Current Transit Letters
Westshore Support for Rail on the Johnson Street Bridge - 28 July 10
Rail service worth subsidies - Dick Faulks, TC 24 July 10
Reducing dependence on cars and oil
Carolyn Herbert, TC - 24 Jun 10
Bridge Rethink Needed - 25 Jun 10
BC Transit Reacts Positively to Public Demand for Streetcars! - 15 Jun 10
Interchanges haven't eased congestion !
- LOUIS GUILBAULT, TC - 8 Jun 10
Mid-town Victoria Development - Rob Wickson - 29 May 10
Mayor Causton's Transit Vision - 14 May 10
Content Menu
Pending Events
Go to Calendar link above for details.
Traffic Warning - Western communities! - 22 Feb - 31 Dec 10
People are encouraged to carpool - or use public transit - and ask your councillors for E&N commuter service ASAP!
BC Sustainable Energy Association - and Solar Days
Johnson Bridge Update
Johnson Street Org Info Package -incl Form for comments prior to 3 August!
City of Victoria Information Package
Victoria Downtown Core Plan
Invitation to respond to the draft plan
Speak out on the issues!
Enter the debate today!
If you have not already made your views known remember to record them:
CFAX 250.381.6397
or, CBC's local "talk back" 250.360.0614
or, Better Still,
Island Transformations Organization
Our Vision
A coalition with a vision to dynamically transform the way Vancouver Islanders live, work and play in their communities. We envision Vancouver Island being a safe, progressive, environmentally sensitive, energy self sufficient and life‐sustaining place for all its inhabitants.
Transportation News
BC Minister of Transport!
The Honourable Shirley Bond (click here)
STREETCAR LINE IN TUCSON'S HEART IS SET TO START THIS YEAR
by Rob O ' Dell Arizona Daily Star: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Developers from the east end of downtown to the west side have touted the streetcar as the reason they plan to spend millions to try to revitalize downtown. (Another order for Oregon Iron Works; see article below.)
Welcome to United Streetcar - 1 July 2009
United Streetcar, LLC (a subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works, Inc.) and SKODA have partnered to produce modern, efficient, American-manufactured streetcars and to be a pioneering force in increasing urban transit options throughout the United States. United Streetcar has completed manufacturing the first Buy-America compliant modern streetcar for the City of Portland, Oregon.
Arkansas trip persuades Augusta group to support trolley
After reading the story above, we hope the Victoria Transit Committee will at least visit Portland!
Calgary-Edmonton train on the slow road to approval
Link between Alberta's largest cities supported by latest report that found enough people would use the service, and the faster it is, the more riders it would have!
Katherine O'Neill Globe and Mail Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009 07:36AM EDT (click here for the full story)
And, get ready to attend the HSR Seminar in Red Deer - October 2009 (read more)
Then, think about similar benefits for a Victoria to Campbell River link!
Sheppard East LRT for Toronto
Groundbreaking; 14-km line to cost $1B, open by 2014
Click here to see what and why not sooner?!
National Post Tuesday, December 22, 2009
New Rail Lines Spur Urban Revival
Many cities are inspired by the success of Denver; Charlotte, N.C.;Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City and others in combining transit and development to revitalize downtowns and suburbs.
Government of Canada and VIA Rail announce new station for Cobourg !
Vancouver Canada Line Transit Oriented Development
Vancouver Olympic Line Now in Operation Read Operational News Here
More videos of Olympic Line - Inside & Out!
And now, June
2010, Look at What Metrolinx Toronto is doing!
What about Victoria, BC, Canada?
Click Here for ITO presentation of cost & availability facts to the C4CR Group (when the file opens, click on the slide to advance the presentation)
i.e. We could be ready to go on the current E&N line early in 2010 !!
Federal funds for E&N CRD Rail and Trail!!
Now, let's get the commuter train on those rails too!!
OK, look at the Island Corridor Foundation Plans for that objective!
