Porkies from TransLink!
In the UK, London's Cockney's (the East End crowd) have long had an interesting rhyming slang tradition – examples: jam jar is a car; dicky dirt a shirt and so on.
Well, a pork pie or porkie is – well you guessed it.
The following letter from Ken Hardie, to the Delta Optimist, is full of "Porkies" and if this is what is to be expected of TransLink in the future, it is time that this moribund bureaucracy is dissolved.
Zweisystem is going to dissect Mr. Hardie's letter and my comments will be highlighted in yellow italics.
Please remember, in 2008, noted American transit expert Gerald Fox, in a letter to a Victoria transportation group, shredded TransLink's Evergreen Line business case, stating; "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."
Fox later said; 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 taxpayers’ interests are protected. No SkyTrain project has ever passed this scrutiny in the US."
Re: SkyTrain supporters have failed us for far too long, letter to the editor, Feb. 2
SkyTrain critic Malcolm Johnston's latest letter omits some important points that need to be included in a thoughtful analysis of Metro Vancouver's rapid transit system.
In looking at systems around the world, most people here would use SkyTrain to describe automated light rail operating on a segregated right-of-way. Actually, the term SkyTrain is used to describe elevated railways, not automated railways. Johnston usually refers only to seven systems he reports as using SkyTrain's specific propulsion technology. There are only seven SkyTrain type proprietary railways in existence; Detroit, Toronto (soon to be dismantled); Vancouver, JFK airport New York, Kuala Lumpur; China and Korea; the rest are other proprietary transit systems. In fact, there are nine or 10 more automated systems that operate quite successfully in Japan, China and Dubai, not to mention our own Canada Line. Automatic or driverless railways have nothing to do being elevated, it is the signaling kit used, with the first automatic railway first operated in London, England in 1927.
Automated light rail is efficient, with our SkyTrain system operating at the lowest cost per mile in a comparison with a U.S. Federal Department of Transportation review of 10 major American rapid transit systems. This is only true because TransLink does not include the annual $250 million debt serving charges, which are included with US LRT accounting. Factor in SkyTrain's annual provincial subsidy of over $250 million and the mini-metro becomes very expensive when compared to modern light rail. It is, however, not the answer for every rapid transit application, which is why TransLink continues to keep all technology options on the table for expansion on the Broadway corridor and in the South of Fraser. It seems that SkyTrain is avoided by transit planners around the world with only seven such systems built, despite being on the market for over 32 years!
SkyTrain is popular with the public, as Johnson himself found out during discussions of rapid transit technology options for the Evergreen Line. Ha, ha, ha, SkyTrain is so popular for the Evergreen line, no one wants to ante up $400 million to get construction rolling. As well transit expert Gerald Fox, as noted many times by Zwei, reveals that the Evergreen line planning is grossly manipulated. With respect to the South of Fraser, we would particularly note the success of the Canada Line, which is well ahead of its ridership projections, is based largely on the number of people from South Surrey, White Rock and Delta who bus-in to the Richmond stations daily. Ha, ha, ha, the Canada line is only successful in TransLink's minds; no where else in the world that a $2.8 billion, truncated metro line, carrying less than 45,000 actual passengers a day, be deemed successful. Please note: 45,000 passengers a day traveling there and back, with some making multiple trips per day (U-Pass holding students) equals about 100,000 boardings per day.
Contrary to Johnston's assertion, 45 per cent of Canada Line riders tell us they used to drive for the trip they were making. Belive that and I can sell you shares in the Golden Ears Bridge P-3!
Rapid transit has an enormous impact on how our region grows and develops, and survey after survey shows it is the most effective in attracting people to public transit. Really, why then TransLink discontinue 30% of express bus service, due to lack of ridership from South Delta to Bridgeport Station?
While Metro Vancouver has clearly valued the benefits of automated light rail with its speed of service, high capacity and efficiency, we agree with Johnston when he correctly points out there are other rapid technologies we should consider as effective and cost-efficient ways to expand our network. Mr, Hardie quietly forgets that LRT made SkyTrain obsolete twenty years ago, as LRT has a higher capacity, etc., etc. than SkyTrain!
Where we disagree is with his characterization of our SkyTrain system, with its 100 million-plus riders per year, as a "failure." .Compare with carrying 50% more passengers, with a LRT system, costing 50% less! Oh yes, let us not forget that 80 million per year of your SkyTrain passengers are forced from buses onto the metro and that no other city in North America has copied Vancouver or built with a SkyTrain style metro is tantamount to failure. SkyTrain's success is born on the back of the regional taxpayers
Ken Hardie,
TransLink
