A Broadway LRT or streetcar could look like this

LRT operating on Broadway could look like this.

The preceding picture shows a German concept of LRT operating on a city street. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorists have good access to the city street, with the trams providing the “capacity” for high traffic flows.

If the city of Vancouver ever wished to actually reduce auto traffic, while at the same time, provide an ambient and affordable public transit, a complete rethink must be done on about major city streets and the concept of “arterial” roads. In the future, an “arterial” road, may mean a road that has a tram or streetcar!

From the Globe and Mail.

“Direct light-rail line to campus the way to go, UBC says
FRANCES BULA
VANCOUVER ai??i?? The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Nov. 27 2012, 8:00 AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Nov. 27 2012, 8:00 AM EST

UBC is urging the city to advocate for a rapid-transit line all the way out to the university right away.

Officials say the two-phase system for the Broadway line, which Mayor Gregor Robertson has been pitching, is not workable for them.

UBC has 140,000 people a day coming and going from the campus by transit, with nothing but increases on the horizon. The Broadway B-Line bus service, which currently connects the campus on the western tip of the city peninsula with a Commercial Drive station in east Vancouver, frequently has to pass up people waiting at bus stops during peak hours.

A two-phase rapid-transit line “is just not a solution,” said Pascal Spothelfer, the university’s vice-president of community partnerships. “Over 50 per cent of our passenger volume coming to UBC is by transit. That’s despite the fact that a large number of people are being passed up.”

Having a line all the way out to the university will spark even more of a transformation at UBC in how people get there and how the university develops, he said.

“It is a real game-changer, a generational shift.”

Mr. Robertson said recently the city is advocating to regional transportation authority TransLink for a first phase along Broadway with a tunnelled SkyTrain to Arbutus ai??i?? an option everyone knows is going to be expensive.

From there, he said, rapid buses could take people the rest of the way to UBC, and a SkyTrain could be extended to the campus at some undefined point in the future.

The extension was supposed to have come quickly after the Millennium Line was built from Coquitlam to Vancouver in 2001.

But it was moved down the queue after the province pushed for the Canada Line to be built in time for the Olympics.

TransLink is currently reviewing plans for the Broadway extension, along with plans for a light-rail extension for Surrey.

But UBC is saying that it might be better to build one cheaper light-rail line in order to get the whole route covered within TransLink’s budget, instead of one expensive SkyTrain for half and then buses for the other half.

“I’d rather see whatever the solution is to be a complete solution,” said Mr. Spothelfer.

Mr. Spothelfer said the two-phase solution just moves the problem down the line for the passengers trying to get across town.

“So if a train is full, do we have 20 buses waiting to take them?”

A two-phase approach also guarantees that UBC wouldn’t get rapid transit until some long-distant new round of funding, because TransLink typically only takes on a big transit expansion once a decade.

“If we miss this opportunity, it’s not like this will come back in the next two years. If a line gets built to Arbutus with no continuation to UBC now, only my grandchildren will get it.”

University officials are hoping that they hear a new message from the city as soon as Tuesday, with Vancouver’s two top engineers scheduled to give an update on the Broadway-line plans.

The university and city have been in a “very active dialogue” since the mayor made his remarks about a two-phase approach 10 days ago, said Mr. Spothelfer.

UBC has seen its students, staff and faculty shift their commuting patterns dramatically in the past 14 years, going from 77 per cent private-vehicle use to 43 per cent.

About 138,900 transit trips are now made to and from the university on an average weekday.

Mr. Spothelfer pointed out that the university is the province’s third-largest employer, with a huge number of commuters. It also has a large number of its medical students and faculty travelling regularly to the growing hospital-and-research precinct near Broadway and Oak, which is about 10 kilometres east of the university.

The mayor’s reference to a two-phase solution with buses came as news to the university.

“I was a bit surprised by him bringing up the buses again,” said Mr. Spothelfer.

