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.calgary.ca/green-line/stations.html
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
https://dailyhive.com/toronto/eglinton-crosstown-opening-date
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_5_Eglinton
https://www.blogto.com/city/2025/02/eglinton-crosstown-opening-date/
https://www.metrolinx.com/en/projects-and-programs/eglinton-crosstown-lrt
https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/en/what-we-do/projectssearch/eglinton-crosstown-lrt/
https://www.blogto.com/city/2025/01/eglinton-crosstown-lrt-repairs/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/eglinton-crosstown-opening-june-ttc-1.7400691
https://www.aecon.com/our-projects/current/eglinton-crosstown-lrt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglinton_East_LRT
https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2026/01/15/finch-lrt-shut-down-all-day-due-to-weather-conditions It should have been a proper subway line, protected from the crappy snow & ice. In contrast, Edmonton & Calgary are mostly surface lines and can usually run through the terrible winter conditions.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/01/15/line-6-finch-west-lrt-delays-snowstorm-ttc-updates/
https://www.ttc.ca/riding-the-ttc/Line-6-Finch-West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail
https://www.calgary.ca/green-line/trains/low-floor-trains.html
https://andrewknack.ca/blog/lrt-brt-edmonton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail#Types
https://www.railforthevalley.com/category/latest-news/surrey-lrt Surrey and Langley always have the potential for streetcars & especially tram-trains.
https://www.torontoenvironment.org/what_is_the_difference_between_streetcar_lrt_and_subway
https://coderedto.com/subway-vs-lrt
https://steergroup.com/insights/news/lrt-versus-brt-which-better-option
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comparing-bus-rapid-transit-light-rail-which-superior-kumbhar-m-eng
https://gobrt.org/brt-vs-light-rail/advantages-of-light-rail-over-buses-and-rapid-transit/
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary+Green+Line
BRT might be able to rival a couple of connected streetcars. However, a tram-train will still beat BRT in length, frequency & capacity.
BRT can be very effective, if it has its own lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_rapid_transit
https://www.lightrailnow.org/facts/fa_brt.htm
https://www.metrolinx.com/en/projects-and-programs/queen-st-hwy-7-brt/what-were-building
https://coderedto.com/subway-vs-lrt
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comparing-bus-rapid-transit-light-rail-which-superior-kumbhar-m-eng
https://steergroup.com/insights/news/lrt-versus-brt-which-better-option
https://andrewknack.ca/blog/lrt-brt-edmonton
https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/threads/brt-vs-lrt.32259
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_LRT#History Unlike what backwards Vancouver would end up doing, Edmonton understood the importance of having long underground stations, right from the start.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Line#Stations If you are from Edmonton or Seattle, you will be immediately surprised as to how short & small the underground Vancouver train stations are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_station_(Edmonton) 1978
"The underground station has a 129-metre-long (423 ft) centre loading platform that can accommodate two five-car LRT trains at the same time, with one train on each side of the platform. At just under 8 m wide (26 ft), the underground platform is narrow by current Edmonton LRT design guidelines." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_station_(Edmonton)#Station_layout
Yet, this is big by narrowminded Vancouver & BC standards. Despite Vancouver having its own version of cold & crappy weather, there just isn't the same concept or desire to have a network of elevated & especially, underground corridors like what Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Dallas & Houston have.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_station_(Edmonton) 1978
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay/Enterprise_Square_station 1983 Being from wattered down Vancouver, it's hard to fathom a 130m long underground station in Edmonton, but Albertal doesn't have anything like a backwards BC mentality to contend with. The first 2 SkyTrain lines were designed to only have 80m stations. The 3rd line to Richmond & YVR, was only designed to have 50m stations. While this initially might have made sense as a cost saving measure, it will cost so much more to eventually try to lengthen these short stations. Thus, all the stations should have been designed to eventually be at least 153m, or just over 500 feet.
"The station has a 130-metre-long (430 ft) centre loading platform that can accommodate two five-car LRT trains at the same time, with one train on each side of the platform." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay/Enterprise_Square_station#Station_layout
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_station_(Edmonton) 1983
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Centre_station 1989
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_station_(Edmonton) 1992 It remains to be scene if Vancouver might have a UBC station by 2032. While geology & climate can vary between cities, the laws of physics in the BC part of Canada isn't supposed to be different. Yet, it takes a long time to get things done in backwater BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Line#Stations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_light_rail_systems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_5_Eglinton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_subway#Rolling_stock
https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2021/07/33-bloor-street-east-toronto/
https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/11/heres-what-trains-eglinton-crosstown-lrt-will-look-like/
https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/02/eglinton-crosstown-lrt-opening-date-delayed-2022/
https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/light-rail/eglinton-crosstown-under-way-underground/
https://www.urbaneer.com/blog/the_eglinton_crosstown_lrt
http://www.thecrosstown.ca/TheNextPhaseBegins
https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2013/08/how-dig-11km-through-centre-city
https://www.infrastructureontario.ca/Eglinton-Crosstown-LRT TTC
https://www.metrolinx.com/en/discover/what-is-lrt-light-rail-transit-explained
https://www.torontoenvironment.org/what_is_the_difference_between_streetcar_lrt_and_subway
https://www.railforthevalley.com/latest-news/zweisystem/back-to-basics
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Calgary+Green+Line
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=LRV:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/surrey-skytrain-lrt-metro-vancouver-transit-projects-future
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrey_LRT
https://businessinsurrey.com/policy/lrt/
https://skytrainforsurrey.org/tag/surrey-newton-guildford-light-rail/page/4/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4saz4VSuW3I
https://surreylangleyskytrain.gov.bc.ca/
https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/keith-gerein-west-edmonton-lrt-construction
https://globalnews.ca/news/11014951/valley-line-west-lrt-stony-plain-road-construction-pace/
https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/transit/valley-line-west
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Line_(Edmonton)#Valley_Line_West_(under_construction)
There is North_Vancouver_(city) and then there is North_Vancouver_(district_municipality).
