Transit
Detailed Discussion
There are many ways Vancouver could take action immediately to improve transit service, some quite cheap to overcome the over crowding and inconvenience of taking a bus. We are all busy people and we need to get places fast. Bus service has suffered under the NPA and there are ways it can be improved. I look to build a transit system where traveling is not a hassle and can get you almost anywhere without a car within the city limits. This is the way it is in most of the major European and Asian cities.
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Create dedicated bus lanes along more routes along high traffic routes like the ones that help move the 98 B-line along Granville of the 99 B-line to UBC on Broadway -- especially during peak periods.
No fare increases and expand the “U Pass” beyond university students to all workers to get people out of their cars. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had one? I think so!
Keep transit money public.“Smart Cards” and turnstiles are coming for Skytrain, but they are in the hands of the private sector. Let’s keep the smartcards and fare collection in public control so that all of the money collected can be put right back into transit services without any percentage being skimmed off by a private company as profit taking.
Buy the buses if Translink won’t.
Streetcar program. As part of the preparations for the 2010 Olympic Games, City Council approved the building of a demonstration streetcar system , to be run during the Olympic Games but there’s no guarantee that expanded streetcar service will stick around once the Games are history. This program has stirred up a lot of debate.
I am in favour of developing a functional and cost effective streetcar grid that is linked to other transit services, not just a demonstration project that could very well disappear after the games are done.
The costs for such a grid have been described as prohibitive despite the studies saying that it would move people out of their cars, generate significant revenue, boost tourism and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Like other cities around the world, to generate revenue for the project beyond federal and provincial support is to find new sources of revenue from future development sparked along the route. This method has been used successfully in Hong Kong where the revenue to build the system can be generated that private developers put up the money to get it built, and it will be run from the tax revenue on these businesses and fares.
An alternative is to provide free bus service within Vancouver’s business and entertainment districts.
