Where’s The Transit?

It has been overAi??six months since the release of the Rail for the ground breakingAi??Valley/Leewood TramTrain report and very little of substance has happened. In BC and Metro Vancouver, it is business as usual, where civic and provincial politicians are fretting about funding for the discredited Evergreen metro line. The hype and hoopla on the mainstream media about the RAV/Canada line being massively successful, despite the fact that TransLink fails to actually state the numbers of new transit customers the truncated metro has attracted, is nothing more than pabulum for the masses to put put pressure on regional mayors to ante up more taxpayers money to fill the $400 million funding gap.

Mayors South of the Fraser are feeling somewhat rebellious as there is little investment in transit South of the Fraser, yet more money is needed to fund prestigious metro projects on the other side of the river. Some municipalities are openly mulling leaving TransLink, which must sent shivers up the SkyTrain Lobby’s spine, for if South of the Fraser municipalities pull out of TransLink, SkyTrain expansion will be doomed.

The RftV/Leewood study is a breathe of fresh air as a transit consultant, from outside the box, planned for an affordable railAi??transit solution for the Fraser Valley, a solution that has been largely ignored by the powers that be.

Just think, for the cost of the new retractable roof at BC Place, we could have built a diesel TramTrain service from Scott road station to Chilliwack. For the cost of the $5 billion plus Gateway Highways program, we could build:

  1. A “full build” 138 km. Vancouver/Richmond to Rosedale TramTrain.
  2. A new Fraser River Rail Bridge.
  3. A UBC to BCIT to Stanley Park LRT.
  4. TwoAi?? 15 km. LRT Lines in Surrey.
  5. One 15 km. LRTAi??line in Langley.
  6. A rail connection to YXX.

Plus at least $1 billion left over for schools and hospitals!

In BC we do not have a transit problem, rather we have a financial allocation problem, where the provincial government is following its highways and metro only investment policy and it is time that regional politicians to stop and have a good look, where are current transportation/transit policies are taking us. With gas prices rising and the economy teetering on a recession due to world events, should we not get the biggest transit bang for our buck?

It is time that Valley mayors and councilors ask BC’s new Premier, Christy Clark: “Where is the Transit?”

 

Should we build TramTrain, with costs starting at $6 million/km.

 

Or Light Rail (LRT), with costs starting at $20 million/km.

 

Or elevated metro, with costs starting at $125 million/km.

 

Or a subway, with costs starting at $200 million/km.

This the question that the politicians have to decide!

Comments

3 Responses to “Where’s The Transit?”
  1. Evil Eye says:

    Of course Crusty Clark will want to build SkyTrain in a subway – SNC Lavalin and bombardier are big backers of the BC Liberals. The more taxpayer’s money spent on transit, the better!

  2. Jim says:

    I’d like to hear Blair Lekstroms qualifications for transportation minister. We need to be rid of these bc “liberals”. We’re going the wrong way, like Ontario with Ford. We need to go left not right, I hope we can get an election and get people to give their head a shake.

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