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Toronto gets $1b for light rail, more fodder for SkyTrain-rail debate

May 15th, 2009 · 9 Comments

In case you didn’t see it, this story about a federal/provincial billion for light rail in Toronto appeared on the Globe’s website this morning. Interesting that Mayor David Miller is advocating for light rail there, in light of the ongoing debate we have here in B.C. about whether TransLink should continue to pour billions into extending SkyTrain or switch to a light-rail system that would cover much more territory but operate on existing road space.

That debate was also partly the topic of my appearance on CBC’s The Point this week, where I talked with Steve Burgess about the debate over trolley buses versus diesel buses and SkyTrain versus light rail. You may not know this, but Vancouver is the last city in Canada that has trolley buses, since Edmonton decided this month to phase out its existing system. It’s also the only Canadian city that uses SkyTrain technology for its rapid transit.

A propos of all this, here’s a cool link to the comprehensive guide to Canadian transit systems, in case you ever wanted to know everything about the interurban railway of Temiskaming Shores or jitneys in Vernon.

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