Most of BC remains as a wilderness. Indeed, there are only a handful of major urban areas, so the wilderness isn't going away. Almost 2 dozen Switzerland's can fit inside of BC, yet BC has yet to reach the population of one CH.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Monday, February 26, 2024
Vancouver's Arthur Erickson Place achieves zero-carbon building certification
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/arthur-erickson-place-vancouver-zero-carbon-building
This could have been the first office tower in Vancouver to have at least 40 stories, but it wasn't even permitted to have 30 floors, due to imposed height limits. Calgary & Seattle never have had to endure such restrictions.
Thursday, February 22, 2024
OpenAI's "World Simulator" SHOCKS The Entire Industry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH9FU7Gd6v8
https://openai.com/sora#capabilities
https://openai.com/research/video-generation-models-as-world-simulators
Sora AI’s Problems [And Solutions] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmPlFidVkk
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Simulation+Theory
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
The Vancouver Auto Show is returning after a four-year hiatus
https://www.straight.com/just-announced/vancouver-auto-show-2024
Well, the cancel (car) culture hasn't been able to ban such vehicles from Vancouver & BC in general, so far.
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Saturday, February 10, 2024
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Living in Australia
Living+in+Australia has so many perks and advantages. However, the cost of living isn't one of them.
Monday, January 29, 2024
The Greatest Bridges Ever Constructed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDuvDi7LYhY
The $1BN Race to Save The Golden Gate Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcV1btTEAVg
A Barrier_transfer_machine has made the bridge safer.
https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/bridge-operations/traffic-management/
https://mtc.ca.gov/whats-happening/news/special-features/golden-gate-bridge-moveable-median-barrier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_transfer_machine#Permanent_locations
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Wide streets
https://plazaperspective.com/wide-street-paradise
Wide+streets have a lot of multimodal potential, simply because of their extra width.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Saturday, January 13, 2024
Some Canadians are ditching their cars for bicycles – even in the winter
https://globalnews.ca/news/10222836/canadians-ditching-cars-bicycles-winter
Well, that might be a little easier in SW BC than in most of Canada.
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Metro and Subway lines
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/2024/01/metro-and-subway-systems.html
https://moovitapp.com/index/p/en/public_transit-Rabbit_Hole-IzmirAyd%C4%B1n-site_257277548-1564
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_taking_public_transportation
https://www.thethings.com/animals-cute-public-transit-bus-train/
https://www.sncf.com/en/group/behind-the-scenes/wildlife-on-tracks
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/bunny-living-at-toronto-subway-station-rescued-from-tracks-1.6311235
Rabbits and trains don't go that well together.
Friday, January 5, 2024
Building height restrictions in some cities
https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_dad=portal&_pageid=2762,3101387&_schema=PORTAL
1000_de_La_Gauchetiere has 51 floors. No other office building in Montreal has ever been permitted to reach 50 stories.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Montreal#Tallest_buildings
Montreal still has some taller buildings than Vancouver. However, both cities remain vertically stunted when compared to what's permitted in Melbourne, Toronto & Calgary.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-view-cone-impacts-broadway-plan-cambie-street
https://storeys.com/james-cheng-the-stack-vancouver No office building in Vancouver has ever been allowed to have a 40th floor. The tallest nonresidential towers are in the 35 to 37 storey range.
https://macleans.ca/culture/building-vancouver-stack-work-life-balance/
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Building+Height+Restrictions
Sunday, December 31, 2023
No fireworks in Vancouver for New Year's Eve 2023
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/events-and-entertainment/no-fireworks-in-vancouver-for-new-years-eve-2023-8043481 Another fine example of the backward, watered down citie's mentality. Just because Vancouver gets a lot of rain, that shouldn't mean Vancouver has to water almost everything down, but it does. Throughout its existence, Vancouver has had a force or momentum to keep it as a provincial backwater. All through the decades & generations, Vancouver & BC keep adding red tape & so many regulations, which continue to stunt or truncate the place.
