Are The NDP Backing the “SkyTrain” For Transit Expansion?
A recent article in the Black media certainly indicates thatAi??the provincial NDP are going to expand the SkyTrain system in a forlorn hope to improve transit. Bains’s quote; “Besides the need to replace two Fraser River crossings, there’s multi-billion-dollar demands for new rapid transit extensions in Surrey and down the Broadway corridor in Vancouver toward UBC.“
Rapid transit is of course TransLink speak for SkyTrain or light metro.
Rapid transit history in Vancouver repeats itself with every light metro line built, first as political arrogance, second as politicalAi??deceit, thirdly as a farce and now fourthly, ignorance.
But with friends like Joy MacPhail and Mike Harcourt in the backrooms of the NDP, quietly manipulating a regional transit strategy for premier in waiting, Adrian Dix, may also be setting the course for the NDP to be a one term wonder.
Let us not forget the Millennium Line debacle, where the then Glen Clark government did an about face on the Broadway – Lougheed rapid transit project by forcing a SkyTrain solution, now know as the Millennium Line onto the region with little or no meaningful debate. Despite years of hard work by scores of dedicated people, to correct the original SkyTrain mistake, the NDP government, with vague promices of thousands of jobsAi??and the export of SkyTrain abroad, topped with a small fabrication plant along the Expo Line, steamrolled SkyTrain for Vancouver’sAi??second ‘rapid transit’ line., with the perverse motto; “SkyTrain is better than LRT because it carries more people and is faster than a car“.
No surprise then at the next election,Ai??where the NDP were routed and left with only two seats in the legislature.
Today it’s nearly 2013, and there were no mass sales of SkyTrain to Asia; the SkyTrain fabrication plant has been long dismantled and the thousands of jobs promised never materialized. The provincial NDP, if elected,Ai??will haveAi??two options for regional transit:Ai??either to extend the present SkyTrain or dump SkyTrain (and TransLink for that matter) and build with modern light rail. Given the NDP’s dismal track record on regional transit, I think they will take the cowards way out, as they have doneAi??before and it is up to Mr. Dix and Mr. Bains to prove me wrong.
Bains, Polak ride much same road on transport questions
By Jeff Nagel – Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: December 05, 2012
For a while it looked as if the New Democrat who may be B.C.’s next transportation minister if his party takes power would steer clear of the new Port Mann Bridge ai??i?? the province’s biggest infrastructure project.
Opposition transportation critic Harry Bains, MLA for Surrey-Newton, told Black Press last week he didn’t intend to register with the TReO tolling system because he had little cause to use the Port Mann. Most of his duties keep him south of the Fraser or taking SkyTrain to Vancouver, rather than visiting the Tri Cities.
But as his constituents clamoured to register before opening day to get a $30 credit ai??i?? pushing registrations above the half-million mark ai??i?? Bains had a change of heart and signed up as well.
“I finally registered and I’m going to go take a trip,” Bains said Tuesday. “Since it’s free this week, I’ll go take a look.”
The NDP’s critic still has plenty of concerns, notably the expected congestion at the Pattullo Bridge and crossings further south as motorists seek a free alternative.
He also contends the new #555 Port Mann bus service may not have enough capacity to meet demand.
But his views on other transportation issues in the Lower Mainland are not far off those of B.C. Transportation Minister Mary Polak.
Bains insists the tolls introduced by the province on the Port Mann are here to stay, rising to $3 next December when introductory discounts end.
And like Polak, he’s prepared to listen to Metro Vancouver mayors who want to pursue road pricing and other new revenue sources to fund TransLink and address complaints of unfair tolling.
He’s just as cautious as the minister, stressing any controversial new scheme to extend tolls to existing bridges or roads must win public support.
Bains dismisses the province’s announcement of plans to replace the Massey Tunnel as a vague and unfunded “electioneering” ploy
But he wouldn’t call off the consultation and planning process if the NDP is elected next spring, agreeing the tunnel is a key Lower Mainland choke point.
“There is a need to have that crossing improved,” he said. “It is a main trading corridor to the United States. You can’t afford to have trucks lined up in that area.”
Tolls on the Port Mann and perhaps later a replaced Pattullo Bridge may mean even more traffic trying to use the tunnel, he noted.
Bains said government must also be mindful the Lower Mainland will grow by another million people, most of them settling south of the Fraser.
“You have to look ahead and say ‘how are we going to move those people and the goods that are going to serve them south of the Fraser?’
A replaced tunnel could also be a source of new jobs and economic growth in Surrey and North Delta, he said, allowing larger container ships now limited by draft to head further up river to the under-utilized Fraser Surrey Docks, instead of Vancouver terminals.
“If we have an opportunity to move those containers closer to their destination, can you imagine all the trucks you will be removing off Vancouver streets and off those crossings of the river?”
Whether the tunnel must be replaced or can be fixed instead would depend on further engineering advice, he said.
The big challenge for the next government, he said, will be juggling priorities in the face of limited resources.
Besides the need to replace two Fraser River crossings, there’s multi-billion-dollar demands for new rapid transit extensions in Surrey and down the Broadway corridor in Vancouver toward UBC.
There’s a need to upgrade SkyTrain stations and boost bus service throughout the region.
Better transit has to be the top priority, he said, along with TransLink’s need for long-term sustainable funding.
The NDP promises to raise corporate taxes ai??i?? cut to offset the carbon tax ai??i?? back to 2008 levels.
That would free up about $400 million a year for provincial transportation projects, Bains said.
Government would earmark a portion of that for the Lower Mainland, while area mayors would be expected to agree on how they will raise more money from residents.
“I’m willing to sit down with them and look at all options.”
It is terribly sad to see the media stooges focus their attention on ways to fund TransLink when an inquiry into the collusion of provincial and municipal politicians using TransLink to fill their pockets is in order. Drivers are being taxed to create a business where expensive contracts are being awarded to SNC-Lavalin (whose CEO was arrested recently and charged with fraud) and Bombardier.
SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier are over charging taxpayers for an inferior SkyTrain-transit based on gimmicky automated and elevated trains with linear induction motors which are not as efficient as the electric motors used on modern trams. This is under the guise that SkyTrain by TransLink is reducing vehicle use. It isn’t and even when you prove it with statistics based on reports by TransLink, the media don’t care and won’t report it.
Unfortunately, the average person is too clueless to know what is happening and doesn’t know how the world works. What we have at TransLink are crooks becoming rich from the expansion of SkyTrain and related ventures (fare gates). If the scum bags who run TransLink were truly interested in the people using transit, they would be building tram lines to end the overcrowding on the 99 B-Lines and to give Surrey residents rapid transit rather than spending billions of dollars on SkyTrain for the crooks behind TransLink to steal from taxpayers without anyone noticing.