SpongeG
Jan 4, 2007, 12:29 AM
http://www.surreyleader.com/
Exactly who will control regional transportation, how much money they’ll have to spend, and whose pockets it will come from are the big unanswered questions as TransLink enters 2007.
The future of the transportation authority’s power structure will remain cloudy while a governance review panel finalizes its recommendations and transportation minister Kevin Falcon then unveils the long-awaited overhaul.
As a result, major efforts to plan for 2008 and beyond will be on hold until later in the new year.
But meanwhile, there’s no shortage of demands and pressures on the system.
The bus and SkyTrain system is already heavily congested, yet ridership is projected to grow another 4.7 per cent in 2007.
While TransLink has 373 new buses on order, only a quarter are earmarked to expand the fleet, with most replacing old buses due to be taken off the road.
Nearly three dozen more SkyTrain cars are also on order and 56 new HandyDART mini-buses are due to arrive.
TransLink claims the deliveries will bring its total fleet size to 1,400 – the target set at the beginning of the current 2005-2007 plan.
But chair Malcolm Brodie admits TransLink will struggle to keep pace with demand.
“The simple fact is that we need more buses in the region,” he said.
Although work continues on the Canada Line and the Golden Ears Bridge, other key initiatives that were to be under way by now remain up in the air.
Foremost among them, Brodie says, is TransLink’s plan to build the Evergreen light rail line from the current Millennium SkyTrain line through Port Moody to Coquitlam.
“It is a critical missing piece of our rapid transit network,” Brodie said.
But the price tag has grown to nearly $1 billion – $400 million more than what has so far been committed by TransLink and the province.
TransLink faces demands to make the Pattullo Bridge safer and eventually replace the aging span.
Planners have also tabled a long list of major projects that may have to be axed from the next 10-year plan without improved long-term funding.
In addition to the Evergreen line, they include: a Surrey bus rapid transit system along 104 Avenue and King George Highway, a third SeaBus, more buses and SkyTrain cars, more road and bridge work, and a move to smart card fare collection.
And if those demands were not enough, pressure is growing from Vancouver to extend rapid transit west along congested Broadway and from cities south of the Fraser River for a major leap forward in transit service there.
College students also want the same cheap transit U-Passes their university colleagues get, but that hinges on further increases in bus system capacity.
Where will the money come from?
Every past effort to raise new money locally has generated major opposition, particularly the failed attempt to add a vehicle levy and the recent hotly fought imposition of a business parking stall tax.
TransLink plans call for further ratcheting up of transit fares in its next three-year plan, and the collection of more money from property taxes.
But officials warn much more is required to carry out needed expansion.
Brodie hopes Ottawa and Victoria will step up and enshrine a new permanent source of funding, likely through a bigger share of fuel taxes already collected from local motorists.
One possible source of future cash is regional tolling or road pricing – which transportation experts and a growing number of local politicians agree is ultimately the best way to control congestion.
Brodie said the decision on how to remake TransLink’s board and its funding sources will be “pivotal” to the future direction.
One thing is clear.
As the GVRD’s population grows rapidly to an estimated 3.1 million by 2021, demand for major transportation infrastructure and services will only continue to increase.
Exactly who will control regional transportation, how much money they’ll have to spend, and whose pockets it will come from are the big unanswered questions as TransLink enters 2007.
The future of the transportation authority’s power structure will remain cloudy while a governance review panel finalizes its recommendations and transportation minister Kevin Falcon then unveils the long-awaited overhaul.
As a result, major efforts to plan for 2008 and beyond will be on hold until later in the new year.
But meanwhile, there’s no shortage of demands and pressures on the system.
The bus and SkyTrain system is already heavily congested, yet ridership is projected to grow another 4.7 per cent in 2007.
While TransLink has 373 new buses on order, only a quarter are earmarked to expand the fleet, with most replacing old buses due to be taken off the road.
Nearly three dozen more SkyTrain cars are also on order and 56 new HandyDART mini-buses are due to arrive.
TransLink claims the deliveries will bring its total fleet size to 1,400 – the target set at the beginning of the current 2005-2007 plan.
But chair Malcolm Brodie admits TransLink will struggle to keep pace with demand.
“The simple fact is that we need more buses in the region,” he said.
Although work continues on the Canada Line and the Golden Ears Bridge, other key initiatives that were to be under way by now remain up in the air.
Foremost among them, Brodie says, is TransLink’s plan to build the Evergreen light rail line from the current Millennium SkyTrain line through Port Moody to Coquitlam.
“It is a critical missing piece of our rapid transit network,” Brodie said.
But the price tag has grown to nearly $1 billion – $400 million more than what has so far been committed by TransLink and the province.
TransLink faces demands to make the Pattullo Bridge safer and eventually replace the aging span.
Planners have also tabled a long list of major projects that may have to be axed from the next 10-year plan without improved long-term funding.
In addition to the Evergreen line, they include: a Surrey bus rapid transit system along 104 Avenue and King George Highway, a third SeaBus, more buses and SkyTrain cars, more road and bridge work, and a move to smart card fare collection.
And if those demands were not enough, pressure is growing from Vancouver to extend rapid transit west along congested Broadway and from cities south of the Fraser River for a major leap forward in transit service there.
College students also want the same cheap transit U-Passes their university colleagues get, but that hinges on further increases in bus system capacity.
Where will the money come from?
Every past effort to raise new money locally has generated major opposition, particularly the failed attempt to add a vehicle levy and the recent hotly fought imposition of a business parking stall tax.
TransLink plans call for further ratcheting up of transit fares in its next three-year plan, and the collection of more money from property taxes.
But officials warn much more is required to carry out needed expansion.
Brodie hopes Ottawa and Victoria will step up and enshrine a new permanent source of funding, likely through a bigger share of fuel taxes already collected from local motorists.
One possible source of future cash is regional tolling or road pricing – which transportation experts and a growing number of local politicians agree is ultimately the best way to control congestion.
Brodie said the decision on how to remake TransLink’s board and its funding sources will be “pivotal” to the future direction.
One thing is clear.
As the GVRD’s population grows rapidly to an estimated 3.1 million by 2021, demand for major transportation infrastructure and services will only continue to increase.
