There are an estimated 25 cities in North America that have built some form of light rapid transit system.

Another 100 are considering the costs and have been searching for appropriate plans to suit their needs.

In Western Canada, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton have constructed LRT projects, and they are proceeding with plans to extend their systems to other parts of each city.

Vancouver boasts, what some experts call, the newest and most advanced form of rapid transit in North America. It is known simply as the SkyTrain.

The computer-guided trains handle upwards of 60,000 riders a day on its 21-kilometre route. Another five kilometres will be added by the end of 1989.

The cost of the first leg of track has been pegged at $864 million. The addition will will cost will cost about $179 million.

A B.C. Transit public relations official says the SkyTrain carried more than 150,000 people a day during Expo 86. "That tells us we have more than sufficient capacity for the rest of this century," he says. "We bought for the future, not just for our needs of today."

In Calgary, more than 50,000 rides are taken daily in and out of downtown on the city's 22.3 kilometres of LRT. By the end of 1987 an additional 5.4 kilometres will be completed.

The first leg of the project was opened in 1981 at a cost of $174 million. The second stage was completed four years later after another $215 million was spent. The third section, a 5.4 kilometre stretch pointing to the northwest, should be operational at the end of the year with a price tag of $105.5 million.

The city of Calgary and the provincial government have split the costs of the $500 million system, a Calgary Transit spokesman says.

About 300 kilometres north of Calgary, Edmonton residents can claim the first LRT system in Western Canada. The city's 10.3-kilometre LRT opened in three stages beginning in 1978 and finishing in 1983 at a cost of $200 million.

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