The City of Seattle unlike Vancouver, started to have a big city mindset in the early 1900s, especially by 1915. The Seattle_metropolitan_area is the largest in the Pacific_Northwest.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Seattle+space+needle+on+new+years+eve
While the Metro_Vancouver_Regional_District is the most populous in Western_Canada, the City of Calgary is still the largest in Western_Canada. Like Seattle, Calgary has a proper big city mentality. That mentality started to kick in during the 1960s.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Calgary+tower+on+new+years+eve
Unfortunatly, the No Fun Vancouver mind virus still occasionally reemerges.
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=New+Year's+Eve
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Vancouver
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC , https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Canada
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
The Tilikum Crossing in Portland vs. others
The Tilikum_Crossing is such a great bridge, that's why it's in Oregon and not in BC.
Portland's Tilikum Crossing: A Bridge for People, Not For Cars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIYPA7jyELs Its a fine example of a transit bridge that Portland, OR really needed, but might never be built in Vancouver, or anywhere else in BC.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/North_Arm_Bridge_shot_from_SkyTrain_3622.JPG
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing+in+Portland
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Office vacancy in downtown Vancouver has increased to roughly 12 per cent
https://biv.com/article/2023/12/vancouver-offices-face-first-tenants-market-20-years
Vancouver has the shortest assortment of office towers when compared to Seattle, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal. It's been that way for several decades.
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
The Tokyo Blade Runner Question
https://thegaijinghost.com/blog/omoide-yokocho-tokyo-blade-runner-question
Japanese Aesthetics in Blade Runner Movie - NOT in the Original Philip K. Dick Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUeo2X72kJc
https://japanposter.co.uk/products/blade-runner-original-release-japanese-movie-poster-1982-b3-size
https://filmschoolrejects.com/blade-runner-anxieties-today
https://slate.com/culture/2017/09/blade-runner-s-influence-on-neo-yokio-and-other-anime.html
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/02/blade-runner-the-final-cut-review
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2021/11/05/tv/blade-runner-black-lotus
https://cdsvinyljapan.com/products/4548967465433
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Tokyo
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel-US+Steel+deal
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Nippon+Steel+to+acquire+U.S.+Steel
Canada's passenger trains on shared tracks with freight trains
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-federal-bill-passenger-train-prioritization
By now, Canada should have had all of its major cities connected by new passenger lines so that there would be no conflict with freight trains. All the major urban areas should already have had transit+bridges wherever there was a reluctance to expand road or highway bridges.
Over 1,500 homes and a hotel in Surrey City Centre
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/13044-10392-king-george-boulevard-oviedo-towers-surrey
Since Surrey doesn't have the extreme control measures that Vancouver has, it will eventually become the largest city in BC.
Monday, December 18, 2023
Washington Avenue Bridge and the Tilikum Crossing vs...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Avenue_Bridge_(Minneapolis) 2 lanes & 2 tram-train tracks, bike & walkways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_Crossing 2 tram train tracks & 2 for streetcars & buses. It's just so far beyond what's allowed in BC, especially in Greater Vancouver.
Both of these bridges should have been designed to have 2 bus & 2 bike lanes each, but that actually might help to relieve some of the congestion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skybridge_(TransLink) In spite of the regional congestion, no bus & bike lanes became part of the design. It's a fine example of inept planning in BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Arm_Bridge No bus lanes & only 1 bike lane.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Tilikum+Crossing
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=transit+bridges
Boston and SF
Boston is such a ridiculously small city with an area of 48.4 sq mi (125 km2) & less than 700,000 people.
"Boston is the second smallest major U.S. city in terms of land area after San Francisco that has 47 square miles." https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/86dd4b02-a7f3-499e-874e-53b7e8be4770#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20With%20a%20land%20area%20of,up%20the%20Commonwealth%20of%20Massachusetts.