https://dailyhive.com/canada/canada-most-liveable-cities-ranking-2024
As long as you have everything you need on the North Shore, you are fine. Otherwise, you will be punished for using the inadequate The+Lion+Bridge+and+The+Iron+Bridge.
https://www.upperlonsdale.ca/blog/87130/north-vancouver-ranked-1-in-canada
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/article-canada-most-livable-city-north-vancouver/
Unfortunatly, transportation planners haven't seen a need to link Horseshoe Bay and Park Royal with downtown Vancouver. Indeed, a direct LRT connection from the North_Shore_of Greater_Vancouver to YVR might as well be part of a Sci-Fi story. However, multigenerational congestive planning in Vancouver is a harsh reality.
A 3 lane Lion Bridge never had any bus tunnels & especially an LRT line built far under it. The bridge is too narrow to accommodate one, let alone 2 proper bus lanes. This is the finest in BC bottleneck stagnation planning.
The Iron_Bridge was built too narrow for an urban TCH crossing. Unfortunatly, no one planned or designed it to eventually have a lower deck for buses, trains & trucks.
https://www.cnv.org/streets-transportation/travel-options/transit A bus and truck bridge should have been built next to the Iron Bridge, decades ago. Why do that, when you can cram everything into just 3 lanes each way?
https://www.translink.ca/plans-and-projects/projects/rapid-transit-projects/bus-rapid-transit
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/north-shore-skytrain-burrard-inlet-rapid-transit-brt-lrt-study
https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/opinion-lrt-remains-the-best-option-for-north-shore-rapid-transit-9643033 Of course a train would be able to move many more people efficiently.
https://dailyhive.com/calgary/alberta-calgary-edmonton-real-estate-buy-homes
Calgary has a lot more tall buildings.
https://www.calgary.com/blog/calgary-vs-edmonton-ab
Edmonton has a cool downtown LRT subway.
Of course having the tallest skyscrapers & the longest subway stations in Western_Canada doesn't matter to a lot of people.
If you are from Calgary & visit Vancouver, you will be surprised as to how small most of the buildings are in Vancouver. If you are visiting from Edmonton, you will be surprised to see how much shorter the underground SkyTrain stations are when compared to the downtown LRT subway in Edmonton.
If you are from Edmonton, you will be surprised to see how small backwater Victoria, BC is, despite it being in a mild winter climate. Edmonton isn't just a mighty provincial Capital, it's almost on the same urban scale as Perth, WA. That's despite Edmonton being in a very cold winter climate zone.
Fortunately, BC was never able to gobble up Alberta, or strongly influence it. BC stopped a huge destination mall from being built in the 1980s. However, BC wasn't able to stop the West_Edmonton_Mall from being built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Edmonton_Mall#West_Edmonton_Mall_Transit_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Line_(Edmonton)#Valley_Line_West_(under_construction)
.svg/630px-ETS_LRT_System_(long-term).svg.png)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/ETS_LRT_System_%28long-term%29.svg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_LRT#Overview_of_planned_lines
https://jfdatalinks.blogspot.com/search?q=Edmonton
https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/bkevpf/memorial_drive_year_1900 Wow, one waggon road each way back then. If it were possible in the 2020s, Vancouver would like to go back to one waggon road each way.
https://cc-production-uploads-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/01/Calgary-courtesy-of-City-of-CalgaryMainWEB.png This is what Cambie Street in Vancouver could have become. Especially, since the Canada embarrassment Line was only designed to have 2.5 car trains. At least there should be an express bus line along Cambie. Eventually, there still might have to be an LRT line just south of the Cambie+Street+Bridge to Richmond. It would have been better to just build the Canada embarrassment Line to eventually handle a 5, 7 & 9 car train, not a 2.5 car joke of a train.
Sarcastically...
At least no one from Vancouver has been able to convince Winnipeg to reduce Portage_and_Main to 4 lanes or even just 2 waggon roads in width.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe
So far, Vancouver hasn't sent a delegation to Paris advising that The Avenue des Champs-Élysées should be turned into a width of only 2 or 4 waggon roads.
https://www.nsnews.com/opinion-lrt-remains-the-best-option-for-north-shore-rapid-transit-9643033
Ambleside,_West_Vancouver should certainly be a SkyTrain stop along the way. N. Vancouver has always had very limited transportation options. Several decades ago when the decision was made to put a BC ferry terminal in W. Vancouver, there didn't seem to be a proper long-term bus & truck bridge or tunnel & even a rail rapid transit crossing. The 3 lane Lion Bridge is too narrow for any express bus lanes & the region foolishly refused to build a bus & truck tunnel for what is supposed to be a major port city. The Iron Bridge should have been designed to be wide enough to accomodate 2 bus-lanes & 2 truck lanes. Instead, everything is funneled into 3 lanes each way with no emergency lanes. Thus, if there is a stall or a crash, the busses & trucks get jammed up with all the other traffic.
Living on the North_Shore_of_Greater_Vancouver can be nice, but you are punished when you go into the City of Vancouver or visa-versa. A train crossing would certainly improve things.
Cost of Living in Vancouver (UPDATED) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWRTM1TY58A