He said he understands the city’s priority is serving the density it has along Broadway.

“They’re pretty set in what serves their immediate purpose.”

But he and others at the university are anxious to prove that serving UBC with good transit sooner rather than later is also in the city’s interest.

Broadway rapid transit- Is the SkyTrain subway option a done deal? – From July 2011

Broadway rapid transit- Is the SkyTrain subway option a done deal?

It seems that Surrey mayor, Dianne Watts, hasAi??to look over her shoulder and see what her counterparts are up to in Vancouver, before she supports a gas tax increase.

It seems a Broadway SkyTrain subway is a done deal and this gas tax money she wants to fund light rail in surrey, will probably not go to fund the stale-dated (N)Evergreen line, butAi??a SkyTrain subway in Vancouver. Any agreement on transit funding must be regarded as a mere scrap of paper that will soon be discarded at the first politically opportune time.

I think it is time for Mayor Watts and the rest of the South Fraser mayors lobby strong and hard for the BC government to cut TransLink in two; those who have SkyTrain and want to continue building with SkyTrain and those who want to build with cheaper transit options.

The refusal of Vancouver politicians to consider modern LRT for Broadway, just confirm that South Fraser taxpayers are regarded as peasants and vassals, country bumpkins, who are nothing more than tax ‘milch-cows’ to fund Vancouver’s ambitious and extremely expensive SkyTrain subway building program.

Update: Nothing has changed as the City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. is hell bent to secure a SkyTrain subway for Broadway, no matter what the cost. Vancouver Councillor Geoff Megs and a sundry of NDP types are cheer-leading a multi billion dollar subway for Broadway, paid for – well you guessed it, the long suffering South Fraser taxpayers. The question is; “Has, NDP premier in waiting, Adrian Dix, alrady agreed to fund a SkyTrain subway for Broa

---

Vancouver mayoral candidates Push for Broadway tunnel

but business owners, pointing to Cambie Corridor Canada Line experience, fear business loss if subway option is approved.

By Glen Korstrom ai??i?? Business in Vancouver

Vancouverai??i??s mayoral candidates are pushing for a SkyTrain tunnel link under the Broadway corridor to be the regionai??i??s top transit priority once Evergreen Line financing is confirmed.

The proposed link would connect with the Millennium Line and go as far west as Arbutus ai??i?? a route that will inevitably cause friction given that many Broadway business owners fear any type of tunnel construction along their corridor will kill their enterprise.

TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie told Business in Vancouver that TransLinkai??i??s board has yet to determine the top regional priority after the Evergreen Line.

ai???Everything from Surrey rapid transit to Broadway rapid transit to gondolas going up Burnaby Mountain all fall into the queue,ai??? he said.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Non-Partisan challenger Susan Anton agree that reducing congestion on the Broadway corridor is vital for the region.

ai???Itai??i??s crucial that we have the Sky-Train technology through the Broadway corridor,ai??? Robertson told BIV in an exclusive interview June 29.

ai???The growth and population and the traffic challenges in the Broadway corridor are unsustainable, so weai??i??ve got to see the Broadway corridor served by the big pipe.ai???

Anton described the proposed link as a ai???regional line with regional importance.ai???

The Broadway corridor is the second busiest employment centre outside the downtown core, and TransLink estimates that there are 110,000 trips along the Broadway corridor each day.

ai???In central Broadway, the only way you can manage the number of trips is with SkyTrain technology,ai??? Anton said.

Anton’s and Robertsonai??i??s mutual belief that SkyTrain is the only viable technology in the Broadway corridor worries business owners and frustrates light-rail advocates. Ray’s Beauty school for Hairdressing owner Gina Ray told BIV that she will close her 12-year-old business if regional politicians approve any form of tunnel along Broadway.