However, the Greater_Boston Area has around 8.5 million people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries
San_Francisco is slightly smaller than Boston in land area, but it has around 81% of a million people. However, the San_Francisco_Bay_Area has around 9 million people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Bay_Area#Boundaries
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_San_Francisco , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tallest_buildings_in_Boston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco#Transportation , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#Transportation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge 10 lanes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_P._Zakim_Bunker_Hill_Memorial_Bridge 10 lanes
Sunday, December 17, 2023
Some urban parks by size
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_parks_by_size
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Bay_(San_Diego)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_Francisco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Park,_Houston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Park_(New_Orleans)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balboa_Park_(San_Diego)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Harbor_Shoreline_Park Oakland, Cal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Park Chicago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cortlandt_Park NYC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Long_Metropolitan_Park Austin, TX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assiniboine_Park Winnipeg, Manitoba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushy_Park London, UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_Park SF, California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Park,_Western_Australia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park Vancouver, BC https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-park-board-abolition-reactions
Saturday, December 16, 2023
Transit Malls
The transit_mall is a great concept, but there is always the potential for improvement.
Nicollet_Avenue in Minneapolis, was never wide like Woodward_Ave_in_Detroit. https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/erry-2018/04/57da31c03d/woodward_avenue_detroit.html
#/media/File:Woodward_Ave_Detroit_1942.jpg){kind=link}
Back in the day, there just wasn't any reason to have Nicollet_Avenue to be as wide as Canal_Street,_New_Orleans or Market_Street_(San_Francisco).
However, Nicollet_Mall should have had 2 passing lanes, instead of only two lanes. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, half of the Nicollet_Mall can easily get blocked up.
Fortunately, Portland,_Oregon decided not to follow the Minneapolis and Vancouver, BC examples. MAX_and_bus_side-by-side_on_Portland_Mall, this is so much better than funneling everything into just 2 lanes. The Portland_Transit_Mall remains as one of the best transit corridor examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Transit_Mall#Renovation_and_rebuilding
Granville_Street in downtown Vancouver used to be 6 lanes wide. While the initial concept of the Granville_Mall was a good idea, cramming everything into only 2 lanes became another quintessential Vancouver example of bottleneck & congestive planning. It's all part of the narrow-minded BC mentality.
.jpg){kind=link}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Mall,_Vancouver Of course right at some crucial blocks, the 2 lane segments provide great spots for congestion, all by design. Whenever a bus breaks down or there is some emergency, there isn't a passing lane. Thus, one side of the street remains blocked until the bus can be towed away. Of course it was considered to be a wise decision to have so many bus routes funneled through such a narrow corridor & then remain stubborn about improving the situation.
Reducing the downtown section of Granville_Street from 6 lanes to 4 would have allowed passing lanes for busses & the sidewalks could have still been widened. Plus, it would have been so much easier for emergency vehicles to get through as well. Unfortunately, Metro_Vancouver is all about creating congestion & inefficiency.
If one side of the street has a bus breakdown & the other side has some emergency requiring a bus to remain parked, there isn't an extra couple of lanes for emergency vehicles to pass on some blocks of Granville_Street. Again, it was deemed essential & appropriate to have such a bottleneck on what is suppose to be a high volume bus corridor.
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Transit+Mall
Thursday, December 14, 2023
Seattle Plans to Extend and Upgrade its Third Avenue Transit Mall
Should it become Vancouverized like the 2 lane Granville Mall bottleneck?
https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy-initiatives/third-avenue-vision/
If the 4 lanes are reduced to 3, the sidewalks can be widened & Seattle can still have a bus corridor that's wider than the one in Vancouver.
https://cdn.downtownseattle.org/files/advocacy/dsa-third-avenue-vision-booklet.pdf
https://downtownseattle.org/2019/01/third-avenue-vision-moves-forward/
https://downtownseattle.org/advocacy/transportation-access/
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
Montreal BRT vs. Vancouver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie-IX_BRT#Future_plans
https://www.stm.info/en/about/major_projects/major-bus-projects/pie-ix-brt
An express bus route is already good, but BRT is even better.
https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal/montreals-new-pie-ix-rapid-transit-route-is-finally-opening-heres-where-you-can-go Slow to being implamented, but not as slow as Vancouver, BC.
