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Pierre the Great

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Live in a large city with a transit system that absolutely sucks - a seven minute car ride to work takes over an hour on the bus..... And they just keep begging us to conserve energy by using transit?

What a crock..... if you want Canadians to help conserve then they damn well do better something that makes it viable.

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Most municipalities won't invest in lightrail. It's seen as too expensive. The problem with that mentality is it's going to end up costing 5 times as much in 20 years due to inflation.

In my personal life experience with transit and city hall I'm still waiting for the lone brain cell to under go mitosis.

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Exactly for example Translink won't extend a line all the way to UBC instead they'll stop half way and then you'll have to get on speed buses. Is that just not crazy or what?! :wacko:

They say it costs too much. Well when it comes to light rail you pay now or thats it because down the line it will be twice as much.

Look at the US interstate system. Could the US build something like that today? heck no. There was suppose to be an interstate route from Saint Louis to St. Paul Minnesota "Avenue of the Saints" but it never got built, why? Because people said it would cost too much back in the 60's. Now it would cost a billion dollars to do the highway. Unbelievable.

City halls should learn to bite the bullet now instead of down the road when its a grenade.

Bullet will do damage for the short term a grenade will do more damage long term and then there's the land mine scenario where its too late.

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Yes, but can you see light rail as being cost effective in a small community of around 50,000 or less?

Good point. Even in larger communities, maybe there's a few lines that are suitable to light rail, but you can't build the whole network like that. You can easily change bus routes to adapt to shifting population, but it's pretty expensive to re-direct the tracks!

As far as it being more expensive later - true, but that could be said about anything. Taxpayers won't and shouldn't tolerate something being built now that isn't going to be fully utilized (cue the Simpsons monorail episode).

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When it comes to light rail transportation model we need to look at Europe and Japan for ideas.

All I've saying is that the idea of just building an interstate is a out dated and wrong idea.

regional trains.

But for smaller cities a transit system would work.

I think of Victoria, BC.

Apparently everyone in Victoria works in the downtown core but lives in the suburbs. Victoria is a compact city. Having light rail systems from the suburb core to the downtown core would take cars off the road.

Another great place for this type of system would be Quebec City. Just by looking at google earth and mapquest I can see that its a compacted area.

(although KoZed would be better suited to answer) I think a system there would work wonders as well.

Ottawa the same. There needs to be a transportation link between Ottawa and Gatineau.

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When it comes to light rail transportation model we need to look at Europe and Japan for ideas.

All I've saying is that the idea of just building an interstate is a out dated and wrong idea.

regional trains.

But for smaller cities a transit system would work.

I think of Victoria, BC.

Apparently everyone in Victoria works in the downtown core but lives in the suburbs. Victoria is a compact city. Having light rail systems from the suburb core to the downtown core would take cars off the road.

Another great place for this type of system would be Quebec City. Just by looking at google earth and mapquest I can see that its a compacted area.

(although KoZed would be better suited to answer) I think a system there would work wonders as well.

Ottawa the same. There needs to be a transportation link between Ottawa and Gatineau.

Victoria is a hella lot bigger than say Nanaimo or Port Alberni. It just won't work in SMALL communities.

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Did I mention small communities for light rail? no buses work well for small communities and better city layout planning so everything can be walkable for the small towns.

I already explained why buses don't work for small communities...

Perhaps if you live in a big city, public transit is the way to go, but in smaller communities, I just can't see it happening. In order for it to provide an effective alternative to owning your own vehicle, they would need routes approximately every ten minutes. There is no way that there would be enough people taking the bus to make each trip worthwhile, even if everyone in the community was using it.
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Now before you say "its a resort town" the city of Breckenridge in Colorado has free bio-diesel buses that pick people up 18hrs a day.

50 to 75,000 size towns this will work (not talking suburbs talking towns in the middle of nowhere where business is down in the downtown core area.

That and bike lanes. You can't go wrong with bikes/scooters.

