Rod, thanks for your kind words. What worries me most about single exit is that it is being studied and proposed not by firefighters or fire safety engineers but by folks with little experience or knowledge.
Fiction allows the freedom to speculate. My training and experience hopefully lend some weight to my speculation, which is why I have lots of footnotes.
The $2.7 billion 5.7 km Broadway subway is to nowhere, based on the 190's Broadway - Lougheed Rapid Transit planning, which was based on light rail and the light rail went to Arbutus, going North south to downtown Vancouver and Marpole, using the double track R-o-W of the Arbutus corridor.
The Broadway subway is being built to replace the Broadway 99B Bus which has a maximum peak hour capacity of 2,000 pphpd, catering to traffic flows under 3,000 persons per hour per direction, The North American standard for building a subway is to cater to transit routes with traffic flows in excess of 15,000.
Two interesting facts:
1) Modern light rail, even a streetcar can cater to traffic flows of 20,000 pphpd or more.
2) According to Thales News Release about the $1.47 billion re-signalling of the Expo and Millennium Lines, the Millennium Line (Broadway subway) will be re-signaled for a maximum capacity of only 7,500 pphpd!
From Thales July 2022 News Release:
The government of Canada, the government of British Columbia, and the region have committed to investing $C 1.47bn in the Expo and Millennium Line Upgrade Programme until 2027.
When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively.
This certainly indicates TransLink knows full well that even future ridership does not justify a $2.7 billion subway under Broadway!
As Alstom will most likely end the production of SkyTrain/MALM in the near future, Translink and metro Vancouver may find itself with a light metro system that no one makes parts for!
Today, Alstom owns the MALM system and all technical patents, but SNC Lavalin still owns engineering patents for the proprietary railway. Alstom is not actively marketing the system and by all appearances will phase out production altogether when the last paid for cars are completed for Vancouver.Vancouver is now the only customer as no other transit authority wants the dated light-metro system.
A bigger problem is that the MALM system is a proprietary railway and no one, except Alstom, produces compatible vehicles or specialty parts. If Alstom pulls the plug on MALM production and probably will because the system is now dated and is deemed obsolete!
This also brings another strange case, the "the MK.5 train bidding process", where Bombardier won the bid from a phantom bidding process (mock auction?) as no other company had a ready to run train that could operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines. TransLink is very reluctant with information on this salient point! What is TransLink afraid of?
It seems no one was thinking 20 minutes into the future, planning the Broadway subway.
It is sad, but it is even worse. The future costs for our transit system will mean, those with cars will have 1st class transit and those relying on public transit will, be treated as steerage.
The one thing I would say is that a 7.2 quake would also make mincemeat of the local community... otherwise well-written, Brian!
I agree about the 7.2, especially if it's shallow. Jericho would not be the only place where the walls would come a tumling down.
Thanks for reading
Heyyy, I see what you did there 😂
Well written, Brian.
Interesting to hear about single exit buildings. Even my CMHC Wartime has two exits.
Rod, thanks for your kind words. What worries me most about single exit is that it is being studied and proposed not by firefighters or fire safety engineers but by folks with little experience or knowledge.
Thanks for reading.
Funny though, while it might be fiction, it’s entirely plausible....perhaps even prophetic. 🧐😲
Fiction allows the freedom to speculate. My training and experience hopefully lend some weight to my speculation, which is why I have lots of footnotes.
Thanks for reading.
Something to think about.
The $2.7 billion 5.7 km Broadway subway is to nowhere, based on the 190's Broadway - Lougheed Rapid Transit planning, which was based on light rail and the light rail went to Arbutus, going North south to downtown Vancouver and Marpole, using the double track R-o-W of the Arbutus corridor.
The Broadway subway is being built to replace the Broadway 99B Bus which has a maximum peak hour capacity of 2,000 pphpd, catering to traffic flows under 3,000 persons per hour per direction, The North American standard for building a subway is to cater to transit routes with traffic flows in excess of 15,000.
Two interesting facts:
1) Modern light rail, even a streetcar can cater to traffic flows of 20,000 pphpd or more.
2) According to Thales News Release about the $1.47 billion re-signalling of the Expo and Millennium Lines, the Millennium Line (Broadway subway) will be re-signaled for a maximum capacity of only 7,500 pphpd!
From Thales July 2022 News Release:
The government of Canada, the government of British Columbia, and the region have committed to investing $C 1.47bn in the Expo and Millennium Line Upgrade Programme until 2027.
When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively.
This certainly indicates TransLink knows full well that even future ridership does not justify a $2.7 billion subway under Broadway!
As Alstom will most likely end the production of SkyTrain/MALM in the near future, Translink and metro Vancouver may find itself with a light metro system that no one makes parts for!
Today, Alstom owns the MALM system and all technical patents, but SNC Lavalin still owns engineering patents for the proprietary railway. Alstom is not actively marketing the system and by all appearances will phase out production altogether when the last paid for cars are completed for Vancouver.Vancouver is now the only customer as no other transit authority wants the dated light-metro system.
A bigger problem is that the MALM system is a proprietary railway and no one, except Alstom, produces compatible vehicles or specialty parts. If Alstom pulls the plug on MALM production and probably will because the system is now dated and is deemed obsolete!
This also brings another strange case, the "the MK.5 train bidding process", where Bombardier won the bid from a phantom bidding process (mock auction?) as no other company had a ready to run train that could operate on the Expo and Millennium Lines. TransLink is very reluctant with information on this salient point! What is TransLink afraid of?
It seems no one was thinking 20 minutes into the future, planning the Broadway subway.
Sadly I agree with all of what you’re saying. Cc 123 assumes nobody in government or TransLink is listening. Thanks for reading
It is sad, but it is even worse. The future costs for our transit system will mean, those with cars will have 1st class transit and those relying on public transit will, be treated as steerage.