Taxpayers entitled to better transit: Light rail advocate – News1130
Taxpayers entitled to better transit: Light rail advocate
Call comes as mayors float idea of two-cent-a-litre gas tax
Renee Bernard Jul 08, 2011 20:34:59 PM
FRASER VALLEY (NEWS1130) – If we pay the taxes, we want the transit. The proposed increase in gas taxes to pay for the Evergreen Line has some saying it's time to get serious about transit to the Fraser Valley.
John Buker speaks for the group Rail for the Valley and predicts people who live south of the Fraser will oppose the tax, unless there are some transit improvements for them.
The organization has been pushing for the use of an already established rail line through to Chilliwack for a light rail system. Buker says the time is right for their idea.
"You could have a 100-kilometre line for a third of the cost of the Evergreen Line. We're not saying that there shouldn't be an Evergreen Line, but that the taxes residents south of the Fraser are paying need to go to projects south of the Fraser," he argues.
Surrey mayor Dianne Watts has thrown her support behind light rail, saying it's a cheaper option than SkyTrain.
via Taxpayers entitled to better transit: Light rail advocate – News1130.
I suspect some or even most of the travelling public has no idea what rail line is referenced. Perhaps putting up roadside signs or banners where the old Interurban rail line crosses main roads demanding passenger rail service back on those tracks.
I think the sign posting idea is a great start and there are some other ideas as well for events / actions that could highlight the popularity of the idea of interurban railway, such as doing promotional run with buses.
In case none of you are aware, the tax WILL result in transit improvement in the south of fraser – specifically in the Surrey area. B-Lines with articulated buses will run between White Rock, Newton, Whalley and Guildford.
Actually no, the 2 cents a litre increase will not go to transit projects South of the Fraser (Fassbender is clueless) but will only fund the SkyTrain Evergreen Line. We have spent $8 billion on three metro lines and we subsidize the three metro lines by over $250 million annually.
For the same amount of money we could have had over 300 km. of LRT, with 10 km. of new LRT built annually, creating a network that would provide a quality alternative to the car.
There is another problem with the B-Line buses, they are not true BRT as they only feed SkyTrain, I doubt they will make much of an impression with local transit South of the Fraser. In the real world, BRT has been bit of a disappointment.