She likes the idea of a burrowed tunnel but fears that construction will cause more disruption than authorities say.

ai???I donai??i??t trust them,ai??? she said. ai???On Cambie Street there were so many businesses that went bankrupt or had to close. They did not expect to have the cut-and-cover [construction method].ai???

Indeed,Ai?? Hazel & Co owner Susan Heyes suffered a drastic drop in customers for her maternity wear store when the Canada Line construction consortium dug a tunnel outside her store.

She lost aAi?? B.C. Court of Appeal judgment after she sued to recover $600,000 in damages from the consortium for business losses. Her only hope now is for the Supreme Court of Canada

to agree to hear the case.

The West Broadway Business Improvement AssociationAi?? (WBBIA) officially opposes a tunnel. Its directors have examined TransLinkai??i??s seven options for improved transit in the Broadway corridor and decided that at-grade transportation, whether it involves more buses or a light-rail system, is preferable.

ai???We donai??i??t want a SkyTrain tunnel. Whether it is cut and cover or a bored tunnel doesn’tai??i??t matter to us, because bored tunnels take longer and construction would cut off all the east-west traffic on West Broadway for a number of years,ai??? said WBBIA director Donna Dobo, who owns the West Broadway costume store Just Imagine.

Light-rail advocate Malcolm Johnston has been lobbying to build light rail on Broadway for decades. Light rail would not require construction of a tunnel. It would instead run at grade along the existing corridor.

Now part of Rail For The Valley, Johnston spends much of his time lobbying to have light rail in the Fraser Valley. But he still thinks light rail on Broadway is the more practical and a better value than building a subway.

ai???TransLinkai??i??s planning is arcane,ai??? Johnston said. ai???Itai??i??s dated, and they misinform the public. What else can I say? I wouldai??i??t trust them to build an outhouse.ai???

Johnston, who is familiar with TransLinkai??i??s seven proposals, believes the transportation authority has skewed its figures to make rapid transit appear to be a more viable option than either light rail or buses.

He believes TransLink pulls numbers out of the air, such as its assertion that 110,000 bus trips are made daily in the corridor.

Despite BIVai??i??s repeated requests for details about that figure and estimates, TransLink was unable to provide that data.

ai???TransLink says SkyTrain attracts more ridership than light rail. This is absolutely unproven,ai??? Johnston said.

ai???Sit down for this. Light rail has a bigger capacity than SkyTrain. This is contrary to the spin that TransLink has. De facto, a streetcar or even light rail has proven to have higher capacity than a subway unless you build a London-style metro [with multiple lines and longer trains].ai???

gkorstrom@biv.com

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.

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.

tcarman@vancouversun.com

Trams (streetcars) Happily Co-exist With Bicycles

On the radio a few days ago, there was some disparaging accusations about LRT (trams or streetcars) and bicycles. Evidently there are some at Vancouver’s city hall who think that cyclists will be killed or maimed by the score by streetcars or light rail operating on Broadway.

In less tram backward countries, such as the Netherlands, cyclist and trams happily co-exist and many tram routes through the city have adjacent bicycle lanes.

A picture is worth a thousand words, unless that is, you live in Vancouver.

From Amsterdam……………………..

November 16, 2012 – SkyTrain On The Fritz Again – So What Else Is New!

When ones builds with a complicated gadgetbahnen, with all the bells and whistles that come with an automatic (driverless) transit system, one forgets at the time of purchase that gadgetbahnen age very poorly and as they grow older, they become very stubborn to operate. Sadly, the warranty for SkyTrain is long over and it is the suffering transit customer and more so, the suffering regional taxpayer that must pay for political and bureaucratic silliness.

It all boils down to this; when one buys an Edsel, one can hardly think that they can operate it on the cheap.

As SkyTrain ages, the more it will break down and the more it breaks down, the more inconvenient it becomes and the more inconvenient SkyTrain becomes, the more transit customers go back to the car, if they can.

