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Originally Posted by logicbomb
Already seeing the shit storm by people on my facebook
“I am not going to fund this bullshit. I don’t even take transit”
“Can’t they just increase fares?”
“Doesn’t effect me LOL”
Yes, no educational campaign will save us.
So I will continue to sit in my car on McBride and ponder the age old question “ugh I hate traffic and this stupid Patullo Bridge, can’t these idiots around me just take transit?”
This referendum will fail and set this region back 15 years.
People here (not on SPP) are ignorant and shouldn't be making decisions.
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Frankly, even if it by some miracle succeeds it will likely do nothing for congestion. About the only important project that would have some effect on congestion is the Broadway subway. Surrey tram is not going to do anything for congestion (this is just a glorified tram that if not grade separated and is the same thing as bus), nor will the so called 11 "rapid" bus lines (which as slight improvement to already existing bus lines). This is just another strategy to put more buses on the roads that will spend a lot of operational money for minimal results.
Furthermore, there is nothing in the plan that discourages driving. No congestion charges, road pricing, etc. We are saying there will be 1 million more people in the city in 30 years so let's just add some buses to fix the problem. Thats not going to work.
1) Surrey should not be allowed to build tram to Langley. That should be a SkyTrain line built in phases. If they want to build local tram lines - fine.
2) Pattullo bridge should be torn down and not replaced saving 1 billion dollars that could be used elsewhere. At the same time this would discourage driving and put more people on Port Mann so that we can pay that thing off.
3) Be bold and try to minimize operation cost by building gondola to SFU and testing something new at the same time.
4) Do b-lines only if you can objectively make them rapid. Putting a "b-line" bus on Willington is laughable. Who needs a B line between Richmond and Metrotown? (there is existing sky train to use). B Line between Langley and Maple Ridge??? Seriously there are people living there without a car that are going to take a bus? That is where you built a new bridge - encourage car use there to pay the freaking bridge off (which is losing you tons of money right now).
5) Sell the rights to build above sky train stations (keep land rights)
6) Extend Sky Train to PoCo from Coqutlam/Port Moody. Maybe start working on line down Hastings to eventually turn down south and connect Metrotown via BCIT
7) Create some form of congestion charge (bridges would be the easy choice) or distance based charging to discourage driving & encourage transit use. Do not rely on this as a primary source of funding (as it may dip over time).
8) Go with sales tax as a good/stable source of funding.
9) Integrate with ferry system to the island by working with Nanaimo/Victoria on passengers ferry from Downtown / Bridgeport respectively.
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If that happened, most of the executives would probably just find new jobs, and since their positions would pay less, any applicants to fill their roles would typically be less experienced and educated. Also, it's like they fail to realize that public transportation isn't really a profitable business. With my (probably wrong) math, cutting salaries would only save between $2-3 million annually; to put that into perspective, it costs translink $1.6 million annually to operate the 364, a 30 minute frequency bus route. 
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