SURREY (NEWS 1130) – There’s new uncertainty over several pre-election promises from new Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum.
Early Tuesday morning, the Mayor’s Office revealed the ‘spiraling’ debt of $514 million the city is facing, which McCallum says he’s “dismayed and shaken to the core” by.
“The fact that the debt load is at $514 million is simply untenable and frankly, irresponsible,” McCallum said.
“When I was previously Mayor for nine years, I took great pride in running the city’s finances by saving first and avoiding debt. Council and I have agreed to immediately bring the city’s fiscal house in order.”
The Council will be ordering staff to prepare a budget that will “significantly cut down the debt by embracing the principle of pay as you go.”
While Mayor McCallum is allaying fears of city services and programs being impacted by any budget cuts, he’s indicated the capital projects planned in the city will need to be reviewed.
“What we will be doing as a Council is determining what makes the most fiscal sense for our ratepayers and how to responsibly proceed with capital projects,” the mayor said.
“In short, we will not mortgage the city’s future and will operate like a regular household by saving up and paying as we go.”
It puts into question several promises made by McCallum, including plans for a SkyTrain extension, free parking and a new police force.
Council staff have been told to present the new budget at the council’s Finance Committee meeting on Dec. 11, where it will be reviewed by the mayor and council.
That meeting had initially been scheduled for Monday of this week, but was cancelled at the last minute.
Has The SkyTrain Flip-Flop In Surrey Derailed?
Ah, the realities of political promises as the new Mayor of Surrey has now discovered; a very big $514 million problem.
Even the most ardent of SkyTrain supporters, except for the tin foil hat brigade, realize SkyTrain costs a lot more to build than light rail and even may concede it costs more to maintain and operate, but the new mayor faces a huge problem, what services will he cut to build his new SkyTrain, especially when the city has “sunk” $20 million already on the fully funded LRT project.
Bleak news from eastern Canada, may see monies earmarked for light rail in Surrey, be used to help fund Quebec City’s approved new transit plan and help workers in Oshawa Canada.
One wonders if the rumors of Liberal MP’s in Surrey, delivering a message to the new mayor that; “the government will not spend any more money on Surrey’s transit project, and one had best take the money now, lest it may disappear later?”, are true?
The mayor’s Council on Transit meets on Dec. 13 and just maybe they will deliver this message to Surrey and Surrey’s new mayor; “You have a Hobson’s choice, either take the money for the fully funded LRT and build with LRT or build nothing at all.”
‘Dismayed and shaken to the core’: Surrey’s mayor reveals $514 million debt
by Adam Cooper
Posted Nov 27, 2018
SummaryMayor McCallum says he’s ‘dismayed and shaken to the core’ by the $514 million debt the city is facing
McCallum and Council have ordered staff to present a budget to significantly cut debt on December 11th
Capital Projects will come under question, raising new uncertainty over SkyTrain expansion and a police force in Surrey
Dated Thinking From A Dated Mayor
Dated transit thinking comes from SkyTrain, because light-metro is a dated transit system.
There is no backbone for transit, except for a network of transit lines and only if it is designed properly, designed for the needs of its customers and not the electoral needs of politicians. One $2.95 billion SkyTrain does not a backbone make.
Oh, please excuse me, this is Metro Vancouver and Transit is planned and built to suit the needs of politicians as it gives them something to cut ribbons at election time. As for transit customers, well they can go to hell and riding TransLink’s product for them is hell.
Only seven such systems built in 40 years.
As for backbone, the Mayor of Surrey has none, he doesn’t even have the backbone to understand the science of modern public transport and wants transit, that is so, so 1970’s.
‘You do a backbone first’: Surrey’s mayor defends SkyTrain plan, talks 10-year vision
by Simon Druker and Denise Wong
Posted Nov 20, 2018
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Surrey’s mayor is once again justifying his stance on building out the SkyTrain network in that city versus an LRT alternative.
Doug McCallum took questions about the plan following Monday night’s council meeting. He says the first step is building a “backbone,” which would be done in two distinct phases.
“You do a backbone first, which is Fraser Highway from City Centre to Langley and from City Centre to Newton then to South Surrey. That’s the backbone,” he explained.
“Into that backbone, we put fast bus lanes from Cloverdale into Fraser Highway … from Guildford into Fraser Highway … from Guildford also down 104th to our City Centre. And before the second phase goes along, fast bus lanes from Newton into King George Station at our City Centre.”
McCallum says that is the 10-year plan.
NEWS 1130 spoke with commuters outside Surrey Central, one of the busiest SkyTrain stations in the system, about McCallum’s plan.
“I really like that idea,” she said. “For someone like me, who doesn’t drive, it’s easy access to take the train from here to Langley. I think it’s really convenient.”
