And Now, Back To The Real Storey
Posted by zweisystem on Friday, October 30, 2020 · 2 Comments
The election is over and promises have been made and the winners and the winners the SkyTrain Lobby. Premier Horgan has promised billions of dollars to extend then Expo Line to Langley and with a hint, beyond.
The Broadway Subway, now refereed by many as the BS Line is first in line for a big chunk of taxpayer’s dough.
This $3 billion project is a gift to big labour, nothing more, as union jobs are what the NDP are all about.
Provincial News Release
The project will be delivered under the Province’s Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Through the CBA, the project will increase training and apprenticeship opportunities and prioritize hiring locals, Indigenous peoples, women, people with disabilities and other traditionally under-represented groups, including youth, who want to build a career in the skilled trades. BC Infrastructure Benefits is responsible for implementing the CBA for the project and will be the employer for the majority of the skilled workforce on the project.
The Expo Line extension is more of the same, as Horgan approved the financing of the extension to Fleetwood and now has promised to extend the line to Langley. Again, this has nothing to do with providing good transit, rather a gift to the big unions.
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With vague promises to extend the Expo line even further up the valley, Horgan and kidnapped the taxpayer for a very expensive ride. Those who want a regional railway, connecting Vancouver to Chilliwack, costing much less than light-metro and would more effective in creating an affordable alternative to the car have been given a big setback by the NDP.
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The E&N folks who want to keep the historic island railway operating have also suffered the same fate.
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The following chart gives the current cost estimated for the Expo Line extension to Langley.
The ridership estimates are grossly over estimated and send that they are based on everyone commuting to Vancouver, but the high cost of Vancouver is driving businesses and people outside the downtown core and into the transit starved suburbs. thus if the ridership numbers are over estimated, so is the fare revenue and the cost/benefit calculations. Also worth noting the cost of cars are not included , nor is the up to $3 billion rehab needed of the Expo and Millennium lines to accommodate the extension.
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Noted American Transportation Engineer, Gerald Fox, said after he read the Evergreen line’s business case:
The Evergreen Line Report made me curious as to how TransLink could justify continuing to expand SkyTrain, when the rest of the world is building LRT. So I went back and read the alleged Business Case (BC) report in a little more detail. I found several instances where the analysis had made assumptions that were inaccurate, or had been manipulated to make the case for SkyTrain. If the underlying assumptions are inaccurate, the conclusions may be so too.
Thus, TransLink’s; the City of Surrey’s; and the provincial government’s case for an Expo Line extension to Langley may be based on a foundation of financial quicksand, just like the Site C damn having a foundation on shale.
No wonder TransLink’s CEO, Kevin Desmond is jumping ship!
Then there are the added operating costs and the added costs for new cars, which will drive the costs higher.
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Fox’s conclusion:
It is interesting how TransLink has used this cunning method of manipulating analysis to justify SkyTrain in corridor after corridor, and has thus succeeded in keeping its proprietary rail system expanding. In the US, all new transit projects that seek federal support are now subjected to scrutiny by a panel of transit peers, selected and monitored by the federal government, to ensure that projects are analyzed honestly, and the taxpayer interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US.
It is clearly evident that the NDP are continuing TransLink’s and Metro Vancouver’s continued spending on a light metro system, made obsolete by light rail decades ago, to fulfill a political agenda and just do not give a damn about the taxpayer and the transit customer.
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What could go wrong?
It’s really unfortunate!
Is there anyone among the GVRD mayors or Translink that are allies in trying to go for LRT? Also, what happened with Surrey’s planned light rail? Did the promise of provincial money scrap Surrey’s plans?
Zwei Replies: The mayor of surrey, Doug McCallum, demanded a change from LRT to SkyTrain, TransLink did nothing.