SpongeG
12-17-2006, 10:16 PM
Long lines at bus stops and crowded Sky Train platforms have been familiar rush-hour sights to Vancouver commuters for some time. But an increasing number of transit riders say lineups are getting longer and waits are getting lengthier as the city’s transportation system fails to keep up with demand.
Last last month, many riders’ stress boiled over when snowstorms resulted in severely overcrowded buses and SkyTrain cars, many of which were so full that they bypassed dozen of angry passengers who were left waiting in the cold.
While the winter weather was an anomaly, Vancouver transit riders say the situation was indicative of a bigger problem within the city’s public transportation system. The province currently has TransLink (the region’s transportation authority) under review, and Vancouver’s transit officials and some advocates say it’s time to increase funding for public transportation before the problem gets worse.
“We’re really under-serviced,” says Vancouver city councillor and TransLink board member Suzanne Anton. “We need a lot more buses on our bus routes and we really need rapid transit along Broadway – that’s critical in terms of transit planning.”
If the long lines and overcrowding aren’t enough evidence that TransLink can’t keep up with rider demand, its current fleet of buses and SkyTrain cars numbers far below its own projections. In 2002, TransLink said it would need to expand to 1,640 buses by 2005; due to funding problems, however, its current fleet is less than 1,300, with roughly 400 of those being smaller community shuttles. TransLink is adding an additional 34 SkyTrain cars to the crowded Expo Line, but they won’t arrive until 2009.
A 2005 report by TransLink said that ridership had grown by more than 20 per cent during the three previous years, but the system’s fleet had only grown by 10 per cent. Between Commercial and Main, transit is operating at 99 per cent capacity during peak hours, leaving many to wait on SkyTrain platforms and at bus stops.
According to TransLink officials, the number of buses running on Broadway is already at full capacity, and adding any more would only increase congestion and delays. While Anton says TransLink needs to expand the Millennium Line further West and bring in a streetcar service downtown, the city’s top priority now is to build a rapid-transit line along the East-West Broadway corridor.
But when and how TransLink will ever be able to afford that remains a mystery. After approving the $1.9 billion Canada Line in 2004, TransLink’s next priority is the $970 million Evergreen rapid-transit line to Coquitlam. However, TransLink is still $400 million short of being able to start building that project, with no funding sources in sight. With only 12 per cent of Vancouver commuters using public transportation, compared to over 20 per cent in Toronto and Montreal, public-transit advocates say it’s time for the provincial and federal governments to step in and start filling the funding gaps.
“The demand is there, it’s just we don’t have the supply; and the reason for that is the historical lack of funding from senior governments,” says Deming Smith, manager of policy and communications with Better Environment Sound Transportation (BEST), a Vancouver-based non-profit organization.
TransLink’s total revenue in 2005 was $818 million, with its funding coming from three main sources: transit fares, fuel taxes and property taxes. Having determined that there is no political will to raise property taxes or fares again, TransLink is now pushing the provincial and federal government to give them a bigger share of the $500 million in gas taxes that leave the region every year. Two years ago, the federal government did give back $390 million dollars in gas tax to TransLink, but TransLink officials say they need a steady stream of revenue.
“We’ve been absolutely delighted that the federal government stepped forward and decided to share gas tax revenue with us,” says TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie, “but we need to see them get to the next level and turn that into an ongoing stream of revenue, because then you can use it to plan and you can use it to fund the long term payments... and infrastructure.”
Securing additional funding could prove difficult, though, since TransLink may soon be subject to a radical makeover. Earlier this year, the province’s Minister of Transportation, Kevin Falcon, initiated a governance review of the TransLink board that could change its structure from being run by regional councillors and mayors to provincially appointed officials. Falcon called the TransLink board “dysfunctional” after directors came close to blocking approval of the Canada Line. A spokesperson for the Minister said Falcon would not comment on TransLink’s future until the review is finished, which was originally due back this fall. In October, TransLink directors also decided to put all future projects on hold until the review was finished.
While the TransLink board fights to remain intact, some transit activists feel the board has been the maker of its own demise by putting too much emphasis on rapid transit. TransLink predicts that the Canada Line, which will connect downtown Vancouver with Richmond by 2009, will service 100,000 riders a day. But the Bus Riders Union says the Canada Line will do nothing to alleviate growing East-West congestion, and it has now eaten up all of TransLink’s revenues. Instead, the Union insists that the money should be going into buses. According to TransLink statistics, there have been 233.4 million boardings on public transportation from January to October of this year, with 73 per cent of those trips being on buses.
“The bus system is the backbone of the transit system and it is bankrupt,” says Beth Grayer, an organizer with the Bus Riders Union. “So that’s why we see the long waits, the full buses passing people by, and the poor service in suburban areas.”
