http://www.miss604.com/2010/01/olympic-line-free-public-streetcar.html Vancouver Blog Miss604 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:36:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.miss604.com/2010/01/olympic-line-free-public-streetcar.html#comment-24508 David Mehlman Mon, 24 May 2010 05:23:35 +0000 http://www.miss604.com/?p=22027#comment-24508 I am a transit employee from Melbourne, Australia (where we operate the largest tram - what is locally termed streetcar - and light rail network in the world), currently visiting Vancouver. I would like to know if there has been any announcement from local government if the demonstration line was a success and they are considering developing a streetcar/lightrail network. A brief history: Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria with a population of 3.5 Million+ residents (City and Suburbs) with a mix of rapid/heavy rail, trams/lightrail and bus transit. Transit, unfortunately, carries less than 10% of commuters due to a lack of investment by successive state governments for the past fifty years. The state operated all rail public transit (heavy and light rail) and some bus routes until 11 years ago when the then right-wing government privatised the entire system. There has been little improvement since privatisation due to the nature of the contracts between the government and the monoplies that manage them, with the current left-wing government delaying financial support for transit improvements, even though transit ridership has increased to beyong breaking point. I am a transit employee from Melbourne, Australia (where we operate the largest tram – what is locally termed streetcar – and light rail network in the world), currently visiting Vancouver. I would like to know if there has been any announcement from local government if the demonstration line was a success and they are considering developing a streetcar/lightrail network.
A brief history: Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria with a population of 3.5 Million+ residents (City and Suburbs) with a mix of rapid/heavy rail, trams/lightrail and bus transit. Transit, unfortunately, carries less than 10% of commuters due to a lack of investment by successive state governments for the past fifty years. The state operated all rail public transit (heavy and light rail) and some bus routes until 11 years ago when the then right-wing government privatised the entire system. There has been little improvement since privatisation due to the nature of the contracts between the government and the monoplies that manage them, with the current left-wing government delaying financial support for transit improvements, even though transit ridership has increased to beyong breaking point.

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