Urban Tech Links: UTL: Search results for Surrey-Langley SkyTrain

"The lines will begin a five-day service on Jan. 6 (Monday through Friday) and will continue for a minimum of two weeks. Buses through routes B2 (formerly called Line 2 buses), 99 and 97 will run parallel seven days a week in case of any issues." https://ottawa.citynews.ca/2025/01/03/heres-what-to-know-before-o-train-line-2-and-4-launch

This makes a lot of sense & not just because Ottawa is far away from Vancouver & the backwards BC mentality. Trains & people can break down causing a disruption on the tracks. Plus, there is no urban rail or commuter rail line in Canada that's running 24hrs a day. This means that its a good idea to have an express bus route that closely follows each train line 24hrs a day.

Greater Vancouver seems to always be a sleep at the wheel, or just inept with proper urban planning. Once the public was informed that the Skytrain won't be a 24hr system. Therefore, it would be a good idea to have express busses running parallel to each line 24hrs a day.

Unfortunatly, the backward BC planning mentality never allowed for the SkyBridge_linking_NW_and_Surrey_with_SkyTrain to have enough space for 2 bus-lanes, 2 bike-lanes & 2 footpaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skybridge_(TransLink) The bridge has none of that, as if to conform to a BC bottleneck agenda.

The 4 lane Pattullo_Bridge and the 4 lane Queensborough_Bridge were never designed with wide sidewalks & 2 wide emergency lanes. For if they were, then a few decades ago both bridges could have provided 3 lanes each way & have adequate space for bike lanes. A 3rd lane each way would have been great for buses, but that might improve the congestion.

While the new Pattullo_Bridge will actually have wide sidewalks on each side, no serious consideration was given to having 2 bus-lanes, despite the Skytrain not being a 24hr system. So buses, trucks, ambulances & cars will all have to be funneled into only 2 lanes each way. Having 2 bus lanes & 2 wide emergency lanes would actually go against the BC bottleneck mentality.

Even considering budget limitations, the new Pattullo-Bridge should have been designed with a provision for a future lower deck & open with 3 lanes each way & have 2 wide emergency lanes. Apparently, having the Pattullo-Bridge-Replacement with only 2 lanes each way & no emergency lanes somehow will make it easier for emergency vehicles to cross. Of course its the opposite effect, but this is backwards BC.

Surrey, Delta & all of Langley, already have as many people, if not even more people than Ottawa, but the infrastructure is so lacking in BC. Thus, a new 4 lane bridge will be an instant chokepoint between NW & Surrey, Delta & Langley. A 10 lane bridge & a 10 car Skytrain is what a proper urban area of over 3 million people would plan for.

While Vancouver has less people than Ottawa, the BC Lower_Mainland has more people than Calgary, Edmonton & Winnipeg, combined. Thus, its very strange that Vancouver & BC insist on a congestive planning approach.

The 4 lane Queensborough_Bridge in NW has enough space to accommodate a parallel 4 lane bridge. While some backwater BC types might freakout with an 8 lane crossing there, they don't realise that a 4 lane bridge is very limited. Thus, by having two 4 lane bridges, there could be a bus & a truck lane each way as well as 2 general lanes each way. Not having dedicated bus & truck lanes for what is supposed to be a major port is absurd, but its OK for backward BC.

In backwards BC its desired to not have a rail transit component on any of the current road bridges. Indeed, most of the bridges are so narrow that there isn't enough room for either bus lanes or HOV lanes.

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

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

Friday, January 3, 2025

First new generation SkyTrain cars to enter service early 2025

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/new-skytrain-mark-v-cars-entering-service-2025

While a 5 car Mark-V-Skytrain is an improvement, the first 2 lines should have had stations that could eventually accommodate 10 car trains.

https://www.ticorp.ca/projects/surrey-langley-skytrain-project

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/08/15/surrey-langley-skytrain-cost-increase/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-langley-skytrain-costs-1.7295904

https://canada.constructconnect.com/joc/news/infrastructure/2024/09/contracts-in-place-for-6b-surrey-langley-skytrain-project

https://www.infrastructurebc.com/projects/projects-under-construction/surrey-langley-skytrain-project-sls-project-3

https://globalnews.ca/news/10702469/surrey-langley-skytrain-delay-cost-reaction So many cities are able to have LRT as well as subway & elevated trains. Greater Vancouver should have never gotten rid of its streetcars & tram-trains.

The 3rd line should have been designed to eventually accommodate 8-10 car trains. Its not even designed to have 5 car trains, it was only designed to ultimately have 2.5 car trains.

https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Selective+Door+Operation

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

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Surrey-Langley SkyTrain construction cost balloons by 50%

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-new-cost-opening-date

This should have been started decades ago, but BC always has to be behind schedule.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

surrey-langley-skytrain-station-designs-renderings-concepts

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-langley-skytrain-station-designs-renderings-concepts

Thursday, June 6, 2024

The median strip of a highway with a train line

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_strip#Railway_use

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Transperth_B-series_train_on_the_Mandurah_Line_in_Como%2C_Western_Australia%2C_March_2022_05.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Mitchell_Freeway_112_N_Gwelup_Karrinyup_Rd.jpg

An 8 lane section of freeway, but with 2 sets of tracks in the middle. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Mitchell_Freeway_147_N_Walter_morning_peak.jpg Once again, Perth, WA gets it right and BC gets it wrong.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/fraser-valley-highway1 Instead of building an 8-10 lane freeway with at least 2 tracks in the middle, BC takes the half-assed approach, again.

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/05/23/langley-hwy-1-summer-expansion Just like not desiging the Canada Line stations or any of the other SkyTrain stations, to not be able to accomodate 8-10 car trains, BC keeps dropping the ball.

People just don't understand that there has been a multigenerational agenda to hold BC back. Keep everything small & backwards. If BC had been allowed to really grow back in the 1960s & 70s, that would have meant more non-white people moving into a thriving region. Then even more restrictions were established in the 1980s & 90s, as the city councils & provincial government was predominantly of European ancestry. The British colonial mentality went right through the 20th century. Thus, it took a long time for BC to really accept international diversity. You have to build up the infrastructure for everyone, instead of refusing to do so.

Despite there being more diversity in various parts of BC over the past few decades, so many of the restrictions have remained. Vancouver has been trapped in a gordian knot of restrictions that hold it back. Victoria is nowhere as big as Quebec City, Winnipeg or especially Edmonton.

The one card left, is that someday Canada might have to say that it has to keep people out, because it's good for the environment. Meanwhile, several other countries with less land area are able to properly build up the infrastructure of their cities.

Surrey like Burnaby, isn't under the excessive Vancouver restrictions, so they will have taller buildings & some wider highways. Unfortunately, not longer trains, but that must eventually be changed. Short trains & narrow bridges has been a strong symbolic way of BC refusing to build up proper size infrastructure. Then Vancouver, NW & Victoria keep trying to hold back their growth.