A Liberal Victory Means “No Transit For You!”
The BC Liberals have won yesterday’s election which means the transit status quo will remain, no new transit for south of the Fraser River.
Regional transit issues were ignored by both the BC Liberals and the NDP and for good reason, TransLink is in a financial mess and unless new revenue streams are forthcoming, there will be the start of a gradual reduction of bus service, especially South of the Fraser. SkyTrain desperately needs an expensive shadow bus service to make the mini-metro viable, which means loads of empty or near empty buses in operation during all hours of operation and translates in reduced service hours elsewhere.
A good example is South Delta, where bus service has been reduced to pre Canada Line days because the projected ridership did not materialize (it is also note worthy that South Delta has elected and has now reelected an independent) and with basic bus service, transit becomes unattractive to potential customers.
What the Liberals will try do now is create new and higher taxes to fund new SkyTrain expansion, which maybe the big election issue in the 2017 election and may lead us into the world of ‘road pricing‘ or a user fee (in addition to bridge tolls and gas taxes) to drive on public roads. The question is; “Will the nightmare of the HST debacle derail any road pricing initiative.”
What has all been ignored by both political parties is the RftV/Leewood Report for a TramTrain service from Vancouver to Chilliwack. The RftV/Leewood Report could provide the framework for an initial Vancouver to Chilliwack interurban service, using diesel LRT, which could be installed for about $600 million, with trains running every 90 minutes or so to start with.
Sadly, lobbyists for major engineering firms and cement manufacturers are already grooming newly elected MLA’s to support more and more SkyTrain construction, especially the $4 billion or more Broadway SkyTrain subway, so they can make more and more money off the BC taxpayer.
BC politics, it has been ever thus.
I am so puzzled. How could every pollster and pundit be so very wrong? How could the voters who turned out, be so ignorant or forgiving of the BC “Liberals” wrong doings? Are people stupid, or did they cheat?