SkyTrain problem causing system-wide delays

The problem is at Scott Road station

News1130 StaffNov 16, 2012 07:17:43 AM

SURREY (NEWS1130) – There is a problem with a train, possibly a fire, at Scott Road station. TransLink says this is causing temporary delays across the system.Trains are single-tracking between Columbia and King George. Although service to the Millenium Line has been restored, there are still large crowds at the stations.The Canada Line is not affected.

Fares Up – TransLink’s Customers Pay More For Planning Incompetence.

Yes, yes, we knew this was coming, fare increases.

TransLink, by refusing to do real cost cutting measures, has opened the door for fare increases. Yet those paying the least, the residents of Vancouver, have the most transit options, including three mini-metro lines; 13 trolley bus routes; and scores of urban bus routes. Those living in zone 2, Richmond, Burnaby,Ai??New WestminsterAi??and the North Shore, have reasonable transit options, including mini-metro and SeaBus. But it is those living in zone 3 that pay the most (if they travel outside zone 3) for the least transit options. This inequity has not been addressed by TransLink, nor do they want to, as it entails work.

What a concept, those working at TransLink doing real work on the public behalf!

One just hates to repeat it, but the real villainAi??responsible for the fare increases is the SkyTrain and the Canada Line mini-metros, which cost the taxpayer far more toAi??fund and operate thanAi??all the bus routes combined. TransLinkAi??and the TransLink board refuse to admit this unsavoury fact and by doing so, has taken the easy way out by increasing fares and hopefully increasing taxes.

Until TransLink gets real with SkyTrain and opts for much cheaper light rail (which can be built as a mini-metro if so desired and still operate cheaper than SkyTrain), fares will continue to increase, to pay for the hiddenAi??mini-metroAi??supplement.

The sad thing of course is that this was all predicted by transit experts of the day, when the Social Credit government forced SkyTrain on the region; restated by experts of the day when the provincial NDP again forced the SkyTrain Millennium Line on the region; and again just a few years ago when the BC Liberal party forced the Canada Line on the region.

The Evergreen line will see its own special fare increases in due course and have a nice day!

Transit fares increasing as of Jan. 1

By Kent Spencer, The ProvinceNovember 13, 2012

Metro Vancouver transit users are going to have to dig in their pockets forAi?? extra coins beginning on Jan. 1.

Thatai??i??s when one- and two-zone transit fares go up by 25 cents, and aAi?? three-zone fare increases by 50 cents.

TransLink says the increases are allowed under legislation which permitsAi?? prices to rise by an inflationary two per cent per year.

ai???Cash fares have not gone up since 2008,ai??? TransLink spokesman Derek ZabelAi?? said on Tuesday.

ai???Itai??i??s never an easy decision to increase fares, but weai??i??ve tried to do it inAi?? an affordable way for everybody,ai??? he said.

With the increases, a one-zone will cost $2.75, a two-zone $4 and aAi?? three-zone $5.50.

Day passes, monthly passes, employer pass program and HandyDART fares are also increasing by 12.5 per cent, as well as the price of a ticket on the West Coast Express. The price of FareSaver tickets does not change.

Don MacLeod, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union representing 3,600 bus drivers, said the public wonai??i??t appreciate higher fares when some routes are being cut.

ai???People donai??i??t mind paying more if theyai??i??re seeing more service. TransLink is going in the opposite direction,ai??? he said.

ai???It is eliminating some low ridership routes and realigning others. Theyai??i??re providing less service, not more,ai??? he said.

Ai?? Copyright (c) The Province

http://www.theprovince.com/business/Transit+fares+increasing/7543084/story.html#axzz2CCnxAtsh

 

Aftert 17 Years & Over $8 billion Invested In Light-metro – Nothing changed

After 17 years of SkyTrain and or Canada Line investment,Ai??with well over $8 billion of taxpayers monies spent, there has been little change in the overall modal share.