A sustainable Sydney (AU) needs bikes and trams
Clover Moore
April 17, 2009 - 12:00AM
Around the world, smart cities are remaking themselves. They are investing in sustainable public transport and creating pedestrian-friendly environments, reducing their greenhouse emissions, cleaning the air, and providing places for people to meet and congregate.
Bordeaux: Fronting the French tramway revolution!
Article from the December 2002 edition of Tramways & Urban Transit
From 2004, trams will become the backbone of city transport, and one in two public transport users will be aboard a tram, C. J. Wansbeek reports. (see link above)
The Prime Mover- Architect The type of trams
The Testimonies of Success: Europe San Diego Industry
But, in Victoria, British Columbia?
We seem to have moved nowhere since the positive outlook of September 2003
Why?
Seven years later, Why still Rubber and not Rail? ... Why do we think on these in the way that we do? It has taken a long time and much effort to set our mind to think that way. How did it happen?
Because of the short term vision of most politicians at all levels !
and, the automobile/oil industry cartel !
To find out why we North
Americans tend to shun rail and accept road, please find a copy of this book and read it.
Not
boring. Eye-opening. Shocking. Revealing.
"A streetcar named
Conspire - Hooking the World on Oil and Blacktop"
http://www.streetcarcon.com/
Thoroughly researched over 16
years and written by a Victoria man - the book tells why and how the North
American mind was set in favour of the internal combustion engine,
beginning at a time when electric rail transport was highly profitable,
efficient, clean and served major areas of this continent in both city and
inter-city capacity.
I promise you; a new
view of rail transit will come to you.
Orders can be placed directly with
the author at louis@streetcarcon.com
signed: Dick Faulks 20 May 2009
Elevated LRT Option for Orange County, CA
Is that an option for Victoria (downtown)? Click on the title above to read more.
Nanaimo may beat us to the punch!!
Signs of Change are Emerging!
Canadians overwhelmingly support high-speed rail
Industry Poll - Railway Gazette, 29 July 2009
Will the global economic downturn encourage railway investment to improve environmental impact and reduce climate change?
Yes : 63.3% No : 18.3% Maybe: 18.4%
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National Plans in the US and Canada
A multibillion-dollar Canadian high-speed rail project could inject new life into the domestic steel industry and allow the country to keep pace with a "visionary" plan launched last month by U.S. President Barack Obama, railway industry and public transit advocates said yesterday.
Now, if only Canada and the US will follow the lead of Europe in putting a Cap & Trade on Airlines, we might see some rapid redevelopment of high-speed rail lines for North America!! Read the details here. Why fly between Edmonton and Calgary or Vancouver and Kelowna if you can get there as quickly as it would take you to get to and from home or business and the airport?
Progress of Rail in Canada
Most recent report by President and CEO Railway Association of Canada
Impact of Booming Hybrid & Electric Car Market?
Will we be prepared for these changes in urban areas?
As reported in a spate of international articles, including Time, on the former software executive, Shai Agassi, and
his company, Better Place has signed
deals with governments in Israel, Denmark, Australia, California, Hawaii and
Canada to build a web of electric car charging and battery replacement stations. "Momentum behind electric vehicles continues to accelerate worldwide, as Ontario conducts a comprehensive study of financial incentives for consumers who buy electric cars and other ways to speed their introduction and adoption in Canada."
It is a fascinating story; then, consider the fact that, unless we do something soon to improve urban mass transit facilities, we will still have "cleaner" cars clogging the access and exit routes of our cities. Surely the only change in urban planning should be the provision of parking and "Better Place" servicing at our major transit stations on the outskirts of "downtown"! Please help us to achieve that objective for Victoria.
How about doing your own upgrade of a small gasoline car to all electric? You can do it !! Click here to see how a Pratt & Whitney Canada technician did it!! Now, he says:
Don't look for my car there though; I'm presently converting my batteries from lead to LiFePo4(Litihium Ion Phosphate). I'll join that site when my autonomy will be an honest and true 60 km."
