Dead Parrot Sketch
Want fast express bus service?
Simple, run it point to point without any intermediate stops.
This is what TransLink is going to do on the proposed new 555 Port Mann express bus service from the newAi??Carvolth bus exchange in Surrey to the Braid SkyTrain station in New Westminster, without intermediate stops.
Er….excuse me TransLink, isn’t a bus service supposed to stop along the way to pick-up or set down transit customers?
Evidently not and it seems potential bus customers have to “magic” themselves on the bus if they want to travel from Surrey to Vancouver.
Sadly, TransLink seems completely out of its depth trying to run a transit system and hopefully it is only a matter of time for the powers that be put TransLink out of its misery. TransLink and its ponderous and equally expensive bureaucracy is like Polly Parrot from the famous Monty Python pet shop sketch, “is no more“, “has ceased to be“, “bereft of life, it rests in peace“, “ ****ing snuffed it!”
Let us hope regional politicians feel the same.
Port Mann express bus from Langley to bypass Surrey
Ai??Abandoned plans for transit exchange likened to a Monty Python skit
By Tara Carman, Vancouver SunNovember 22, 2012
Surreyai??i??s mayor and residents are angry that rapid bus service over the new Port Mann Bridge will not stop in their city, despite the fact they are being hit with the brunt of the tolls and live in the regionai??i??s second-largest city.
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts compared the absence of a bus stop in her city for a new express bus between Langley and Burnaby to a comedy skit.
ai???The tolls are being implemented on the Port Mann Bridge, and now youai??i??re not going to put a stop in Surrey?ai??? Watts said, adding that it is ai???unreasonableai??? for the rapid bus line to bypass a city of half-a-million people.
ai???Youai??i??ve got the province that built the infrastructure, youai??i??ve got the city (of Surrey) thatai??i??s always expected it and youai??i??ve got TransLink saying it was never there. Itai??i??s like a Monty Python skit.ai???
Plans floated by the provincial Ministry of Transportation as part of the Gateway program depict a new transit loop and park-and-ride at the intersection of 156th Street and Highway 1 as part of a rapid bus service between Langley and Lougheed Mall. But there are no plans for that bus, which will start running when the new bridge opens Dec. 1, to stop in Surrey.
Watts said she is continuing to press TransLink and the province for a Surrey stop on the rapid bus line.
ai???However it gets worked out, we need to have a bus stop and pickup for those residents in that part of the city.ai???
Watts said that until a few days ago, city engineers were working under the assumption that there would be a stop at 156th and were discussing it with officials from both TransLink and the province.
Transportation Minister Mary Polak said the initial plan, from 2007, included a transit interchange at 156th Street, but TransLink abandoned the concept.
ai???At this stage and as far as I know, fairly early on in the discussions, TransLink ruled out that possibility for the initial launch of the express bus,ai??? Polak said Thursday.
But that does not mean the bus wonai??i??t stop at 156th in the future.
ai???We have built infrastructure into the 156th part of Highway 1 in anticipation of (the transit interchange) happening eventually.
ai???The concept, in essence, remains and thatai??i??s why weai??i??ve built in the infrastructure because eventually that will become something that they will put in place. They made the decision not to do so now, but itai??i??s still contemplated in the future.ai???
But TransLink spokesman Derek Zabel said a stop for the rapid bus line at 156th Street was never part of the plan.
An earlier concept under consideration by local and provincial government officials, developers and TransLink involved the creation of a larger development and transit exchange at 156th, Zabel said.
ai???I know that there are some maps that would show that, but ai??i?? no commitments were ever made and discussions didnai??i??t continue.ai???
When the express bus ai??i?? called the 555 Port Mann ai??i?? hits the roads next month, it will run between the Carvolth transit exchange at 86th Avenue and 202nd Street in Langley and the Braid SkyTrain station in New Westminster. The western terminus will change to Lougheed Mall when the appropriate ramps are built, Zabel said.
The bus will run every 10 minutes during the morning and afternoon peak periods and every half-hour during non-peak hours.
Surrey residents supported the new bridge and the rapid bus line in part because it would have provided a faster and more direct commute option for residents of communities near the bridge, such as Fraser Heights and Guildford, Watts said. The alternative for transit users such as Daryl Dela Cruz is to take a longer bus route along 104th to Surrey Central station.
ai???This is absolutely unfair treatment to the citizens of a city that is years overdue for proactive investment in competitive rapid transit services,ai??? said Dela Cruz, a Surrey transit advocate who lives near 156th Street and had planned to use the bus.