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Now before you say "its a resort town" the city of Breckenridge in Colorado has free bio-diesel buses that pick people up 18hrs a day.

50 to 75,000 size towns this will work (not talking suburbs talking towns in the middle of nowhere where business is down in the downtown core area.

That and bike lanes. You can't go wrong with bikes/scooters.

You obviously haven't spent much time on the west coast of BC. Aside from the bigger cities such as Victoria and Vancouver, nearly every other city has a population below 40,000. And another large issue is the amount of people who commute from city to city everyday for work. Are you telling me that they're going to set up Grey Hounds to take people to work everyday? I mean, come on, it's just not practical. Whether you like it or not, cars, or some variant of them, are here to stay.

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No I have not spent time on the West Coast but when I get to Seattle I will. (you might see me around I like to wander depends which university I get into this one public one in bellingham I know I can get into because well just because then there's the private one in Tacoma that also wants me as well they're my first option)

Okay if this is the case (And you would know more then I would) then work needs to be centrally located. So you could walk or bike everywhere.

I read somewhere that downtown Nanaimo near the water front is growing in things to do. They should make it walkable.

From what I'm reading Nanaimo is growing. Bus routes might become practical in 5 to 10 years when the population has gotten bigger. Nanaimo could and I think will become that inbetween city (Victoria and Vancouver). In 10 years I predict the city will have 100,000 people. To me thats enough for a bus system.

Kamloops for example has a bus system. They're roughly the same size and they are both growing cities that will be over 100,000 people by the end of the decade.

Kelowna also has a bus system and that city is booming as well.

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No I have not spent time on the West Coast but when I get to Seattle I will. (you might see me around I like to wander depends which university I get into this one public one in bellingham I know I can get into because well just because then there's the private one in Tacoma that also wants me as well they're my first option)

Okay if this is the case (And you would know more then I would) then work needs to be centrally located. So you could walk or bike everywhere.

I read somewhere that downtown Nanaimo near the water front is growing in things to do. They should make it walkable.

From what I'm reading Nanaimo is growing. Bus routes might become practical in 5 to 10 years when the population has gotten bigger. Nanaimo could and I think will become that inbetween city (Victoria and Vancouver). In 10 years I predict the city will have 100,000 people. To me thats enough for a bus system.

Kamloops for example has a bus system. They're roughly the same size and they are both growing cities that will be over 100,000 people by the end of the decade.

Kelowna also has a bus system and that city is booming as well.

As of now, Nanaimo has roughly 80,000 people, but that's beside the point, as Nanaimo and Victoria are the only communities on the Island with over 50,000 people. And again, Kelowna and Kamloops are among the larger cities in BC, which I'm not talking about.

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Now before you say "its a resort town" the city of Breckenridge in Colorado has free bio-diesel buses that pick people up 18hrs a day.

Breck is definitely a resort town. The actual town of Breck is not big. Heck, you can almost spit from one end to the other. Frisco, a few miles outside of Breck and right off I-70 would be a better example. Most people that go to Breck for the weekend tend to stay there (locals) whereas the out of towners stay in Breck. Denver has been applauded for RTD. Light Rail is growing (thanks to T-REX and FasTracks), and that's great. I voted for FasTracks when it was on the ballot a few years ago and it was overwhelmingly approved. Heck, within 12 years we'll have light rail to the airport (conveniently located 30 miles outside of Denver). As I mentioned before though, in metro areas, mass transit is not seen as a replacement for vehicles.

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Breck is definitely a resort town. The actual town of Breck is not big. Heck, you can almost spit from one end to the other. Frisco, a few miles outside of Breck and right off I-70 would be a better example. Most people that go to Breck for the weekend tend to stay there (locals) whereas the out of towners stay in Breck. Denver has been applauded for RTD. Light Rail is growing (thanks to T-REX and FasTracks), and that's great. I voted for FasTracks when it was on the ballot a few years ago and it was overwhelmingly approved. Heck, within 12 years we'll have light rail to the airport (conveniently located 30 miles outside of Denver). As I mentioned before though, in metro areas, mass transit is not seen as a replacement for vehicles.

