Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

The board plans on meeting at the end of April to take public comment on the participation-withdrawal question and to gather more information from Columbia River Crossing officials before voting in mid-May.

citizens who support a vote on a new light rail extension made their case to the Vancouver City Council, but were not able to revive a petition the county declared invalid this month. The light rail opponents circulated a proposal that would have prohibited the use of Vancouver city funds to extend a light rail system into town from Portland, Ore.

The rapid-transit line would run underground along the city's second busiest travel corridor, which currently sees about 160,000 daily transit trips. Officials said the subway would be more efficient and less disruptive than streetcar service.

The members in favor of the block prefer a broad public vote in November asking residents to help pay for light rail in Vancouver.

Coast Mountain Bus Co., TransLink and the Metro Vancouver bus drivers' union are working together to stop assaults on female bus drivers, by calling for tougher sentences and stronger legislation, and installing cameras, GPS systems and assault alarms on buses.

TransLink has averaged 1.6 million people a day, which is more than twice the normal daily average of 750,000 and well above the pre-Games forecast of 1.1 million passengers

The Delta Prevost Service Center has also set up a Twitter account to communicate with drivers and operators during the Games. The company will be able to post information about open bays and emergency service, and drivers can use Twitter to communicate service requests to the Prevost Service Center personnel.

Bombardier will operate the streetcars as a free service, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, between Jan. 21 and March 21, 2010. The vehicles are on loan from the Brussels Transport Company STIB.