Well, we’ll see.
Global TV’s Victoria reporter Keith Baldrey prepared the way for Gordon Campbell and Kevin Falcon’s “huge” announcement tomorrow morning (Jan 14) – the biggest infrastructure package in British Columbia’s history. Mainly, billions for transit, all over the province.
In the Lower Mainland:
The Evergreen Line, likely with a southerly route serving the Riverview development area.
SkyTrain extension into the Fraser Valley.
And this one, which dropped a few jaws: Millennium Line extension to UBC.
Plus a bus-only road system extended through the region.
I can’t imagine this info being broadcast unless the government wanted it released – but we’ll see. It certainly has the marks of Gordon Campbell on it. Similar to the housing announcements, the scale of spending and the comprehensiveness of the program unbalances the critics. Of course, for skeptics, it’s “never enough” or ”only a good first start” with doubts and dubious details.
But frankly, if transit were scaled up south of the Fraser to the point where it could reshape development and redirect growth while addressing car-dependence, it would also recast the criticism of Gateway. SkyTrain all the way to UBC would be stunning.
We’ll see soon.
Yes, wow! This sort of “planning” flies in the face of established processes (not to mention Transport 2040) and public/interagency consultation. Nevertheless, these projects would be more than just monuments — they may actually do some good to helping to reduce VKMT and GHG.
This news might be exciting, and allow for transit oriented development. But this of course follows much of the transportation planning that was supposed to be completed 5 years from now.
Seeing how we have to wait until 2012 for buses over the Port Mann bridge, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting to arrive to UBC by train. And if this plan follows that long of a timeframe, there will be plenty of opportunity for a new plan.
[...] don’t want to jump the gun before any real details are released. Besides, as Keith Baldrey says in his report below, there hasn’t been any leaks [...]
If the BC Liberals are to demonstrate that they are serious about reducing emissions in the province by 2020, then they have to do something on this scale.
UBC, out on a peninsula, is not a very eco-friendly location for a university serving at least 50,000 staff and students the majority of whom cannot possibly live anywhere near it. So better transit will help reduce car trips considerably.
Overall, building transit doesn’t mean people will use it. So, I expect we’ll hear of plans for a “stick” to go along with this carrot. I suspect that the stick will be tolls on roads that will be free until the transit is ready (which I welcome — the only way to reduce single-occupant-vehicle trips is to make people pay the full cost of this decision rather than subsidizing it).
If they do SkyTrain all the way out to UBC, wont that destroy the beauty of that part of the city?
The sky train is a real eye-sore.
Mike, I have to disagree. I don’t think the SkyTrain is an eyesore at all. In fact, I like the varied architecture of the stations, the swoop of tracks, and the clean look of the more modern trains. The Skytrain would bring Broadway more up-to-date. The eyesore these days is the Toys-R-Us sign and the huge placard at the corner of Kingsway (or is it Main?) and Broadway.
Clearly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for me, mass transit is beautiful.
Broadway is pretty basic (ugly) anyways. The DIY signs / out of date store fronts / over signage / covering every square inch of the window with signs makes almost the entire avenue an eye sore. Its not until you get near Granville does it get a bit nicer, then improves subtly all the way to Alma.
Then again, most major streets suffer from this.
Anyways – I like the new transit stations. Mass transit is sorely needed.
If we had any semblance of obligation towards tax payers we would be using Light Rail Transit up Arbutus AND Cambie. If multi million dollar neighborhoods around the world can suffer this, we can to. It would have been billions cheaper.
Take a look at Brookline, MA and the LRT line into Boston sometime for a good example of how standard commuter trains, people and cars can mix.
Just a note; no SkyTrain system has ever passed public scrutiny in the USA. The JFK SkyTrain was a privately funded job by the Port authority and financed, in part, by the Canadian Government and a $7 departure fee.
Question is; why do we still build with this ‘Edsel’ transit system that both cost more to build and a whole lot more to operate than other transit systems? Why has there been never any public scrutiny been allowed with SkyTrain? Why isn’t the now $200 million annual subsidy to keep SkyTrain in operation ever mentioned?
Overseas, transit planners think (if they care to do so) that Vancouver is a complete laughing stock with our small, but expensive metro system. SkyTrain is seen as an international joke!
When the vast majority of cities around the world (almost 600) use LRT, Vancouver uses a proprietary metro (only 5 SkyTrain’s in operation) – gridlock forever!
Whu is SkyTrain/Metro better than LRT? Here’ are my personal reasons why:
1) Its faster – Metrotown to Burrard run takes me 17 minutes a day. There is no LRT system in the workd that would come even close to this. I would venture that the same run by LRT would be at least 30 minutes.
2) Capacity. There is no way LRT can match the capacity of SkyTrain and not to mention the real metro.
3) Strikes/Lockouts. Leaving close to the SkyTain I don’t have to suffer as a result of childish and pointless Labour – Government pissing matches every 3-4 years.
4) If you want to go real cheap you can save a whole lot of money and get yourself rapid bus lines like we have on Broadway. What is the advantage of LRT over Rapid Bus?
The skytrain uses standard gauge, so does the canada line. There is in fact nothing stopping mixed usage of cheaper automated trains using the same tracks. The problem comes into play when you put human operators. The skytrain in Vancouver has never derailed, though has frequent switch problems and the occasional person falling/commiting suicide at broadway station.
The skytrain is a propietary system, but so is all other forms of light rail and metro. But the Vancouver system has only been around for 22 years while most other cities have had theirs for well over 40 and are human driven.
If anything is a joke, it’s the Evergreen line which is going to be human operated, at-grade (which means it has to contend with human operated cars on roads) disaster waiting to happen. I can’t help but think the reason it keeps getting pushed back year after year is because to many NIMBY’s and political meddling got in the way. This should have remained an automated skytrain extension proposal and not a switch to human error.
I should also mention that conventional light/rail can not handle steep grades, the skytrain can handle some fairly steep grades.
Miko, last month the provincial government announced that SkyTrain would not be LRT. The LRT plan has been scrapped, and is now replaced with SkyTrain/ALRT technology or “ALRT-like” technology similar to the Canada Line.
Interesting debate indeed!
There are several options for expanding transit to UBC that TransLink is currently considering. They’re holding a number of public consultations so Vancouverites can have their say in TransLink’s 10-year plan. The first is on June 1. To register or to have your comments heard, check out bepartoftheplan.ca