https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/article/21286422/greater-montreals-pieix-brt-begins-operations
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pieix-rapid-bus-transit-inaugurated-1.6639291 Unlike Montreal, the Vancouver approach is quite a sad joke. Unless Vancouver improves its bridges or at least allows some bus bridges to be built, it will remain as the quintessential example of what not to do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal#Transportation
bus
The new Île aux Tourtes Bridge in Montreal
"The new two-span bridge, with three lanes in each direction, a shoulder wide enough for buses and a multipurpose path for pedestrians and cyclists, will be built just to the north of the current bridge..." https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/construction-is-underway-on-the-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge
It's always nice to see when another city doesn't Vancouverize its bridges.
https://globalnews.ca/news/10163545/construction-new-ile-aux-tourtes-bridge-ahead-of-schedule/
At least the old ...Tourtes_Bridge was designed to have 6 lanes, but the new bridge will be able to accomodate 8 lanes. Thus, the 4th lane each way will be for buses & potentially other HOV. Unlike in Vancouver, no 4th lane each way is allowed, even though that would allow for better efficiency with express bus & BRT. Apparently in Vancouver, its better to cram everything into inept & narrow bridges. Indeed, Vancouver is the epitome of bottleneck planning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal#Transportation
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=old+and+new+narrow+bridges
Shoreline, Washington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoreline,_Washington , https://www.shorelinewa.gov
A lot of places are experiencing growing pains, because some regions are more popular than others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_County,_Washington
Friday, December 8, 2023
Monday, December 4, 2023
Urban Data intersection
UDi is a counterpart to UTP.
https://therabbitportal.blogspot.com/2023/12/urban-tech-portal.html
The BC part of Canada has so much potential, but there is all sorts of red tape, B$ & various restrictions. These restrictions & limitations haven't been adopted in Alberta, Ontario & Quebec. Thus, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto & Montreal are able to operate on a much larger scale than what is permitted in Vancouver & Victoria or BC in general.
SFU-Burnaby-gondola-pushback-from neighbourhood
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/12/04/sfu-burnaby-gondola-pushback-neighbourhood/
The Portland_Aerial_Tram goes over some houses, but no one from BC could stop it. Of course not, because Portland is part of Oregon, not BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram
It has left some people with a bad taste in their mouth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Aerial_Tram#Objections_from_underlying_neighborhoods
What if you are on the toilet when the_Tram passes over? So while Oregon has been able to do some things that BC wont allow, the urban gondola-tram remains as a point of contention.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=BC
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Portland
Sunday, December 3, 2023
BC transit-oriented-development-legislation-and Vancouver-view-cones
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-transit-oriented-development-legislation-vancouver-view-cones
There has been a multigenerational plan to hold BC back in almost every way possible. Some just don't want more people moving into BC, so the infrastructure is symbolically kept small when compared to what's allowed in Alberta, Ontario & Québec.
There is also a general half-assed slow approach in BC, which hasn't caught on with Alberta, Ontario & Québec.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Saturday, November 18, 2023
The Lions Gate Bridge and a First Narrows Tunnel
The LGB is a crossing so narrow that it should have only been a foot & bike bridge by now.
The inept Lions+Gate+Bridge should have had an 8 lane tunnel under it several decades ago.
Georgia_Street through most of the downtown is 6 lanes wide, but as you get closer to Stanley Park, its 7 lanes wide. Thus, an 8 lane First_Narrows tunnel could have easily been constructed.
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/west-georgia-complete-street.aspx
While the likelihood of Georgia_Street feeding into the Georgia_Viaduct & then connecting East Vancouver & Burnaby with a freeway is not possible, Georgia_Street could still feed into a Stanley Park tunnel.
There would be no need for a freeway through the downtown, as a tunnel would simply provide a high capacity crossing. 3 lanes each way, plus a bus & HOV lane each way & even a provision for rapid rail transit. Essentially, an extension of the Canada (embassament) Line.
The stubborn city & region chooses to continually do nothing with the First Narrows LION crossing. However, at least some serious planning has started for the Second_Narrows IRON Bridge upgrade or replacement.
