Greater Vancouver’s public transit system is an international transit joke, . It works on the same principle as a Lionel toy train, with each car have roughly the same capacity as a London taxi. The opening day per-ride operating subsidy was about $6 So, why was it built? Well, when the local planners came up with conventional Light Rail transit in 1980, then-Municipal Affairs minister Bill Vander Zalm told his people to find him another technology. They found ALRT: $400 million more to build, 1/2 the capacity, but wait! They didn’t have to pay any uppity bus drivers to drive the trains. The teen gangs and muggers love the system, international transit experts still have the giggles and the per-ride subsidy, with inflation is up around $28 a ride.