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mr.x
Jan 16, 2008, 8:16 AM
Our transportation future looks a lot like Hong Kong
That includes sources of funding: Expect to see some of it from developers who will benefit

Miro Cernetig, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Premiers once left their mark on British Columbia by building massive dams and blacktopping the land with highways.

Today it's apparently all about building bigger bus fleets, creating more urban train lines and putting in bicycle lockers at Metro stations. That's the $14-billion green dream unveiled Monday by Premier Gordon Campbell, an ambitious plan that would supposedly cut our carbon footprints, rein in urban sprawl, and make Vancouverites North American leaders in using public transit.

It's hard not to support the general thrust of the premier's bold idea to entice us to leave our cars at home: Double the number of buses in the province, spend $10.3 billion for four new or expanded rapid transit rail lines and put an extra 1,500 buses on the road, all within a dozen years.

It's the biggest-ever capital spending announcement in B.C. and is in essence an attempt to keep us from turning into Los Angeles North. If we want to retain our title as the world's most livable city, as The Economist rates us, this is the general direction we need to go.

The premier hopes that by 2020 at least 22 per cent of all our travels in Metro Vancouver will be on public transit, up from our current 12 per cent. If we can pull off that change in travelling habits, Campbell thinks we could be this continent's version of Paris, where folks are said to ride the bus and Metro in happy droves.

But my bet is that as B.C.'s transit future emerges in the weeks and months ahead we'll find that we're going to be a lot more like Hong Kong.

The old British colony, beloved by free marketeers for its wide-open economy, probably has the world's best transit system. Hong Kong's secret has been to pay for the expensive necessity of public transit by marrying it with private real-estate development and the rapid densification of key areas of the city.

Now, with just 2.3 million people in Metro Vancouver, we're a long way from ever becoming Hong Kong, where about 90 per cent of trips made by its seven million residents are made on public transit. But it's easy to see why the Liberal government, with its current love affair with P3s -- the so-called private-public partnerships -- is going for a version of the Hong-Kong public-transit model here.

The reason is that without such an approach there seem to be some serious funding holes in this province's new, $14-billion transit strategy. Namely, the premier expects $2.75 billion from TransLink, the financially strapped transit authority, and another $500 million from the equally cash-short municipalities, which are loath to raise property taxes.

So where, oh where, could that $3.25 billion come from? One easy answer is transit-related real-estate development, as Hong Kong has shown.

It works something like this.

A public-transit rail route, whether SkyTrain or light rail, is put on the drawing board by government and key stations are selected. These areas of the city become designated high-density urban-residential development hubs, with highrise towers.

That rezoning generates a major spike in real-estate profits -- through more condos and commercial spaces to sell -- that could be retained by local government or TransLink, to pay for the new services. Or, more likely, under this provincial government, that valuable new urban density can be sold off to the private sector. For that, they would absorb some or all of the cost of building and running the new transit lines.

It's not clear exactly how quickly the B.C. government will adopt this real estate/public transit development from the other side of the Pacific. But bet on it happening soon. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon has told the "professional board" that has recently taken over the day-to-day running of TransLink the agency must consider the Hong Kong model in any major new initiatives.

This Hong Kong approach may be agreeable to many of Metro Vancouver's mayors, too.

Many of them are also in favour of carefully targeted "densification." It's easy to see why. More homes and businesses mean more property and business taxes flowing into municipal coffers.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is going to emerge as a leader in this push. His call for "EcoDensity" -- essentially a call for greater concentration of people in selected areas of the city to keep people from driving -- needs an expanded light-rail system to get off the ground. That is why he has been a key proponent of the rail-line along the Broadway corridor all the way up to the University of B.C., a project priced at a whopping $2.8 billion.

So, will any of these transit dreams actually happen? After all, we've seen these ambitious master plans before and they've mostly gathered dust. Usually they fail for three reasons: a lack of money, a change in provincial governments and political squabbling among the various municipalities.

This time, though, I'd bet on it being different. (me too!)

Barring major scandal, the Liberal government seems assured of another term in power and it has been awash in multi-billion-dollar surpluses. The government has essentially tamed TransLink by recreating it in its own image; it's P3 friendly. And the P3 model has worked. Just compare the two latest government megaprojects: the Vancouver convention centre, built by the government and massively over budget, and the Canada Line, run as a P3 that -- so far -- is being built on time and on budget.

Premier Gordon Campbell gave 2.3 million Vancouverites a look at their transit future Monday. And it looks a lot like Hong Kong.

mcernetig@png.canwest.com

Link to Miro Cernetig's blog at: www.communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/politics andlife/default.aspx


TRANSIT PLAN ROAD MAP

The promise: The announcement comprises $11.1 billion in new funding, including $4.75 billion from the province and requests for $3.1 billion from the federal government, $2.75 billion from TransLink and $500 million from local governments.

What's important: Immediately after the announcement, critics questioned the financial side. "The funding isn't there, the plans are in their infancy, and it requires the cooperation of local governments that have not been consulted," NDP leader Carole James said in a news release. Speaking to the issue of funding, Premier Gordon Campbell said the province has the resources to get the project started right away, and that the rest will follow down the road. "We think we've got the pieces in place for the provincial transit plan to be executed between now and 2020," he said.

What else: TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Monday that TransLink has to assess the details of the new plan, and may have to find new sources of revenue so it can afford to run all the new lines and buses. In response, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said he doesn't think new revenue sources will be necessary for the plan. Instead, he said he hopes TransLink's new board will be able to identify ways to get more revenue using the tools they already have -- such as advertising revenues and leveraging land-value increases that come as a result of any new large-scale projects.


Greenhouse gas reductions

The promise: The government says the plan will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other air contaminants from cars by 4.7 million tonnes cumulatively by 2020.