The Lion & the Iron bridges have been quintessential BC bottlenecks for generations. There really should have been bus & train tunnels and bridges built next to them several decades ago. Despite the region having 2 ferry terminals, there seems to be a reluctance with having the Canada (embarrassment) Line linking both of the ferry terminals. To do so would actually help to reduce congestion, bus backwater BC seems to be against relieving urban transportation congestion.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Lions+Gate+Bridge
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Thursday, November 9, 2023
REM trains in Montreal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiTS6RYr_Vw , https://www.youtube.com/@ReseauexpressmetropolitainREM/videos
Le REM, un nouveau trait d’union https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEu817iPBws
A Ride on the Montreal REM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q23mkh8rX88, https://www.youtube.com/@RMTransit/videos
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Friday, November 3, 2023
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
A Horseshoe Bay SkyTrain line to North Vancouver and Downtown Vancouver?
"A SkyTrain from downtown to Horseshoe Bay would provide a solution to the North Shore’s traffic crisis,..." https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/highlights/letter-horseshoe-bay-skytrain-north-vancouver-7753960
When the decision and implementation to put a major ferry terminal at Horseshoe_Bay in West_Vancouver was done, there didn't seem to be any sense of proper long-range urban transportation planning. It didn't matter if it was 2010 or 2020, there still seemed to be no need to build or at least an official plan for a rail rapid transit connection between the Horseshoe+Bay+ferry+terminal, Park Royal, downtown Vancouver and YVR.
https://www.vancouversnorthshore.com/neighbourhood/horseshoe-bay
https://www.bcferries.com/routes-fares/schedules/daily/HSB-NAN
The lack of an official plan to eventually link the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal and the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal to YVR might as well be just another science fiction story.
The Greater Victoria, Swartz_Bay_ferry_terminal should also have a long-term plan for an intercity rail link to Downtown_Victoria and connect with the Duke_Point_ferry_terminal and the Departure_Bay_ferry_terminal in Nanaimo.
For some reason, Vancouver, Victoria and BC in general, doesn't seem to want to be a leader in transportation planning & development.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line
Friday, October 27, 2023
Why the Panama Canal is Dying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GI0zANA3S4
Inside the World’s Largest Cargo Shipping Bottleneck Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS_pnCWNb4Y
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Park Royal Shopping Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Exchange
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R2_Marine_Dr
It is utterly foolish and inept to not extend an improved Canada+Line to the Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre and the Horseshoe+Bay ferry terminal.
Friday, October 20, 2023
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Public Transport in Canada and Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p6SxAC5924
The Comprehensive "Metro" Network of Melbourne
Sydney Trains Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Iq5zJjyXE
How Australia Might Have the Solution to Suburban Transit
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Montreal Metro
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/montreal-metro
It would have been total chaos if the Montreal_Metro (MM) only had 80m stations, just like on the first 2 SkyTrain lines. An absolute disaster if it only had 50m stations like on the very underbuilt Canada Line. Unfortunatly, Vancouver took the watered down approach, decades after what Montreal did right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro#Rolling_stock
When starting in the 1960s, the MM could have 3 & 6 car trains and a 9 car train during busy times, in recent decades, it's just 6 and 9 car trains.
Streetcars and trams, along with buses, can help any Metro train or Subway system. Unlike Montreal and Vancouver, cities like Melbourne, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, SF and New Orleans, retained some of their tram or streetcar lines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10
| 9 articulated cars per train |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPM-10#Specifications
Of course a good urban transportation network keeps evolving and the REM trains are a nice addition. The REM trains should eventually be at least as long as those on the Sydney Subway.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Montreal+Metro
Burnaby Metrotown Park Royal BRT route
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/burnaby-metrotown-park-royal-brt-route-translink
https://www.vancouversnorthshore.com/park-royal , https://parkroyal.ca/
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/new-westminster-marine-drive-marine-way-brt-22nd-street-station
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Royal_Shopping_Centre#Transportation
There still should have been a Canada+Line extension from Vancouver to West Vancouver.
Friday, October 13, 2023
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Subways, old and new trains
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7adaFZDPuw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_transit_in_Germany#U-Bahn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BVG_Class_H 6 per train set
| Train length | 51.64 m (169 ft 51⁄16 in) |
|---|
George Massey Tunnel Replacement Project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Massey_Tunnel#Replacement
https://www.highway99tunnel.ca/
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022TRAN0012-000176
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/george-massey-tunnel-new-replacement-bidding
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Massey+Tunnel+replacement
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Vancouver view cone review questioned
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2023/10/05/vancouver-view-cone-review-questioned/
Just put in more Vancouver stumps. The stump agenda is a clever way to hold back Vancouver, it's been that way for generations.
