Maybe Evergreen Line just isn’t affordable – From the Vancouver Province
Posted by zweisystem on Thursday, June 9, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Maybe Evergreen Line just isn’t affordable – you think? 11 km. of transit route for over $1.4 billion seems to be just a tad too much especially when it is compared with other transit modes, but Translink has created a lot of spin for the (N)Evergreen Line and it would be truly embarrassing for them if the project were to be mothballed. Certainly transit planners in Vancouver would smile, as it would mean their cherished $4 billion Broadway/UBC subway would be a step closer to reality and we all know that subways built in Vancouver will be affordable because subways will make Vancouver a coveted ‘world class city’!
The debate to build subways has been around a long time.
The Province June 8, 2011
http://www.theprovince.com/opinion/editorials/Maybe+Evergreen+Line+just+affordable/4910671/story.html
Metro Vancouver mayors face a daunting, near-impossible task. They need to figure out a way to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars for their municipalities’ share of the $1.4-billion Evergreen transit line.
The problem is, the public feels tapped out, with zero enthusiasm for new taxes.
B.C. has pledged some $400 million toward the Evergreen Line, and Ottawa has offered a similar figure. But, as Finance Minister Kevin Falcon told The Province editorial board Tuesday, local governments need to come up with their share of the cost so that people in other parts of B.C. aren’t being asked to fully cover a project for which they receive no benefit.
Given the numerous transportation projects in the Lower Mainland in recent years -the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the Canada Line and the Port Mann Bridge, to name a few -we’re at a crossroads. It’s either time to hold off on new projects until we can afford them or taxpayers need to accept that new taxes will be needed for more service.
But the mayors better not try the latter until Translink gets serious about collecting fares instead of letting so many people ride for free as they do now.
© Copyright (c) The Province
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And in repy – Letters to the Editor
Maybe if TransLink held off on studies, meetings, consultations about the UBC line, the SFU gondola, etc., they could save a few bucks and apply them to the longpromised Evergreen Line.
Or is there a need to justify their jobs?
Your editorial “Maybe Evergreen Line just isn’t affordable” should also question why we keep building the very expensive, yet obsolete SkyTrain mini-metro system, which is now regarded as an operating museum piece.
The Rail for the Valley group, in conjunction with Leewood Projects, released an independent light-rail plan, using a variant of modern LRT called TramTrain. TramTrain is simply a light-rail vehicle or streetcar that can operate both on streetcar tracks and on the main line railways. Today, new TramTrain operations outnumber SkyTrain by over three to one, yet the mode was introduced 15 years after SkyTrain.
A “full build,” 138-kilometre tram system linking Vancouver/Richmond and Rosedale, past Chilliwack, would cost under $1 billion, which compares very favourably with the 11-kilometre, $1.4-billion SkyTrain Evergreen Line.
Malcolm Johnston, Delta
