Vancouver’s SkyTrain Subway Gambit

With great manipulations of the truth and terror tactics, abetted by Vision mayor and council majority,Ai??designed to scare local merchants the City of Vancouver has outlined its desire to have regional taxpayers ante up for a politically prestigious, $2.8 billionAi??SkyTrain subway, under Broadway to UBC.

The same old dated anti-LRT rhetoric, that has been used since 1980, when SkyTrain was first foisted on the taxpayer has been dusted off and used again by Vancouver’s bureaucrats and politicians. Even though modern LRT has made SkyTrain obsolete two decades ago, dated transit thinking and land-grab developer mentality, still rules regional politics.

Ever notice, no one buys with SkyTrain anymore? Well, Vancouver politicos and bureaucrats still remain blind deaf and dumb to that fact.

The NDP leaning Vision(less) Vancouver mob that controls Vancouver City Council think that premier to be, Adrian Dix, will give the city a blank cheque to fund the dated SkyTrain mini-metro subway, but financial storm clouds on the horizon may dampen any provincial funding for the project for many decades to come.

The joker in the deck is the transit bare City of Surrey and its popular mayor Dianne Watts who just may turn Vancouver’s blinkered transit planning for a hugely expensive, TransLink inspiredAi?? SkyTrain subway into a major politicalAi??bid to become Premier in 2017. The rest of the mayors and politicians South of the Fraser may agitate for secession from TransLink and even Metro Vancouver, leaving the City of Vancouver and the the rest of the muni’s North of the river at risk of seeing property taxes double, if not triple to pay for politically prestigious, but financially ruinous SkyTrain light-metro.

Let there be no mistake, if Vancouver gets a $2.8 billion plus SkyTrain subway, there will be no money on the table for Rail for the ValleyAi??or major transit improvements South of the Fraser.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouver+unveils+billion+vision+Broadway+corridor+subway/7618762/story.html#ixzz2DVKzERMm

Ai??Cities working together makes sense, says Vancouver councillor Geoff Meggs

Surrey and Vancouver are using their combined clout to push for rapid transitAi?? projects in Metro Vancouver, despite being rivals for the scant transportationAi?? dollars available.

Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs said the two cities canai??i??t afford to fight overAi?? which one should get a new rapid transit line first, noting both projects haveAi?? regional significance. About 50 per cent of transit users using the BroadwayAi?? corridor, for instance, come from outside Vancouver.

ai???Thereai??i??s a strong need for regional investment,ai??? Meggs said. ai???We have a lotAi?? of people going back and forth from one city to the other.ai???

His comments come a day after a Surrey planner joined VancouverAi?? transportation manager Jerry Dobrovolny at City Hall as he outlined a vision forAi?? a $2.8-billion subway for the Broadway corridor.

The proposal, along with a rapid transit line for Surrey, are the next twoAi?? high-dollar rapid transit projects earmarked for Metro Vancouver, although noAi?? decision on which one will be built first, or when, has been made.

Meggs argues the Broadway corridor has been in line for rapid transit for atAi?? least a decade and already has more population density and economic activityAi?? than other areas in the city with access to rapid transit.

Serving the University of B.C. and the central Broadway business districtAi?? spanning from Main to Burrard streets, the route sees about 160,000 dailyAi?? transit trips. The 99-B Line, for instance, runs frequently on the BroadwayAi?? corridor, but an estimated 2,000 people are passed up by overcrowded buses everyAi?? day.

And itai??i??s no faster to drive. A recent report by the Urban Futures InstituteAi?? found UBC is one of the most difficult areas to travel to by car in MetroAi?? Vancouver.

ai???[UBC] is tucked away so even if thereai??i??s no traffic on the road it takes aAi?? long time to get there,ai??? said Andrew Ramlo, director of Urban FuturesAi?? Institute.

TransLink is studying seven options for the Broadway line, including addingAi?? extra buses at a cost of $325 million to light rail ($1.1 billion), rapid railAi?? ($3.2 billion) or a combination of the three. A recommendation is expected nextAi?? year after a technical study on the corridor is completed.

Richard Walton, chairman of the mayorsai??i?? council on regional transportation,Ai?? said any decisions on whatai??i??s built will ai???depend on the funding available and theAi?? politics at the time.ai???

He acknowledges itai??i??s ai???good politicsai??? for Surrey and Vancouver to workAi?? together, noting they have significant clout as combined they represent nearlyAi?? one-third of B.C.ai??i??s population.

This should bode well ahead of the provincial election next May, Walton said,Ai?? because ai???the size of infrastructure projects in Metro Vancouver are a huge partAi?? of provincial needs.

ai???Thereai??i??s no question that with the funding impasse the way it is, anythingAi?? that goes ahead is going to require significant capital funding in the future,ai??? he said. ai???Surrey and Vancouver are going to have to continue to lobby theAi?? business case. Theyai??i??re doing what every community should be doing and advocatingAi?? for their needs.ai???

Both projects would take at least five years to design and another five toAi?? build, meaning they wouldnai??i??t even be likely be built until 2020-2022. ai???We needAi?? to get the wheels turning and the finances in place,ai??? he said.

Meanwhile, Adrien Byrne, spokesman for the Urban Development Institute, saidAi?? Vancouver should be developing a land-use policy for the Broadway corridor. ThisAi?? would allow the city to get buy-in from the community and developers, whichAi?? would help finance the project through community amenities.

Developers are now cashing in on projects along the Canada Line, he said, yetAi?? the city isnai??i??t using developer levies for transit. And the city has failed toAi?? reap benefits along the Expo and Millennium lines as many of those stationsAi?? havenai??i??t realized higher density. Richmond, on the other hand, has built its newAi?? Capstan station using development funds.

ai???Many of those stations (along the Expo and Millennium lines) havenai??i??t beenAi?? leveraged with developments,ai??? Byrne said. ai???In many other jurisdictions transitAi?? and land use go hand in hand and in Vancouver, thatai??i??s not the case.ai???

ksinoski@vancouversun.com

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Rapid+transit+push+from+Vancouver+Surrey+regional+investment/7624506/story.html#ixzz2DdWNda9o