TransLink, a firm believer that is something doesn’t work, do it again, continues with SkyTrain light-metro planning or light rail designed as a poor man’s SkyTrain,Ai??for the region. Instead of proven bold initiatives to provide the region with an affordable public transit alternative, we get threats and demands for more money, to hire more bureaucrats to do more questionable bad planning. The TransLink Board withAi??a collection of the most inept professionals, rubber-stamp TransLink’s monetary demands, not to improve transit rather to keep their lucrative stipends.

This fiasco called TransLink, where regional politicians play petty politics with transit and seem easilyAi??lead astray with offers of a BRT here or the hint of a SkyTrain subway there.

The mainstream media, who have long given TransLink a “free pass” with the ongoing ‘Monty Pythonesque’ style of operation, must awake out of their collective stupor and portray TransLink for what it is, an out of control bureaucracy that since its inception has done little or nothing for the region except become a black hole for the taxpayer’s money.

To date, only the Mayor of Delta has stood up to TransLink’s silly demands for a surcharge at park and rides.

http://www.cknw.com/news/vancouver/story.aspx?ID=1816254

The sorry state of TransLink has gone on too long and it is time regional politicians show some collective ‘spine‘ and tell the province to dump TransLink and start again. The TransLink model is broken and so is the transit system. The decades of doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same results must stop and an affordable regime of transit initiatives must be implemented.

We know Delta’s Mayor, “is not afraid to bell the cat“, do any other of the regional mayors have the “moral fortitude” to do so?

Pre-fab Track for Broadway

Slab or prefabricated track maybe an economicAi??solution for light rail/streetcar construction on Broadway in Vancouver. Combined with using the existing OHLE (span wires and vertical supports), construction of a streetcar/LRT on Broadway could be built and in operation in less than two years.

The Broadway to UBC route is mainly straight, with little need for custom built curvatureAi??and with pre-fab construction, the roadbed for a new LRT/streetcar line could be built both quickly and with minimal problems for adjacent merchants.

The following article gives good insight to modern tram/streetcar/LRT track construction technique and one hopes that Vancouver’s Engineering Department take note.

Following decades of regress up to insignifi cance, a noticeable renaissance of theAi??tramway has taken place since the 90s. In the last 25 years alone, more than 140 cities around the globe have reintroduced tramway operation. New lines and networks have also emerged in Germany as well as in Eastern and Western Europe. Further new construction projects are planned.

In many cities, small and outdated tramlines are currently being reconstructed or extended. Awarding authorities and planning agencies are facing the tasks to include modern and demanding track systems in the townscape in a harmonic way. Moreover, these building projects must be handled in cities by disturbing residents and city traffic as little as possible. As a matter of course safety, environmental compatibility and quality must not be affected. This trend induced the Max BAi??gl group to develop an modern rail system for the railways of local public transport. Due to the consistently positive experiences with the FFB ai??i?? Slab Track BAi??gl, a system for mainrailway lines based on prefabricated concrete slabs, the basic design principles were adopted in a intelligently simplified way and optimised for different application fields with their special requirements.

The outcome of this was the innovative and very flexible tramway roadbed and track system of the 21st century: LRB ai??i?? Light Rail BAi??gl. Manufactured under certified production conditions in our precast plants, high-technology and high-quality prefabricated LRB elements can be installed by own skilled workers or by local professional companies. The progressive track technology from Max BAi??gl allows to carry out projects in short as possible construction times with highest accuracy and quality. We willingly take on the challenge of individual requirements in terms of design and technical equipment which are within the limits what can be technically realised.

The test authority for traffic route construction of the Technical University of Munich tested the system for fitness for use and durability, showing positive results. The new prefabricatedslab system meets all criteria and specifications of the transport companies in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, safety, environmental protection, reliability and comfort.

http://www.max-boegl.de/boeglnet/web/show.jsp?nodeId=1000109&lang=en

Fare Evasion Kool Aid – TransLink Again Bamboozles the Mainstream Media

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If weai??i??ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. Weai??i??re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. Itai??i??s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that weai??i??ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.ai???