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Saturday, September 30, 2023
SkyTrain-Canada Line rebuilding
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-canada-line-rebuilding
The YVR Canada+Line should have been called, the Financial Drainage Line. However, the Catheter Line seems more appropriate. That's because it would cost a lot just to attempt to bring the C+Line up to a proper big city airport+line standard.
Nevermind designing it to ultimately have 8-10 car trains, starting out with at least 5 car trains. A 2 car train is such a sad joke, but it all fits in with the reluctance to think & build big in BC.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-skytrain
Wow, someday the YVR-Canada-Line will be able to accomodate a 2.5 car train, but not a 5 car train. Apparently, a full length 3 car train & especially a 4 car train might actually look like an attempt to have a proper urban train. Even with all the construction budget cuts, the stations could have been built with at least a 152.5 m provision, instead of a 40-50 m, 2 car train of a joke.
This approach goes so well with the regions narrow bridges & its reluctance to build a network of bus & HOV bridges.
Unfortunatly, it's not possible to take a train from the YVR-Airport_station to the Tsawwassen_ferry_terminal or the Horseshoe_Bay_ferry_terminal. There doesn't even seem to be any official long-range plan to link to the YVR-Canada-Line.
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
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=YVR-Canada+Line
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain+bridges
Friday, September 29, 2023
Thursday, September 28, 2023
TransLink ridership recovery reaches 90% of pre-pandemic volumes
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-ridership-recovery-vancouver-public-transit-september-2023
While the recovery is great, the Skytrain network should have been designed to have 152m stations like Montreal & Toronto, but that would mean big city thinking. So the 50m to 80m stations provide a constant reminder of the refusal to think big.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc-transit-ridership-recovery-record
Just like the region should have a proper big city train, there should have also been a proper express bus & HOV system by now. However, with such a refusal to have wider bridges or parallel crossings, it's almost impossible to have a proper rapid bus network.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/ironworkers-memorial-bridge-replacement There should be a couple of HOV lanes, as well as 2 bus lanes. Thus, any replacement for the Ironworkers+Memorial+Bridge should have 10 lanes.
However, congestive planning always wins out & who know where all the money has gone over the past several decades?
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-vancouver-demand-extensions
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/commercial-broadway-station-broadway-grandview-woodland-plan-skytrain Brentwood Station, no problem. However, allowing such a crossroads station at a similar scale is too upsetting for the backwater Vancouver mentality.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/city-of-vancouver-car-vehicle-traffic-reductions-broadway Another fine example of the conjestive mentality. Since the train isn't allowed to run 24/7, it's a good idea to still have a wide street for express buses & 24hr traffic, which is common for most major cities.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-metro-vancouver-expansion
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-public-transit-system-comparison
List of North American cities by population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_cities_by_population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_census_metropolitan_areas_and_agglomerations_in_Canada#List
While Vancouver is part of the 3rd largest urban area in Canada, it's one of the smaller cities reaching only 8th place. That helps to maintain its backwater mentality & extremely restrictive approach to planning & development.
U2 ZOO Station
While lush Vancouver can't seem to get enough hotel rooms built, LV just keeps on building more entertainment facilities in the desert.
Is the Stack, a tower or a stump?
https://storeys.com/james-cheng-the-stack-vancouver
In Seattle, Toronto, Calgary & even Montreal, this would almost be just another average stump building. Those cities & so many more around the planet, have long since allowed office towers to have more than 40 floors. However, in the BC part of Canada, there is no office tower that has reached 40 stories, just a few residential towers are taller. Yet, sometimes the land value in Vancouver is more than in Toronto.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-view-cone-restrictions-policies
Of course Seattle, Toronto, Calgary & Montreal have been allowed to be proper big cities, simple because they aren't under any Vancouver type restrictions or limitations.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouvers-shrinking-skyline
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/larwill-park-office-towers-vancouver-concept
Nevermind Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, LA, SF, Seattle, Toronto, Calgary & Montreal, Vancouver isn't even allowed to build as tall as the tallest buildings in Vaughan, Mississauga, Edmonton & Belleview, WA.
