Friday, May 9, 2008

A Story of Two Polls

When doing polling, it’s all about asking the right questions. Take for example a poll conducted by Get Moving BC. It asked:

Based upon what you now know about the project to expand Highway 1 from Vancouver to Langley, improve on and off ramps and twin the Port Mann Bridge would you say that you support or oppose it?

Total Support: 72 %
Strongly Oppose: 12 %

Similarly, the Livable Region Coalition asked:

I'd like you to think about two transportation options being considered for the Lower Mainland:
1. Twin the Port Mann Bridge and widening Highway 1
2. Build rapid transit to Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, expand bus and rapid transit service in Surrey, and extend rapid transit out to UBC in Vancouver. Which of these two options would be your first priority?

30% chose options one.
60% chose option two.

Next, the provincial government's study on the Gateway Project shows that the project will increase emissions that cause global warming. However, in order to meet the emissions reduction targets set by the provincial government, the regional transportation authority has said that transit use must double by 2020. Given this, would you support or oppose redirecting money from the province's road building plans into better public transit?
Total Support: 68%
Total Oppose: 20%

Interesting, eh?

2 comments:

Light Rail Guy said...

Here is the one question that TransLink or the provincial government would never ask.

Would you want a:

A) 10 km. SkyTrain line built with a cost of $100 million/km. or a total cost of $1 billion.

B) 10 km. of LRT line built with a cost of $15 million/km to $25 million/km. or a total cost of $150 million to $250 million.

C) 40 km. of LRT Line built with cost of $15 million/km. to $25 million/km., with a total cost of $600 million to $1 billion.

Joe Zaccaria said...

Oh my, now that's a whopper of a poll. I would sure love to see that one!