Another commuter said cities are getting bigger and quick links between them will be necessary.
“Look at Surrey. Five years ago, we were ‘just Surrey.’ But now we’re becoming ‘The City of Surrey’ because there are towers going everywhere,” he said.
“Langley and White Rock … pretty soon, we’re going to need transportation to get down there,” he added.
According to McCallum, city staff is already doing what it can to ensure SkyTrain becomes a reality, including exploring 24-hour construction to speed up the process.
Last week, the TransLink Mayors’ Council voted to suspend the Surrey LRT project, including all spending. About $50 million has already been spend on planning for light rail. The city had also spent $20 million in pre-construction work.
However, although the LRT project is on hold, the Mayors’ Council is not yet pursuing SkyTrain. An analysis will be done on SkyTrain south of the Fraser, with a report expected next month.
– With files from Taran Parmar and Lasia Kretzel
Did TransLink Design Surrey’s Light Rail To Fail?
Surrey’s rejection of light rail in favour of SkyTrain with hardly a whimper from TransLink and without any rebuttal to the mayor of Surrey spurious claims about LRT, makes me think TransLink purposely designed light rail to fail in Surrey.
There is an established SkyTrain Lobby within TransLink that plays very dirty when it comes to transit planning and the lack of response during the Surrey election over the cacophony of erroneous claims is telling.
Zwei was always dubious with Surrey’s light rail planning and early on, calling it a poor man’s SkyTrain. Even strong proponents of Surrey’s LRT, were beginning to worry two years go when I was asked to write letters in support of light rail, but not to criticize the project itself.
The politically popular, SkyTrain for Surrey folks, with a well choreographed anti LRT pitch, laced with false information; fake news; cherry-picked comparisons and pure SkyTrain propaganda soon made their presence felt.
TransLink remained silent and let SkyTrain for Surrey chip away at ten years of planning with their litany of bogus claims.
Where was TransLink CEO, Kevin Desmond during this critical time??
So now ten years of planning and $70 million of taxpayer’s monies have been wasted (love the term “sunk costs”) and planning must start all over again.
Building SkyTrain to Surrey will not take a car off the road, simply because so few people living near the SkyTrain Line are actually going to Vancouver: there isn’t the ridership to support a SkyTrain. Yet, the political bamboozle continues, with nary a word from TransLink.
Where was the argument that SkyTrain operates very poorly in the snow, and snow it does between Fleetwood and Langley.
Zwei has been told, that one of the considerations for the TTC to abandon SkyTrain, was its poor operation in snow.
This poses an important question.
TransLink’s CEO’s lack of leadership over the Surrey “flip-flop” was more than disturbing, which makes me wonder if Desmond was hired to oversee the LRT project’s failure?
His actions now are more than suspect.
So, for the next decade or so, no rapid transit for Surrey and when the guideway is built and that is still a big if, they may not be any vehicles to operate on it because Bombardier had abandoned production of the ART SkyTrain cars years earlier!
Quebec City Gets Le Tram
As light rail begins to gain influence in Canada, out in Lotus Land, stupid is as stupid does continues.
Quebec City unveiled plans Friday to build a $3-billion public transit network that will include tramways, an electric trambus and reserved bus lanes.
Meantime in Surrey, the new mayor halted plans for a $1.65 billion fully funded LRT, in favour of an unfunded $2.95 billion SkyTrain.
Quebec City looks forward to the future, while Surrey looks backwards in the past.
Surrey’s mayor had better be careful, lest cancelled federal money, that was once earmarked for Surrey, gets spent in Quebec instead.
Systra awarded Québec City tramway contract
19 Nov 2018
CANADA: The City of Québec and transport authority RTC have awarded Systra Canada a seven-year C$12·5m contract to undertake engineering design for a proposed tram line.
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada is to provide legal services under a separate five-year contract worth C$375 000.
The 23 km route would link Charlesbourg in the east to Le Gendre in the west, and would include two tunnels of 2·6 km and 0·9 km.
Grenoble’s Tram
Grenoble tramway system is one of the very successful new build light rail line in France.
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Tramway de Grenoble |
| Locale | Grenoble, Rhône-Alpes, France |
| Transit type | Tram |
| Number of lines | 5 |
| Number of stations | 81 |
| Daily ridership | 233,700 (2015) |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1987 |
| Operator(s) | Société d’Économie Mixte des Transports Publics de l’Agglomération Grenobloise (SEMITAG) |
| Technical | |
| System length | 42 km (26.1 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
Video
A Tram Ride In Karlsruhe Germany
And you thought 90 second headway's were close on SkyTrain.
So, let’s ride a tram in Karlsruhe.
Question:
Why didn’t TransLink defend light rail in Surrey?