The buses TransLink has purchased have also been fraught with the problems. TransLink bought 228 new trolley buses to replace its old trolley fleet, but the ones that have begun to arrive have fewer seats on them and cannot accommodate front-mounted bicycles at night because they block the headlights.
http://www.westender.com/
Last last month, many riders’ stress boiled over when snowstorms resulted in severely overcrowded buses and SkyTrain cars, many of which were so full that they bypassed dozen of angry passengers who were left waiting in the cold.
While the winter weather was an anomaly, Vancouver transit riders say the situation was indicative of a bigger problem within the city’s public transportation system. The province currently has TransLink (the region’s transportation authority) under review, and Vancouver’s transit officials and some advocates say it’s time to increase funding for public transportation before the problem gets worse.
“We’re really under-serviced,” says Vancouver city councillor and TransLink board member Suzanne Anton. “We need a lot more buses on our bus routes and we really need rapid transit along Broadway – that’s critical in terms of transit planning.”
If the long lines and overcrowding aren’t enough evidence that TransLink can’t keep up with rider demand, its current fleet of buses and SkyTrain cars numbers far below its own projections. In 2002, TransLink said it would need to expand to 1,640 buses by 2005; due to funding problems, however, its current fleet is less than 1,300, with roughly 400 of those being smaller community shuttles. TransLink is adding an additional 34 SkyTrain cars to the crowded Expo Line, but they won’t arrive until 2009.
A 2005 report by TransLink said that ridership had grown by more than 20 per cent during the three previous years, but the system’s fleet had only grown by 10 per cent. Between Commercial and Main, transit is operating at 99 per cent capacity during peak hours, leaving many to wait on SkyTrain platforms and at bus stops.
According to TransLink officials, the number of buses running on Broadway is already at full capacity, and adding any more would only increase congestion and delays. While Anton says TransLink needs to expand the Millennium Line further West and bring in a streetcar service downtown, the city’s top priority now is to build a rapid-transit line along the East-West Broadway corridor.
But when and how TransLink will ever be able to afford that remains a mystery. After approving the $1.9 billion Canada Line in 2004, TransLink’s next priority is the $970 million Evergreen rapid-transit line to Coquitlam. However, TransLink is still $400 million short of being able to start building that project, with no funding sources in sight. With only 12 per cent of Vancouver commuters using public transportation, compared to over 20 per cent in Toronto and Montreal, public-transit advocates say it’s time for the provincial and federal governments to step in and start filling the funding gaps.
“The demand is there, it’s just we don’t have the supply; and the reason for that is the historical lack of funding from senior governments,” says Deming Smith, manager of policy and communications with Better Environment Sound Transportation (BEST), a Vancouver-based non-profit organization.
TransLink’s total revenue in 2005 was $818 million, with its funding coming from three main sources: transit fares, fuel taxes and property taxes. Having determined that there is no political will to raise property taxes or fares again, TransLink is now pushing the provincial and federal government to give them a bigger share of the $500 million in gas taxes that leave the region every year. Two years ago, the federal government did give back $390 million dollars in gas tax to TransLink, but TransLink officials say they need a steady stream of revenue.
“We’ve been absolutely delighted that the federal government stepped forward and decided to share gas tax revenue with us,” says TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie, “but we need to see them get to the next level and turn that into an ongoing stream of revenue, because then you can use it to plan and you can use it to fund the long term payments... and infrastructure.”
Securing additional funding could prove difficult, though, since TransLink may soon be subject to a radical makeover. Earlier this year, the province’s Minister of Transportation, Kevin Falcon, initiated a governance review of the TransLink board that could change its structure from being run by regional councillors and mayors to provincially appointed officials. Falcon called the TransLink board “dysfunctional” after directors came close to blocking approval of the Canada Line. A spokesperson for the Minister said Falcon would not comment on TransLink’s future until the review is finished, which was originally due back this fall. In October, TransLink directors also decided to put all future projects on hold until the review was finished.
While the TransLink board fights to remain intact, some transit activists feel the board has been the maker of its own demise by putting too much emphasis on rapid transit. TransLink predicts that the Canada Line, which will connect downtown Vancouver with Richmond by 2009, will service 100,000 riders a day. But the Bus Riders Union says the Canada Line will do nothing to alleviate growing East-West congestion, and it has now eaten up all of TransLink’s revenues. Instead, the Union insists that the money should be going into buses. According to TransLink statistics, there have been 233.4 million boardings on public transportation from January to October of this year, with 73 per cent of those trips being on buses.
“The bus system is the backbone of the transit system and it is bankrupt,” says Beth Grayer, an organizer with the Bus Riders Union. “So that’s why we see the long waits, the full buses passing people by, and the poor service in suburban areas.”
The buses TransLink has purchased have also been fraught with the problems. TransLink bought 228 new trolley buses to replace its old trolley fleet, but the ones that have begun to arrive have fewer seats on them and cannot accommodate front-mounted bicycles at night because they block the headlights.
http://www.westender.com/
