Letter to the BC Government on Budget 2024
The following letter was sent by a TABC member to their MLA, copied to the Premier and the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. I am writing following the release of the 2024 BC Budget, press coverage thereof, and the March 2, 2024 BC NDP News email and the...
Hullo! A “Ferry” Promising Start
Trip Report: Hullo ferry Nanaimo – Vancouver By Brendan, with additional reporting from Rick, Terry, and Kathleen. Like most Vancouver Islanders I was hopeful but a little skeptical about the new Hullo, passenger-only, fast ferry service between Nanaimo and Vancouver...
SkyTrain service changes to facilitate expansion projects
To allow connecting tracks to be constructed to a new maintenance facility, there will be some service changes starting on February 10th, 2024 on the Expo Line between Columbia and Production Way-University. Expo Line service to and from Lougheed Town...
Amtrak Cascades service increase announced
Amtrak Cascades services will see a significant increase from December 11, 2023, with daily round trips between Seattle and Portland increasing from four to six, which combined with the Coast Starlight long-distance service to and from Los Angeles will offer fourteen...
Transport Action BC AGM 2023
Transport Action BC is holding it’s 2023 Annual General Meeting on Tuesday December 12th The meeting will be held at Waves Coffee House, 900 Howe Street in Vancouver, from 6.30 pm to 8 pm. Only paid-up members may participate and vote at the AGM. Join or renew online....
Petition: Reconciliation and Rail for Vancouver Island
Since the announcement earlier this year that both levels of government wanted to pursue a reconciliation-first approach the the Vancouver Island Corridor, indications of progress toward reconciliation have been elusive. Therefore a formal petition to the House of...
Vancouver-Nanaimo Fast Ferry “Hullo” launches
The much-needed new Hullo passenger-only fast ferry service from downtown Nanaimo to downtown Vancouver began service on August 14, 2023 with an initial schedule of three daily sailings, which is expected to expand to six in September. Customers will board at the...
Should we expand the West Coast Express?
Is there a future for the West Coast Express as travel patterns change, and if so, what does it look like? Consider the following: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a “new normal” of hybrid working, where office-based employees work at home part of the...
Make BC Ferries Walk-On Foot-Passenger Friendly
It is very nice for BC Ferries to provide free passage for resident seniors as foot passengers between Mondays and Thursdays, it would be nicer if the organization made it easier for seniors, and others, to walk on as foot passengers. Such a move could help alleviate...
Amtrak Cascades: Time for a Blaine Station?
Ever since Amtrak restarted its Seattle-Vancouver train service there have been hopes of having it stop at either White Rock, BC or Blaine, WA; which the old international trains did before they ended when Amtrak was created in 1971. This is an opportunity, and it is...
Enhancing Amtrak Cascades
Transport Action Canada and Transport Action B.C. were recently invited to participate in consultation meetings and comment on the new Amtrak Cascades Service Development Plan (SDP) by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which has been driving...
Work underway on Vancouver’s Broadway subway extension
Visitors to Vancouver taking the Canada Line downtown, stopping at Broadway City Hall station will see the construction that marks the recent start of Canada’s newest public transit expansion (complete with its own website): a $2.83 Billion extension of the city’s...
Reconnecting the West Coast, Plains and Prairies
On April 21, 2022, representatives of Transport Action Canada, including current Transport Action BC president Alex Mandel, met with fellow passenger rail advocates from across the border, All Aboard Northwest, the Rail Passengers Association, and the Big Sky...
TABC seeks equal consideration for transit riders as drivers get handouts from the Province
Around the world, from Germany to New Zealand, governments have been tackling the cost of living crisis in the aftermath of the pandemic and spiking gasoline prices due to the the invasion of Ukraine by cutting bus and train fares, directly reducing the cost of...
Integrated Transit Service for BC Sunshine Coast Communities
New partnership between BC Transit, Coast Connector Bus Company, and BC Ferries aims to bring integrated public transit service to remote Sunshine Coast communities with coordinated schedules and fares, which could become a model for more collaboration between...