You guys rule in Denver. That program you passed is amazing.

Here the metro link (light rail) is a racial issue. The white suburbs don't want it because it brings black people and 'crime'. Now when was the last time you saw someone steal a tv and use an LRT as his getaway?

Mass transit isn't a replacement for vehicles. But it takes vehicles off the road. If I had the option of taking an LRT or my focus to work I'd take the LRT. why? Because well it would make me feel better, I like to be around people and driving in rush hour is stressful, I don't need the extra stress in my already stressful life. Plus I get exercise by walking, thus I feel healthier and better about myself.

Mass transit isn't going to replace the car, its to relieve the car, take more cars off the road, clean the environment, promote social interaction between people (friend met her husband on the bus) and stop traffic jams.

Look at Portland and how they use there LRT.

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You guys rule in Denver. That program you passed is amazing.

Here the metro link (light rail) is a racial issue. The white suburbs don't want it because it brings black people and 'crime'. Now when was the last time you saw someone steal a tv and use an LRT as his getaway?

Mass transit isn't a replacement for vehicles. But it takes vehicles off the road. If I had the option of taking an LRT or my focus to work I'd take the LRT. why? Because well it would make me feel better, I like to be around people and driving in rush hour is stressful, I don't need the extra stress in my already stressful life. Plus I get exercise by walking, thus I feel healthier and better about myself.

Mass transit isn't going to replace the car, its to relieve the car, take more cars off the road, clean the environment, promote social interaction between people (friend met her husband on the bus) and stop traffic jams.

Look at Portland and how they use there LRT.

Wasn't your original argument that the car is dying and should be wholly replaced? :wacko:

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Wasn't your original argument that the car is dying and should be wholly replaced? :wacko:

Yeah in its current form its dead. So technically its getting replaced.

In vision of the future all major cities have extensive light rail lines and mass transit lines and buses that are bio diesel

If you would go to a gas station instead of seeing different octanes you would see a hydrogen pump, bio diesel pump, ethanol, vegetable oil, electric plug in.

The Tesla sports car can go up to 300 miles on a single charge of 3hrs and 30 minutes. It goes zero to 60 in under 4 seconds. Its a sports car granted but electric vehicles to me should become city cars.

How many miles do you drive a day? Okay I'll go first when I commuted to high school I drove 60 miles round trip from the suburbs to the city. (went to an inner city private school). My tank on my focus would go about 330 before I needed to fill up.

60 miles a day then add other errands and it quickly went to 100.

Thousands of people in my area commute 100 miles a day. 50 miles to work charge the car up when you get to work even though you don't have to but you do it anyway. Drive somewhere to lunch another 20 miles then 3hrs later your off to go home another 50 miles then you put the charger back on when you get home.

You would never run out of juice. Electric would be the city car.

Then lets say I go to Denver for a trip. Can't take the electric car so I'd take the hydrogen or diesel car that runs on vegetable oil.

The Diesel engine was made to run on peanut oil. Start making cars that run on grease. We live in a fast food nation. All these fast food places and restaurants have millions of gallons of grease at there disposal and it goes to waste. USE THE DANG VEGGIE OIL!!!

Thats where I would see cars going.

The car has become stale and it needs a revolution.

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Politics don't interest me much. :( :puke:

lots of power playing and extended self-serving stuff by all concerned.

GO :hlogo: GO!

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6170444.stm

The results are in for Hollands election.

150 seats in parliament

41 - Christian Democrat (governing party)

32 - Labour Party

26 - Socialist Party

22 - VVD

9 - Freedom Party

6 - Christian Union

6- Green Party

2 - Party for Animals

WOW Awesome Results! Here comes a crazy coalition. The governing party will have to have the fringe parties in its government ouch. I wouldn't want the Freedom Party in my coalition.

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And this is why I love our first past the post system.. that makes such crazy parliaments an impossibility

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