the biggest in Perth, Seattle, Portland, Edmonton & Glasgow...
The Skytrain stations are shorter than train stations in Perth, Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton...
No office tower in Vancouver has been permitted to have a 40th floor. Of course, Perth, Seattle, Portland and Calgary have office towers over 40 stories.
https://hollywoodnorthbuzz.com/2025/10/tron-ares-vancouver-as-real-life-grid.html
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-landmarks-tron-ares-trailer
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/new-tron-ares-movie-trailer-features-vancouver-sci-fi-setting-10488343 Vancouver is so smallscale, but awesome? Perhaps when compared to Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, it is.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
501-595 West Georgia Street in Vancouver
https://henriquezpartners.com/projects/501-595-w-georgia_388-abbott
For several decades, Vancouver was only allowed to have tall buildings that were impressive by Victoria-Kelowna-Kamloops-Prince+George standards.
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=1&status=15 V
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?stateID=1&status=15 BC
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?countryID=1&status=15 Can
Friday, May 23, 2025
UBC tower in Kelowna, BC
https://ok.ubc.ca/about/ubco-downtown , https://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=147739
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?cityID=48&status=15
https://ok.ubc.ca/about/ubco-downtown/why-ubco-downtown/
https://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/news/article_2957e4e0-d7f1-11ee-84d4-fb12b9ae9269.html
There should be a UBC tower in or around Vancouver that's at least 65 stories.
https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?stateID=1&status=15
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
YVR receives unique accolade among the world's best airports
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/yvr-worlds-best-airports-accessibility
Unfortunatly, the YVR-Airport_station has one of the shortest & narrowest stations of any major airport.
In true lack of a big vision for BC, the YVR-Airport_station_Platform is so narrow & short that only 1 train at a time can stop on the very short single track station. While such small-scale train infrastructure would be impressive for Victoria, Kelowna, Prince George & Kamloops, it's hardly impressive to Seattle, WA and Perth, WA.
https://www.yvr.ca/en/passengers/transportation/public-transportation
https://thecanadaline.com/station-guides/yvr-airport/
https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/station/yvr-airport/schedule
Being from backwards BC, it's amazing to see how several major airports will have at least a double track airport train station. The Portland_Airport_MAX_station is another one of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Airport_station , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAX_Red_Line
Ideally, the+airport+train should be more than a 2 car joke. Even 4 car trains should be able to stop at stations with enough future clearance to accomodate 6 car trains.
Monday, May 12, 2025
Mountains cover 75 per cent of British Columbia
https://www.welcomebc.ca/choose-b-c/explore-british-columbia/geography-of-b-c
Yet, somehow if Vancouver was allowed to have real big city tall buildings, the mountains of BC would be blocked out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia
The stumpy building limits are part of the agenda to keep BC small.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/geography-of-british-columbia
The Greater Vancouver region & lower mainland is the only part of backwater BC that has a few million people.
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-10-highest-mountains-in-british-columbia.html
Greater Victoria & Nanaimo are far from having a million people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia#Mountains_and_mountain_ranges
Even Kelowna, Penticton & Vernon are nowhere near half a million residents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia#Western_System
https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Columbia
Switzerland can fit into BC almost 24 times, yet BC doesnt have the population of one CH.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
After 10 years, East Broadway Safeway redevelopment proposal finally faces Vancouver City Council decision
The KEEP IT SMALL, BECAUSE ITS VANCOUVER mentality has held this back for a decade. Despite being a major regional SkyTrain intersection, various people are determined to have stunted buildings that might be impressive by Kelowna or Victoria standards. Ideally, the most vocal people would like the scale to not even rival that of what's in Kamloops & Prince George. These very expressive people are too afraid to allow Brentwood or even Oakridge size towers.
Monday, March 17, 2025
Some gas, hydro or electric company office towers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_Company_Tower It has 52-stories, at 749 ft (228.3 m).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Gas_%26_Electric_Building It has 34 stories, at 150 m (490 ft).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Power_and_Light_Building
I wish that the old BC_Electric_Building had at least 44 stories, but it only has 22 floors.