He was surprised to learn that it would not stop there while checking for schedule information several days ago.
Wow. Carvolth exchange in LANGLEY. (Need to change that in your post Zwei.) I guess Surrey doesn’t have the population or density to support a BUS STOP!
Too funny, the dead parrot picture cracked me up, TransLink is run con-artists who are costing taxpayers $86 million annually, to umm… to come up with ideas! Who wouldn’t want to get paid big money to sit around all day to come up with ideas? Just fire the idiots at TransLink, already.
TransLink was set up to sell the world on SkyTrain. It was going to build linear induction motors here to create jobs! It never happened, the dead parrot picture characterizes TransLink perfectly.
Engineers who evaluate transit on its merits saw through the gimmicky elevated and automated trains (SkyTrain). Trams use less energy and move more people for less money than SkyTrain by the goofballs at TransLink. Engineers in the rest of Canada are going with trams.
We are left with billion of dollars of elevated trains which can’t possibly pay for themselves because they increase operating costs with control room operators, added buses along the SkyTrain routes, added bus drivers along the SkyTrain routes and added diesel fuel expenses along the SkyTrain routes.
Along Broadway, if trams were used, they would eliminate 250,000 bus service hours costing TransLink $115 each service hour! This alone would save TransLink about $29 million annually (250,000 * $115 = $29 million) to pay for the ~$300 million tram line to replace all the 250,000 bus service hours.
Sure, the tram would cost about $12 million to operate annually, but even just the 50,000 U-Passes for eight months ($240) would earn TransLink the $12 million to pay for the operation of the tram line. Gulp.
So, in about 10 years, TransLink would be making at least $29 million annually from the tram line while reducing Greenhouse emissions by five million kilograms annually, too! Nah, that would be too advanced in thinking for TransLink, better to plan for a $3 billion a SkyTrain-tunnel to UBC in 10 to 20 and lose $29 million until then. TransLink is run by thinkers – who are accountants and economist. Engineers are not smart like them.
It feels like the project went over budget or was cut back at the begining of the planning process and it was decided to go forward with the least cost project possible. Half hour service outside of peak is not that frequent. Or you are being mommentarily punished for the lack of official Sky Train support. Isn’t the Surrey Mayor a LRT supporter? Makes you think doesn’t it? Normally I am a supporter of a more calm approach towards your Transit Agency such as not getting personal and calling the rank and file staff of Translink “Idiots!”, especially if you ever hope to have your Tram-Train concept see the light of day. You will need their professional staff to help you convince Transport Canada to like the concept. With my limited experience in helping set up the O-Train years ago in Ottawa, concepts that exist in more than one of Transport Canada’s description boxes are not looked on favorably. In this case however, take Translink to the mat. It is my professional opinion that you guys got screwed. Make them understand Sky Train or LRT supporter, you intend to make a lot of noise and you will not stop, ever. Tell them that, if you want our money you better start thinking
Point out to Translink that if you hope to ever build another Sky Train line or extension anywhere, it is hard for people to put mega amonts of their tax dollars into any rail project while you bypass (even if it is just for the initial project) over half a million potential passengers. It is quite clear that the project’s budget did not include the seats needed for Surrey or its own express bus stop. This is a major galf by staff if the reason to not operationally include Surrey is not budget related. Even with a budget issue, you need to ask about the decision process around bypassing your region’s second largest city in favor of a smaller community further away from the line’s endpoint. Keeping in mind however that, not all bus routes are about profitability but basic access (coverage issues) as well and that is the real core of publicly run transit.
If the issue around routing express buses to Langley instead of Surrey is not because of basic access problems in Langley but a budget problem serious questions need to be asked. What is the extra yearly operational and maintenance costs of going to Langley vs. Surrey? What is the difference in cost of a bus stop in the two communities? Does starting the line in Surrey put the whole project in jeapordy cost wise?
