The Mayor’s Council On Transit – Blah, Blah, Blah

Posted by on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 · 1 Comment 

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It is quite apparent that the Mayor’s council on Transit is nothing more than a PR stunt and nothing more, as all major transit decisions are made in the Premier’s Office.

The mainstream media’s research for news stories is lacking, because it is the Metro Vancouver (not BC) Mayor’s Council on Transit.

TransLink loves giving percentages in their public news releases but they do not like giving whole numbers. A 20% increase of 100 is only 120.

The TV news report was more of the same, big ideas, including a $3 billion subway to UBC, Really?

A $225 million gondola to SFU, which nothing more than a politcal prestige project (PPP) for both the university and the City of Burnaby.

What did spark my interest is BRT here, there and everywhere, which will not be real BRT of course but a Broadway B-Line type of Express bus.

A Richmond Centre to MetroTown B-Line express bus is, I believe needed, but is should go right to BCIT. Again TransLink is hesitant to do what should be done and only does what makes good photo-ops.

Making most of the promised BRT routes feed into the SkyTrain light metro system will not attract much new ridership and again shows the Achilles Heel of light metro, just too expensive to extend.

Not mentioned is how all this is to be funded and here we enter the land of fairies and pixie dust, with the Mayor of Langley saying that Ottawa has set up a transit fund to fund transit expansion.

What was interesting was that there was no mention of the Expo Line extension to Langley.

The $4.5 billion to $5 billion, 16 km line was not mentioned at all, even by the Mayor of Langley  bodes ill for the project.

All in all it was a lot of boasting, promising, and a 3 minute photo-op that in the end did not answer the one important question, funding. Funding, I believe funding will put TransLink between a rock and a hard place, especially with our current inflation and finical woes.

There is a steady downward trend for transit mode share in Metro Vancouver

There is a steady downward trend for transit mode share in Metro Vancouver

 

B.C. Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation meets to discuss future projects and ridership

By Darrian Matassa-Fung & Emily Lazatin Global News
Posted January 26, 2023

The first meeting of the year for TransLink’s Mayors’ Council took place Thursday as the municipal leaders from across Metro Vancouver met to discuss transit topics.

The meeting was to align priorities and discuss TransLink’s 10-year plan, as well as Metro Vancouver’s transit recovery from the pandemic.

The 10-year plan includes mega-projects and comes with a price tag of more than $20 billion over the next decade.

High on the priority list is doubling bus service by 2035 and adding up to 11 rapid bus lines, including routes from Lynn Valley to downtown Vancouver, Marine Drive Station to 22nd Street Station, and Richmond Centre to Metrotown.

Big projects were discussed as well, including the proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola and the SkyTrain Millennium Line extension to the University of British Columbia.

One of the biggest hurdles for the projects is securing the necessary funding to make them happen, something the municipal leaders are discussing, and are putting together a long-term investment plan for.

According to a 2022 ridership report, passenger levels have not risen as quickly as expected.

There was an increase in annual ridership of nearly 50 per cent comparing last year to 2021, as people returned to using public transit amid the pandemic. Officials did say they expected more people to return to the transit system.

One of the biggest hurdles for the projects is securing the necessary funding to make them happen, something the municipal leaders are discussing, and are putting together a long-term investment plan for.

According to a 2022 ridership report, passenger levels have not risen as quickly as expected.

 

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Comments

One Response to “The Mayor’s Council On Transit – Blah, Blah, Blah”
  1. Erin says:
    February 5, 2023 at 9:58 pm

    Grape vine talk is that only 100,000 PEOPLE use public transit on a regular basis in Metro Vancouver. Sure, maybe another 100.000 people might use public transit once or twice every 12 months. Big deal. They don’t need transit. They don’t need TransLink.

    TransLink has a $2B annual budget for maintenance and operation. Mostly fixed cost that is independent from the actual level of transit use. So, it would seem that TransLink (uh, taxpayers, all 2.5 million of them not using transit) are spending $20,000 to provide transit service over 12 months for each transit user. Holy crap!

    So, TransLink is taxing each of the 2.5 million people who don’t use transit about $1,000 every year. When does the cost of public transit get too high?

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