Even today, it would be a big building if it were in Victoria-Prince+George-or-Kamloops.
BC_Hydro never got very tall buildings constructed.
https://karen-magill.blogspot.com/search?q=The+BC+Hydro+building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Hydro#History
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-hydro-rates-increase-2025
https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/province-launches-bc-hydro-review-8253022
Vancouver is stuck in a multigenerational trap of overlapping restrictions, which prevent it from reaching the scale of what Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-SF-Boston-and-Toronto permit. As long as Vancouver can do things that are impressive by Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops standards, that's good enough, apparently.
Monday, March 3, 2025
Kelowna, BC, Canada
Kelowna and the Okanagan+Valley+Region not only should continue to be the 3rd largest urban area in BC, but really start to rise above its backwater scale.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops
Kelowna-Victoria-Prince George-Kamloops
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Park Board backs 50-metre pool for new Vancouver Aquatic Centre after outcry over proposed small replacement
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-aquatic-centre-new-50-metre-pool-feasibility-decision
Vancouver needs to build things that aren't just impressive by Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna standards.
Nevermind Seattle, strict Vancouver, BC will have less tall buildings than Bellevue.
As of 2025, Vancouver, BC only has 2 buildings taller than what's in Bellevue,_Washington. Eventually, Bellevue will have at least 5 building that are at 600 feet, while Vancouver will only still have two buildings over 600 feet.
Nevermind Toronto, Vancouver must have no building that would rival the tallest in Mississauga and Vaughan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Canada#Under_construction
Since BC was never able to build a wall or create a forcefield around it, the next best thing was to continually water everything down as much as possible. Thus, the symbolism to have short trains, mostly narrow bridges & short buildings, is all part of not properly planning for growth.
Singapore and Sydney don't have this problem, as they don't have to contend with anything like Vancouver's type of restrictions.
Toronto is a big city like Chicago. Montreal has restrictions, but not as extreme as Vancouver. Unfortunatly, Montreal has yet to become a big city on the scale of Melbourne, let alone Paris or NYC.
Monday, January 27, 2025
Kelowna bridge reopens
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kelowna-bennett-bridge-closure-1.7442622
This is why it's a good idea to have another bridge in the region.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10979322/william-bennett-bridge-closed-police-incident/
Friday, January 24, 2025
View cone changes enable 26-storey West End social housing tower
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1111-broughton-street-vancouver-social-housing-tower
There has been a muntigerational fear and cultivation to use the local mountains_of_British_Columbia as an excuse to keep Vancouver thwarted & backwards. Yet, most of BC is a mountainous wilderness. Indeed, there are only a handful of cities or urban areas in BC to flourish and thrive. Greater Vancouver & Greater Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops and Prince Rupert.
Kelowna, Vernon & Penticton are set to be the largest urban region between Vancouver & Calgary.
https://www.hellobc.com/travel-ideas/mountains , https://peakvisor.com/adm/british-columbia.html
Montreal & Toronto are specks when compared to the wilderness ladndmasses of Quebec & Ontario. NYC & Chicago have hardy overtaken NY State & Illinois. Greater Seattle takes up a small part of Washington State. Calgary & Edmonton are small areas within the Albertan landmass.
Yet somehow, if Greater Vancouver was allowed to become a proper metropolis, it would overwhelm BC. An area where Switzerland can fit into 23 times. Yet, BC has yet to reach the population of 1 Ch. Canada is nowhere close to containing 1% of the worlds population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops
or
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Victoria-Kelowna-Kamloops-Prince+George
Friday, December 13, 2024
Main Cities in BC, Canada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia#Cities
Despite the BC part of Canada being big enough to contain Switzerland some 23 times over, BC has yet to reach the population of just one CH.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_in_British_Columbia#Metropolitan_areas
So much urban infrastructure in BC hasn't been designed for future higher capacity demands.
