Mayors around Metro Vancouver are celebrating the Government of Canada’s commitment of $2.2 billion for rapid transit projects in the region, money that was announced in the recent federal budget.
The money paves the way for the SkyTrain extension to UBC and for new rapid transit service in Surrey.
It’s about time – and we mean that quite literally. Our commutes are growing longer and our fuses shorter.
Before anyone gets excited about expanded roadways and more lanes of traffic, let’s remember that building your way out of gridlock remains a popular, roll-up-your-sleeves solution that’s not working, hasn’t worked, and isn’t likely to work in the future.
Another bridge across the Fraser River is a similarly crowd-pleasing idea that becomes less pleasing when you realize there’s no great, untouched road network where another bridge can attach. And, even if it could, all those cars still have to cram onto the current road network.
If we want value for dollar, you can’t do better than public transit.
For example: stats from TransLink show buses only account for two per cent of the vehicles that cross the Lions Gate Bridge, but they carry 25 per cent of the people. That’s success worth building on, yet “Sorry … Bus Full” might be mistaken for the name of our bus routes.
The mayors’ council on regional transportation now has to move forward with negotiations with the province to secure matching funds.
And they also have to make sure that they’re all on the same page with this vision for regional transportation – whether their particular municipality directly benefits from the new rapid transit lines or not.
It’s easy for senior levels of government to ignore 21 mayors and councillors with disparate agendas. They might have a much harder time closing their ears to a single voice speaking for 180,000 voting, tax-paying residents.
If we can get these politicians moving, we can get traffic moving too.Mayors around Metro Vancouver are celebrating the Government of Canada’s commitment of $2.2 billion for rapid transit projects in the region, money that was announced in the recent federal budget.
The money paves the way for the SkyTrain extension to UBC and for new rapid transit service in Surrey.
It’s about time – and we mean that quite literally. Our commutes are growing longer and our fuses shorter.
Before anyone gets excited about expanded roadways and more lanes of traffic, let’s remember that building your way out of gridlock remains a popular, roll-up-your-sleeves solution that’s not working, hasn’t worked, and isn’t likely to work in the future.
Another bridge across the Fraser River is a similarly crowd-pleasing idea that becomes less pleasing when you realize there’s no great, untouched road network where another bridge can attach. And, even if it could, all those cars still have to cram onto the current road network.
If we want value for dollar, you can’t do better than public transit.
For example: stats from TransLink show buses only account for two per cent of the vehicles that cross the Lions Gate Bridge, but they carry 25 per cent of the people. That’s success worth building on, yet “Sorry … Bus Full” might be mistaken for the name of our bus routes.
The mayors’ council on regional transportation now has to move forward with negotiations with the province to secure matching funds.
And they also have to make sure that they’re all on the same page with this vision for regional transportation – whether their particular municipality directly benefits from the new rapid transit lines or not.
It’s easy for senior levels of government to ignore 21 mayors and councillors with disparate agendas. They might have a much harder time closing their ears to a single voice speaking for 180,000 voting, tax-paying residents.
If we can get these politicians moving, we can get traffic moving too.Mayors around Metro Vancouver are celebrating the Government of Canada’s commitment of $2.2 billion for rapid transit projects in the region, money that was announced in the recent federal budget.
The money paves the way for the SkyTrain extension to UBC and for new rapid transit service in Surrey.
It’s about time – and we mean that quite literally. Our commutes are growing longer and our fuses shorter.
Before anyone gets excited about expanded roadways and more lanes of traffic, let’s remember that building your way out of gridlock remains a popular, roll-up-your-sleeves solution that’s not working, hasn’t worked, and isn’t likely to work in the future.
Another bridge across the Fraser River is a similarly crowd-pleasing idea that becomes less pleasing when you realize there’s no great, untouched road network where another bridge can attach. And, even if it could, all those cars still have to cram onto the current road network.
If we want value for dollar, you can’t do better than public transit.
For example: stats from TransLink show buses only account for two per cent of the vehicles that cross the Lions Gate Bridge, but they carry 25 per cent of the people. That’s success worth building on, yet “Sorry … Bus Full” might be mistaken for the name of our bus routes.
The mayors’ council on regional transportation now has to move forward with negotiations with the province to secure matching funds.
And they also have to make sure that they’re all on the same page with this vision for regional transportation – whether their particular municipality directly benefits from the new rapid transit lines or not.
It’s easy for senior levels of government to ignore 21 mayors and councillors with disparate agendas. They might have a much harder time closing their ears to a single voice speaking for 180,000 voting, tax-paying residents.
If we can get these politicians moving, we can get traffic moving too.