If this is a political or access based decision why is Langley seen as more important than the region’s second largest city? Make sure you hit the media outlets who do not support your cause as well. Do not count on letters to the editor but get real reporters and print reporters to carry the issue for you. You would be amazed how easy it is to get TV and Radio reports about this. Both love contriversy and are begging for REAL CONTENT NOT FILLER REPORTS! You guys have to convince the media to get involved and ask the important questions that are designed to compell Translink to answer. Then issues of why Skytrain instead of LRT bringing the point home that, if it is not cost effective to bypass Surrey for the express bus why is it cost effective to spend billions on a proprietary light metro system when many cities in Canada are opting for LRT that can carry more people and are a third the cost to build? If the driverless systems are so much cheaper to operate why is Toronto and Ottawa building LRT instead? If the technology so much cheaper why is K-W (Kitchener-Waterloo) starting with it instead of starting with ART? With all the LRT systems starting up why are we buying ART vehicles from Bombardier when we could save a ton of money piggey backing on the many large Ontario LRT orders also from Bombardier? What is Translink doing to investigate this and why are they not if money is such an issue?
Lastly, why are Hamilton, Peel Region (Mississauga, Brampton) and York Region (Once the entire Viva BRT system is complete and passes certain ridership targets) competely bypassing ART technology? Why have both Winnipeg and Montreal revisited LRT technology after looking at or building some BRT technology instead of ART technology? Why have local ideas that use underused existing rail lines ignored in favor of building very expensive grade seperated right of way from scratch? All in the atmosphere of not having enough local money to finish the Evergreen Line while you bypass a large transit market in Surrey in favor of a smaller one further away. It is often a challenge professionally to explain certain decisions to the public because they really do lack some of the fundimental knowledge needed to understand why transit planners do what they do, I have gone through this problem before. You spend 15 minutes answering their simple question because they really do not have the basic understanding of what they are really asking. They get frustrated at the long answer because they do not think it is a complex question and get more upset that they were not expecting to have to learn something and have to refocus some attention to issues they did not know even existed. Sometimes and thankfully it is very rare, the people ask questions that they really do not have the capacity to ever understand the answer. A question like, “Why do we need this public transit thing when all I want is a bus?”, has thankfully only happened once.
In this case however something must be done because certain questions have not been answered by your local press simply reporting the issue is shallow when you have not asked why? Explain the decision and the process around it. Believe me something has happened here. If Translink is bypassing certain areas to service others, you may have a case where existing policies have bypassed the reality test and no one paid enough attention to the actual result. They seem to have said this is done and will fix the problems later when we have the interest and or the resources. Even if you do not support LRT remember you get the system you ask for. If your professionals are really not listening simply writing letters will not get the issue to them, you need to raise the volume to their bosses. The press will get on when board but they need explosive content not just opinion. Sunday TV,Radio and newspapers are the easiest to penetrate.
@Haveacow, after five years of learning the ropes and dealing with TransLink, I am done trying to convince crooks and hacks at TransLink to do the right thing. TransLink is essentially a dysfunctional and corrupt organization. It is a house of cards and a monstrosity.
TransLink is building SkyTrains which cost a fortune and then TransLink is increasing operating costs to put more buses on the roads to fill the SkyTrain cars. Who in his or her right mind would that? In contrast, trams reduce operating costs to move more people and are the future, not SkyTrain.
SkyTrain was going to be the next Windows by Microsoft or 747 by Boeing. It turned out to be a lame duck and trams took the transit market. TransLink was going to build linear induction motors here to rule the world and to market SkyTrain worldwide to create thousands of jobs! Instead, it is taxing drivers to stay afloat and to perpetuate the hoax that SkyTrain has merit. No jobs exist except the ones created by taxing drivers to pay for the TransLink bureaucracy which does nothing but manage itself.
TransLink is in bed with developers and the whole lot of them are rotten to the core. SkyTrain is a gimmick used by developers to bulldoze homes, parks and golf-courses for to developers to unbelievably build roads and freeways to new condo developments (which are packed with parking spaces) for more people to drive!
Go look at Cambie Street: the golf course is being turned into condos, people are losing their homes to condo developers, it is a mess. It is sickening to see.
It is called densification and Vancouver which can tax the drivers moving into the condos is all too happy to rave about it. However, it is really creating slums along SkyTrain lines and future ghettos to rival the ones in Toronto which has already benefited from “densification induced by subways which are akin to SkyTrains”:
http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/446150/vancouvers-middle-class-shrinks-poverty-spreads-along-skytrain/
This is not what TransLink or the Vancouver Sun publishing propaganda for TransLink wants anyone to know. People are starting to make noise and wait until the provincial election to see how much.