https://storeys.com/cities/mississauga
https://storeys.com/cities/toronto/
https://storeys.com/cities/calgary/
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Toronto-SF
Immigrants and students fueled Canada's population jump in 2023
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230927/dq230927a-eng.htm And to think that Canada is nowhere close to containing even 1% of the worlds population, it's been tough enough just to reach 0.5%.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9989962/canada-population-boom-immigration-2023 Various forces and mindsets have prevented Halifax from becoming as big as Montreal or Boston. Greater Seattle & the Greater Montreal area each have over 4 million people. However, Greater Vancouver has done its damnedest to be continually stunted when compared to them.
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Some Vancouver ‘view cones’ could be scrapped under proposed review
https://globalnews.ca/news/9990941/vancouver-view-cone-review
Toronto, Calgary & Edmonton are allowed to build taller than what's in Montreal. Of course stubborn watered down Vancouver is an exception.
Vancouver & BC was unable to build a wall or generate a forcefield around it like something out of STAR TREK. Thus, a stunted approach was implemented, which was all about slowing down the influx of people. Vancouver doesn't have the authority to restrict Canadian immigration or restrict people from moving into the region from other parts of Canada.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-view-cones-review-housing-impacts-motion
At a certain point, the BC part of Canada will be forced to put more money into proper size infrastructure.
https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/protecting-vancouvers-views.aspx This has been such an ingenious way to hold the city back. So much of BC is mountainous wilderness that will never be blocked out.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-view-cone-restrictions-policies
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouvers-shrinking-skyline Fortunatly, Vancouver doesn't have control over the entire region, so the demand for taller buildings is still possible in the surrounding area.
So many urban restrictions were put into Vancouver during the 1970s, 80s and 90s by a mostly White power structure. In theory, if a city & urban area is continually stunted like Greater Vancouver, then less people will be likely to move there. Calgary & Seattle were never under anything like the extreme Vancouver limitations. Thus, those cities have much taller buildings, wider roads & bridges & any of their underground train stations are much longer than what Vancouver has ever built. The Toronto Subway & the Montreal Metro have stations that are at least 152m or about 500 feet, when stunted Vancouver only built 50m to 80m Skytrain stations.
If Vancouver was ever allowed to become a big city & region like Sydney, San_Francisco & Montreal, that would mean accommodating more people of color. It's not that the predominantly White power structure of the 1970s, 80s and 90s officially had a, KEEP THEM OUT agenda, but any slow growth initiative can certainly slow down the influx of people & the local economy.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-tower-building-shadowing-solar-access
Indeed, by continually promoting a half size approach to such stunted infrastructure, it shows a reluctance towards accommodating more people. As it so happens, most of the people on the planet aren't of European descent. Thus, anly slow growth initiative is a very clever way to, KEEP PEOPLE OUT. Unfortunately, even if there is finally enough people that want Vancouver & other parts of BC to have big cities, there is quite a tangled mess of laws, ordinances & restrictions that would have to be changed.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/larwill-park-office-towers-vancouver-concept
One would think that especially for a region such as Greater Vancouver with so many narrow roads & streets, there should have been a metro on the scale of what Montreal has. But so much about Vancouver & BC is about congestive planning.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-2017-kevin-desmond-canada-line-built-skytrain Why build 152m long stations linke in Montreal & Toronto when you can build absurd 50m stations? This is a fine example of the reluctance to build without allowing for future expansion. Don't think like a big city or urban region where a train could eventually reach the ferry terminals. It's much better to take the congestion approach.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=building+shadowing+policies
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line
Canadians flock to Alberta in record numbers as population booms by 184,400 people
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadians-flock-alberta-record-numbers-154748132.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-growth-statscan-report-1.6979657
https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/alberta-interprovincial-migration-
BC SkyTrain expansion
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-expansion-program-sany-zein-bcrtc-translink
Why have a 9 car metro train like in Montreal when Vancouver can just have a 5 car Skytrain on the first 2 lines? That's because the first 2 lines only have a length of 80m. The extremely underbuilt Catheter Line is a fine example of financial drainage. The Catheter Line stations & the first 2 Skytrain lines should have all been designed to have at least 500 feet or 152.5m long stations. However, the C Line only has 50m stations so the little trains can only be expanded from 2 cars to 2.5 cars, not 5 cars & especially no 10 car trains. It's all about symbolizing the reluctance to build proper big city size infrastructure. One has to wonder where so much of the money has gone, because it hasn't gone into a full size system, only a half-assed infrastructure.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-ceo-kevin-desmond-vision
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-extension-richmond-delta
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/george-massey-bridge-replacement-translink
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-line-vancouver-city-centre-station-second-entrance Conjestive planning really bites, but that's the BC way. The KEEP THEM OUT mentality has been around for such a long time, that not enough people pushed for a train in which the station lengths could eventually be doubled or even tripled. Combine that with a mostly narrow regional road network & you have the epitome of bottleneck planing.