https://www.nsnews.com/real-estate/bc-cities-turning-to-ai-to-speed-up-housing-approvals-9949325
With so many narrow bridges, there should have been several bus & bike bridges built to augment them. Of course Vancouver would opt to have shorter underground train stations than what Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton & Seattle have. Short stations means short trains, which means less capacity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Fraser%E2%80%93Fort_George
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Central_Okanagan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penticton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Okanagan-Similkameen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamloops
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson-Nicola_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowichan_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtenay,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comox_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._John,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_River_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Coast_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Kitimat%E2%80
The removal of some Broadway Plan tower height limits
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/broadway-plan-amendments-vancouver-december-2024-approved
Most of BC is a mountainous wilderness that will likely always remain unpopulated. While there are dozens of cities_in_British_Columbia, there are only a few key regions for major population areas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_George,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Fraser%E2%80%93Fort_George
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Central_Okanagan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penticton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Okanagan-Similkameen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamloops
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson-Nicola_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Nanaimo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowichan_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtenay,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comox_Valley_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._John,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_River_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert,_British_Columbia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Coast_Regional_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_District_of_Kitimat%E2%80%93Stikine
Thursday, November 21, 2024
How the City of Vancouver will pay for its 2026 FIFA World Cup costs
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/fifa-world-cup-vancouver-hotel-tax-costs
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/bus-network-improvements.aspx With so many narrow streets, its difficult to have a proper network of bus-lanes, especially on the bridges.
https://visionzerovancouver.ca/2024/07/10/take-action-add-bus-lanes-to-translinks-priority-routes Unfortunatly, most of the bridges in the Greater Vancouver Region are just too narrow. There was no logic to have enough extra width for future bus-lanes and HOV lanes.
https://www.biv.com/news/transportation/vancouver-new-dedicated-bus-lanes-translink-2024-9267523
Unless there is a regional network of new bus-bridges, Greater Vancouver will remain in a bottleneck or chokepoint nightmare. Stuck with only a half-assed express or BRT attempt. I suppose that would be impressive to Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops (K-V-PG-K) standards. Unfortunatly, those aren't big league cities.
Of course the 3rd line, or the YVR-Canada-Line or the Canada (embarrassment) Line, still hasn't been expanded up to a 2.5 car train, let alone having 5 car trains. Right from the start, the trains should have consisted of at least three, 20m coaches, with a provision for 6 car trains. Apparently, because of budget cuts, the station platforms weren't built to be 60-100m long in the first phase, they are only a 50m joke.
The stations could have been roughed out to initially accomodate 3-4 car trains and eventually, 8 car trains. 8 x 20m= 160m. The Montreal Metro stations were built to accommodate a 152.5m train. Fortunately, Quebec doesn't have anything like a backward BC planning mentality to hinder it.
The YVR-Canada (embarrassment) Line doesn't have to be stuck as a symbolic example to not properly plan & build for longer trains in BC. This 3rd Metro-Vancouver rapid transit line doesn't have to be stuck with a 2.5 car train buildout. The incredibly short stations should be extended to 60m, which could accomodate a proper 3 car, walkthrough train. Then, with Selective_Door_Operation Technology, a 3 car train can become a 5 car train of 100m. Then, only the middle 3 cars would directly have access to the YVR-Canada-Line station platforms.
Unfortunatly, due to the shortsighted planning mentality that is Vancouver & BC, the underground stations don't have enough level clearance to be lengthened to 152.5m or 500 feet, like the Montreal Metro stations, which can accomodate nine, 55 foot cars. At least a 5 car, 100m or 328 foot train is still possible in short-minded Vancouver.
For some strange reason, the YVR Canada+Line wasn't designed to eventually provide a link beyond the Vancouver_International_Airport to Waterfront_station. Indeed, a 2nd phase of the inadequate line should have connected Waterfront_station with the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. Then the 3rd phase to connect the YVR-Airport_station with the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal.
#/media/File:Vancouver_064.jpg){kind=link}
Like the Catheter Line, the George_Messey_Tunnel was designed to be inadequate, right from the start.
The George_Massey_Tunnel should have had at least 2 wide emergency lanes for future truck or HOV lanes. Plus, there should have been another tunnel section to accommodate a future express or rapid bus corridor & 2 tracks for a light rail train. Instead, cars, busses & trucks were all funneled into a 4 lane chokepoint. Ironically, over the past few decades, a bus & train tunnel or bridge should have been built, at least.