What's important: The province has already announced it wants to reduce emissions by 33 per cent between now and 2020. As part of this, Campbell has said the government hopes to reduce about six to nine million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector alone. This leaves the remainder of the heavy lifting in transportation to initiatives such as: the adoption of California tailpipe emissions standards, introduction of a low-carbon fuel standard that monitors the carbon content of fuels and a possible carbon tax.

What else: TransLink's Hardie pointed out that if the new environmental initiatives are as successful as the province hopes, it could lead to lower fuel consumption, meaning less fuel-tax revenue for TransLink.


Security enhancements

The promise: The province says it will bring measures to increase security on transit throughout the province.

What's important: The government has not provided a specific timeline, but says it is looking to launch a debit-style smart card to make it easier to pay fares, it will improve safety for bus drivers and will install electronic gates at rapid transit stations. "We believe people have got to feel safe on the transit system," said Campbell. "As we move to a new era of transit here in British Columbia we're going to be increasing our investments in security."

What else: After the announcement, Falcon said he believes these security measures will also help to greatly boost revenue for TransLink. "Frankly, they are losing a lot more in fare evasion than they believe they are," he said.

jfowlie@png.canwest.com

excel
Jan 16, 2008, 11:08 AM
thanks for posting this.

deasine
Jan 16, 2008, 11:37 PM
I would love for this to happen. I don't like Hong Kong's speed and lifestyle (how everything is SO FAST sometimes it's REALLY HARD TO KEEP UP even though it's extremely efficient) but it would be nice if we can integrate Vancouver's Lifestyle and Environment with Hong Kong's infrastructure and high buildings.

EastVanMark
Jan 16, 2008, 11:53 PM
Now if only we could only be as lively as a city as Hong Kong or have such stunning architecture.

deasine
Jan 17, 2008, 12:10 AM
Now if only we could only be as lively as a city as Hong Kong or have such stunning architecture.

I hope the Ritz Carlton is just the beginning of stunning architecture in Vancouver... not the flagship.

deasine
Jan 17, 2008, 12:40 AM
HAHA just for fun, I was watching this video.

http://www.youtube.com/v/zFhOF7lPLng&rel=1

It's just a song by Joey Yung (容祖兒 陪我長大) and is used to advertise the merger between MTR and KCR. In this MV, she sings in both the MTR and KCR (not moving train) and with a bunch of chinese dancing around (that's not what happens in the MTR - more like pushing and shoving). You can also see the gates and the huge ass stations.

They do broadcast on TVB (Hong Kong's main entertainment/news network) as well as on MTR. Have you seen this yet Mr.X?

Here's the TV Advertisement version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XgxtsdzOxE

mr.x
Jan 17, 2008, 12:47 AM
^ LOL, i saw that commercial all the time. On tv, on giant electronic screens, and on that giant billboard at Terminal 2 at the airport.

Not to mention that Hong Kong was going on a Beijing 2008 frenzy...they're making quite a big deal out of the equestrian events they are hosting. I passed by three Olympic countdown clocks (Kowloon Park, the airport arrivals, and the MTR's Central Station). Not to mention that there were Olympic ads everywhere: billboards, electronic displays, buses, trains, you name it....

The_Henry_Man
Jan 17, 2008, 12:50 AM
^Thanks for the link. It's a good song (lol...ironic because although I originate from HK but I listen to Korean songs more than Canto), and the lyrics are pretty well written. 容祖兒's voice is actually better than I expected (my mom doesn't like her singing at all). But weird, I haven't seen this ad video anywhere on the subways when I went back just past Nov. Maybe I didn't pay any attention closely enough at all.

LOL, I wonder how the casting crew got the chance to film it without the usual insane crowd 24/7. Perhaps MTR/KCR Corporation had to shut a few stations down just for this?

mr.x
Jan 17, 2008, 12:52 AM
lol, great vid....though usually, there are like 50x more people in the trains and platforms than what the vid showed. :D

imagine if Translink created something like that. :p

deasine
Jan 17, 2008, 1:24 AM
^Thanks for the link. It's a good song (lol...ironic because although I originate from HK but I listen to Korean songs more than Canto), and the lyrics are pretty well written. 容祖兒's voice is actually better than I expected (my mom doesn't like her singing at all). But weird, I haven't seen this ad video anywhere on the subways when I went back just past Nov. Maybe I didn't pay any attention closely enough at all.

LOL, I wonder how the casting crew got the chance to film it without the usual insane crowd 24/7. Perhaps MTR/KCR Corporation had to shut a few stations down just for this?

I know the MTR train wasn't moving at all - so they might have it on site at some rail yard or other track where it isn't blocking MTR traffic. As for the KCR - it was at the station so I guess they had to do it at night or really early morning to escape the rush.

I love that song.

I hope Vancouver makes a big deal out of the olympics too - all SkyTrains and buses will have Vancouver 2010 ads =D I can see in my head the usual Vancouver 2010 colour schemes and waves continue from one end of the train to the other.

mr.x
Jan 17, 2008, 1:39 AM
^ they also had Jackie Chan everywhere :D it's almost as if he's the city's mascot.

deasine
Jan 17, 2008, 1:54 AM
oh gawd =(

quobobo
Jan 17, 2008, 6:42 AM
^ they also had Jackie Chan everywhere :D it's almost as if he's the city's mascot.

I would be willing to pay a premium for this.

deasine
Jan 17, 2008, 7:33 AM
it would be hilarious if we used jackie chan as a mascot heeheehee

MistyMountainHop
Jan 19, 2008, 6:57 AM
it would be hilarious if we used jackie chan as a mascot heeheehee

We already have Rumble in the Bronx (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0113326/) :)