Carl Sagan

Don’t the mainstream media get it? Obviously they don’t or they have been told not to; fare evasion is a problem on all public transit systems and the statistics I see points to the fact that TransLink’s fare evasion problems are just average.

Despite the fact that the provincial government quietly subsidizes the SkyTrain and Canada Lines by well over $300 million annually, or just the subsidy for the Expo line is much larger than the subsidy for all the trolley and diesel bus services offered by TransLink, the mainstream media has focused on fare evasion and nothing else.

In the Vancouver Province, John Ferry again regurgitates the fare evasion myth, that somehow all of TransLink’s financial ills would be cured if everyone just paid their correct fares.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/vancouver/hope+TransLink+finally+ready+listen/7510596/story.html

No mention at all about the U-Pass and that over use of the U-pass is causing full fare transit customers to return to the car or even that U-Pass fraud amount to well over $15 million in income. No, the U-pass is TransLink’s ‘golden child’, that can do no wrong, because it is not revenue that TransLink is really worried about, it is ridership numbers – the number of people using the bus and mini-metro system, that is important. IncreasingAi??theAi??ridership numbersAi??is important to TransLink because with higher reported ridership, TransLink can demand more tax money and more tax money means more bureaucrats for TransLink and ever higher stipends for TransLinks executives and of course higher taxes and user fees for the car driver.

The fare evasion hype and hoopla is a ruse to divert attention away from the real fiscal problems bedevilling TransLink and the big problem of course,Ai??are the very expensive SkyTrain and Canada Line light-metro systems.

U-Pass Fraud Tops $15 Million Annually

As predicted, the much vaunted U-Pass program isAi??costing TransLink at least $15 million annually, more thanAi??reported fare evasion, yet there is nary a peep from the mainstream media.

Zwei’s sources at TransLink report that the U-Pass program is costing the taxpayer a lot more than what is being reported and there is no way that TransLink can calculate how many U-Passes are being used fraudulently. It is one thing for a government agency to offer deep discounted fares for students on mandated but lightly used transit services, but to offer over 100,000 U-Passes to post secondary students in the lower mainland is the height of fiscal idiocy, especially when TransLink is coming cap in hand for more and more tax money.

The one problem with the massive U-Pass program is that those using the deep discounted U-Passes are forcing much needed full fare customers from the transit system back into the car. The U-Pass program also makes a mockery of TransLink’s ridership counts as those holding U-Passes may use the system multiple times a day, especially the metro systemAi??>Ai??which drive up ridership counts > which in turn give high ridership numbers, which is why TransLink abetted by local politicians like the U-Pass program so much.

Ex-UBC student accused of fraud over sale of U-Passes

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/student+accused+fraud+over+sale+Passes/7479547/story.html#ixzz2AysBM5Pn

By Staff Reporter, The ProvinceOctober 31, 2012

A former University of B.C. student is facing criminal charges for allegedlyAi?? buying and selling U-Passes.

Betty Sze Yu Wong, 25, allegedly bought numerous U-Passes from students atAi?? four post-secondary schools and resold the passes for a profit on Craigslist,Ai?? said Transit Police.

Wong is charged with fraud. She is scheduled to appear in VancouverAi?? provincial court Dec. 14.

ai???The laying of these Criminal Code of Canada charges by Crown counsel is aAi?? clear indication that the justice system is willing to prosecute offenders,ai??? said a statement from Transit Police.

U-Passes let students in participating schools ride TransLinkai??i??s buses,Ai?? SkyTrain and SeaBus through all three zones for $30 a month, compared to regularAi?? passes which range from $81 to $151.

Last year, TransLink estimated U-Pass fraud cost the regional transportationAi?? agency up to $15 million a year.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/student+accused+fraud+over+sale+Passes/7479547/story.html#ixzz2AysMiM9p