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=SkyTrain-Canada+Line
Canada's-house-speaker-steps-down-after-inviting-nazi-veteran-into parliament
From Colonial times right up to the present, that has always been a, KEEP THEM OUT mentality in Canada. The WW2 era of Germany was partly about creating a continent for only the "best" White people. Japan during the WW2 era also wanted to be at the top of the Asian power structure.
The British Colonial System as well as other European Colonial Systems were all about the mother country being at the top & all the non-whites had a lower standing.
Even if Canada had 80 million people by the summer of 2023, that would only 1% of the worlds 8 billion people. It was tough enough for Canada to just reach 40 million in 2023.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230927/dq230927a-eng.htm
Canada should be attracting a lot of wealthy people from around the world, but most of the world is non-white & some people might get jealous. Perhaps if Canada were to say that by continuing to contain only a very small amount of the worlds population, that's good for the environment. Then more people around the world might challenge such a ridiculous notion. So many other countries have much less land, yet have a lot more people & infrastructure than Canada.
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Vancouver's tourism board sounding alarm bells over lack of hotel capacity
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/destination-vancouver-hotel-challenges-1.6770086
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_hotels It's always amazing to see what other cities can do, simply because they aren't in BC.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/metro-vancouver-hotel-supply-shortage-demand
https://storeys.com/vancouver-hotel-shortage-council-motion/
Not having enough BC+hotels is like a slap in the face to the local tourism or hospitality industry. There should have been more civic cooperation to allow for larger and taller hotels.
Monday, September 25, 2023
Developer announces plan to build 5,000 rental homes after federal decision to drop GST on construction costs
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/dream-unlimited-rental-housing-plan-federal-gst-canada
It's like Canada never really planned to ever have that much of the world's population, despite being the world's 2nd largest county in overall area. A population of 80 million is only 1% of 8 billion. It's taken quite a while for Canada just to contain 0.5% of the world's population.
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/population_and_demography/40-million June 2023
There has always been a lagging pace of infrastructure development in BC & Atlantic Canada.
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/3861-40-million-strong-canada-reaches-new-population-milestone
One would expect such a slow pace in the arctic regions.
Victoria, BC and other Canadian Capitals
https://storeys.com/victoria-missing-middle-housing-review/
Such a sleepy little city with perhaps the most mild winters in Canada. Yet, big Edmonton has much colder winters with many times the population of Victoria.
Victoria,_British_Columbia has yet to exceed 100,000 people, colder Regina,_Saskatchewan & St._John's,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador have more people. However, Greater_Victoria might eventually rival that of Halifax,_Nova_Scotia. Perhaps someday even Quebec_City & Winnipeg, but Victoria would rather remain a provincial backwater for as long as possible. Being on an island is almost as good as having a wall, but its a salt water moat instead.
Big Toronto has been the only Canadian city to become as large as Chicago.
Perhaps someday Ottawa might get as big as Montreal, but that's quite a long ways off into the future.
Unlike Victoria, NW is part of an urban region of more than a few million people. Thus, its compelled to gradually have more infrastructure.
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