Why was the CEO telling porkies about SkyTrain instead of setting the record straight on light rail?
A ride on Ottawa’s New Light Rail.
Let’s take a ride on Ottawa’s new light rail.
Let\’s take a ride on Ottawa\’s new light rail.
Surrey Must Pay Back $70 Million To TransLink!
Surrey must pay back the $70 million already spent on LRT, if not, TransLink and the region must halt all transit planning in Surrey!
The Light Rail project was ten years in the making, with much work and money spent during this time, $70 million dollars and just on the eve of letting contracts, an old man is elected as mayor and claims, without any documentation or any credible plan, that he can build SkyTrain for the same cost as light rail, withdraws Surrey’s support for light rail.
After spending $50,000,000 in engineering and planning and another $20,000,000 in pre-construction costs for the LRT, and the end result being nothing, TransLink and the region should be refunded the $70 million spent, before another penny is spent in Surrey.
Businesses which located in Fleetwood, on the basis of light rail being build, should also consider their options, as well and investigate suing the City of Surrey for “Breech of Promise”.
And, if SkyTrain cannot be built for the same cost of light rail, then legal action by TransLink and Metro Vancouver should take legal against the Mayor of Surrey and the Councillors involved.
I just love to see the SkyTrain for Surrey folks in court for the defense!
What is really sad, is that once again Surrey and Vancouver, demonstrate the incestuous nature of transit planning in the region. Again the world sees us as a bunch of uneducated “hicks” from the sticks.
No SkyTrain For Surrey For A Decade
Don’t shoot the messenger.
Didn’t old Zwei didn’t try to warn everyone, the Mayor of Surrey’s juvenile anti LRT crusade may mean no SkyTrain in Surrey for ten years or more and if Bombardier closes down production of SkyTrain cars, could mean no SkyTrain period.
The indoctrinated believers, will still demand the obsolete SkyTrain, and spread lies and deceit about light rail at will.
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth.’ — George Orwell, 1984
This is SkyTrain’s foundation, the same sort of foundation for pyramid and ponzi schemes.
With our politicians so inept; so ignorant about regional transit, the countdown for a complete fiasco, which will make the FastFerry fiasco, a mild child’s game.
The following is from our Mr. Cow, read and weep.
1 ALL FEDERAL CAPITAL TRANSIT FUNDING IS P-3! You can’t have federal funding without it being private public partnership. This policy started under Harper in 2009 and was continued under Trudeau’s Liberals.
2 Considering after spending $50,000,000 in engineering and planning and another $20,000,000 in pre-construction costs for the LRT, and the end result being nothing, I would be pretty pissed.
3 In exchange your getting, a line with no Federal funding (all your federal LRT money was officially shelved by the Infrastructure bank in Ottawa yesterday), until a new Environmental Assessment is done and a new P-3 framework set up.
4 No guarantees that senior levels of government will even fund the more expensive Skytrain project.
5 A minimum of 4-5 years, probably longer, before construction can even begin.
6 On top of it all, you are getting inferior Skytrain operating technology that’s more expensive to operate than LRT.
7 When the project is ready it will be competing for funding for stage 2 of the Broadway line and the total upgrade of the original section of the Expo Line. You will loose to both those projects.
8 Skytrain technology could be completely out of production by the time the Langley extension is ready. Bombardier is laying off 5000 more workers, 2500 in Quebec, from both the rail and aviation businesses. 8 Rail plants in Europe will be shut down as well. This means a much lower production capacity for rail vehicles.
You have been scammed! You won’t get anything for any Surrey line for a decade.
The Idiot’s Delight In Surrey Cancels Light Rail
Will Surrey soon have an incomplete SkyTrain Line, like Jakarta, due to having not enough funds to complete it?
Well its done, the idiots delight of new politicians in Surrey have voted to stop light rail.
Now they think they can build SkyTrain to Langley for the same cost as light rail..
Laughable.
The HATCH Report, planning to build SkyTrain to Langley put the cost at $2.95 billion, in 2017 dollars.
So Surrey new batch of Councillors are going to forgo a fully funded light rail line and instead will try to source $1.55 billion in new funding to build SkyTrain to Langley.
Mayor McCallum is on record saying that;” they can build SkyTrain at grade to reduce cost”.
Really, doesn’t the idiot realize that the guideway for the driverless light metro must be protected by a 10 foot, razor wire topped fence, as it is in Vancouver? Building SkyTrain at-grade is akin to building a Berlin Wall!
Surrey will be now mired in endless congestion and its associated costs.
As for metro Vancouver, it is fast becoming L.A. North.
Rail transit will not be built in Surrey until 2035 or more; rail transit will never get to Langley.
Madness!
Oh what fools these mortals be!
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