Build it and they will come

This weekend I had the chance to ride the Canada Line again. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of people that are riding it. The Canada Line is the perfect example of how people are more willing to take rail over bus. In fact, I rarely hear anyone talking about how they are waiting to ditch SkyTrain for a car, but I always hear people on the bus saying how they want nothing more than to get their car back. In fact a friend of mine who used to take the bus with me to King George SkyTrain, now drive there and pays $5 a day to park.

The Canada Line essentially replaces a bus route with far less capacity. The Canada Line was packed pretty much from day one; no clearer example of how rail will always attract more riders than bus. If light rail was built in the South Fraser, imagine the impact it would have on people's transportation options. Instead of driving, people might actually take transit. Just as building more roads will attract more cars, building light rail will attract more riders. Where is our light rail?

Story from the Vancouver Sun:

The Canada Line could reach its ridership goals sometime next year rather than in 2013 as forecast, TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said Friday.

Kathleen Lapointe, who lives in Richmond, took the train into Vancouver for a course and said she’s “planning to use it all the time now.”

“I’m very happy,” she said. “I’m so glad it’s here.”