Express Bus lanes or Rapid Bus lanes vs. HOV & Truck lanes. Any bus lane has the potential to move many more people than any HOV lane. Any major port city & metropolitan area should have a truck lane as well as a bus lane. Thus any HOV lane would be more efficient in bussing people & trucking payloads.
Of course the new George_Massey_Tunnel still won't have a provision for a train section. No emergency lanes, but 2 bus lanes in addition to only 3 general lanes each way. Once again, backward BC gets its wrong. Greater Vancouver is suppose to be a major seaport. Unfortunatly, the new tunnel will only have 4 lanes each way & no HOV or emergency lanes, of course.
Even if there are only 3 general lanes each way, there should have been a provision for a truck lane in addition to a bus lane each way. That would be at least 5 lanes each way, but no emergency lanes & still no provision for 2 train tracks either.
Thus, the new tunnel will eventually have to have a bus & train bridge or tunnel next to it. That would allow the tunnel to have 3 general lanes each way & 1 HOV lane each way. A rapid bus & rail corridor would ensure 24 hour high capacity transit, even when the YVR-Canada-Line is shutdown overnight.
Unfortunatly, none of the 80m & 50m SkyTrain stations were designed to have 4 tracks. That would have allowed for a proper express & local train system. The BC mentality seems to be about keeping the trains as well as the roads inadequate to meet future high transportation demands.
The LG Bridge in Vancouver should have had bus, HOV & train tunnels near it decades ago. Surrey_and_Richmond also should have had proper bus, HOV & train tunnels, decades ago.
Why have 3 sets of tracks like the O'Hare_station in Chicago? Or, have at least have 2 tracks like at the SeaTac/Airport_station. The small-scale YVR-Airport_station just has a single track to make congestion more likely. The Vancouver_International_Airport should have had at least 4 long runways by now.
The multigenerational backwater BC mentality is a combination of overlapping restrictions and a, keep it small or backwards agenda. Why plan and build like a big city, when Vancouver can mostly do things that are only impressive to smaller places like, Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-and-Kamloops?
Short trains, mostly stumpy buildings and mostly narrow bridges, provides powerful symbolism for the antigrowth agenda. Building up proper size infrastructure is the opposite.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
The goal to build one of Metro Vancouver's new tallest buildings
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/citizen-tower-anthem-properties-burnaby-metrotown-ipo
Unlike Calgary and Seattle, Vancouver won't permit any residential building to be this tall within its strictly controlled city limits. Fortunately, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey will allow taller buildings.
https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/vancouver-developer-seeks-to-raise-82m-for-metrotown-project-via-ipo-9508936 This is Business Outside of Vancouver.
https://storeys.com/anthem-properties-burnaby-66-storey-citizen-metro-king-metrotown This is like an average semi-tall building in Toronto and the GTA.
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/real-estate/two-more-towers-up-to-80-storeys-tall-more-rental-housing-could-be-coming-to-burnabys-brentwood-8461795 There has been an unwretten ruel in Greater Vancouver for several decades. As long as something is impressive by PG, Kamloops, Kelowna & especially Victoria standards, that's good enough for backwater BC.
https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/burnaby-councillor-opposes-plan-for-80-storey-tower-in-burnaby-5509305 No buildings taller than 40 stories & no roads wider than 4 lanes is very symbolic of the, KEEP IT SMALL mentality of BC. Even the newer SkyTran cars still only form 4 car trains. The Canada Line only has 2 car trains.
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?p=9875630 When the scale of things in BC have been kept back for several decades, its difficult for some people to fathom an attempt to have a taller or larger scale of developments and infrastructure.
Even the mountains just north of LA are allowed to be taller than those of (Greater_Vancouver).
Monday, October 7, 2024
A-second-okanagan-lake-bridge-for kelowna?
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-conservatives-second-okanagan-lake-bridge-kelowna
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=K-V-PG-K
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Kelowna-Victoria-Prince+George-Kamloops