TransLink’s Ridership – An Independant Calculation
Eric Chris has done some calculations ascertaining TransLink’s ridership numbers, independent of what the many pundits and instant experts that are pontificating on the YES side of the TransLink congestion plebiscite. A well known pundit stated on the radio that one million people took transit last year, but recanted on Facebook when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
There is much evidence that TransLink pads ridership figures because lower ridership numbers not only would embarrass management, but their political masters as well. We must remember that the Expo Line (replaced a much larger LRT plan);Ai?? the Millennium Line (again replaced a much larger LRT plan); and the Canada Line were political vanity projects and had little to do with providing an affordable transit network in the region. The region now suffers endemic gridlock, yet current transit plans will not even make a dent in congestion. The current political practice that “rapid transit” is built as a vanity project, pretending to successful by forcing bus riders to transfer to the new rapid transit must end. This sort of pyramid scheme can only last so long until it collapses and our regional transit system is on the verge of collapse, by building more expensive light metros, and subways without having the real ridership to sustain them.
What must now concern TransLink is that ridership is falling, which may have more to do with an aging population and the user unfriendliness of the transit system. Building vanity subways and light rail will only deter more ridership on a disjointed and fragmented transit system.
Eric Chris, by using TransLink’s own statistics, shows that “on average about 315,000 people take transit currently in Metro Vancouver based on all transit users making two trips daily, and the number of people taking transit ranges from about 99,000 to 397,000.”
I had some time on the road and redid the calculations (attached) in Excel based on the latest ridership data reported by TransLink.Ai?? It checks with the 14% of the population taking transit in 2011 and reported by TransLink.Ai?? Many students make more than two trips daily, and I used two trips daily.Ai?? This gives the most optimistic prediction of the number of people taking transit.
Shockingly, transit use is down for all modes of transit in 2013 (2% total drop from 2012 to 2013) and fell further by 1% from 2013 to 2014 according to Global TV.Ai?? I donai??i??t recall TransLink mentioning this anywhere.Ai?? Censorship?
http://www.metrovancouver.org/
about/publications/ Publications/TransitRidership. http://globalnews.ca/video/
1733412/translink-ridership- down On average about 315,000 people take transit currently in Metro Vancouver based on all transit users making two trips daily, and the number of people taking transit ranges from about 99,000 to 397,000.
I would love to see the “Rail for the Valley” because I live in Abbotsford and I feel that so much of my “retired” time is used up fighting the traffic on the roads. I am a Visual Artist that needs more time devoted to painting. Having the trains nearby would be so much easier for me to pick up my everyday essentials. Trains/buses have a schedule and you can plan your outings/errands and have more time to spend on the important things in life. The cost would be lower than all the expenses that you pay using your car everyday. Riding the rails give you a chance to catch up on your rest and having someone else do the driving would be wonderful. I would love to have that option out here in the valley. Advantages for the train would be you can use your cell phone, gain new friends, see what other people are saying and doing, enjoy the scenery around you, have a coffee, read the paper or book OR just close your eyes and breath! Cars have become a habit for transportation, why not form a new habit and catch the train or a bus!