The people over at the
Langley Politics blog have been supporters of light rail for some time. Yesterday they posted an article that I wholly agree with.
Check it out.
I think, however, that transit planners do need to carefully look at what is happening in Vancouver and other cities around the world and stop trotting out the "chicken before the egg" argument of pre-existing ridership support as the only point of discussion. Because clearly ridership will only increase along the Canada Line over the next decade or so as developments come on line -- manufacturing ridership, as it were. We need to have serious discussions with the stakeholders about how light rail, for a fraction of the cost of Canada Line, could do a similar thing for the 200th Street corridor in Langley.
In other news, it would appear that there is still a disconnect between the Ministry of Transportation and our local governments. I’m not sure why this is. It has seemed to be that way since I was born. If anyone has any ideas please enlighten me. On that note, I found the following article in the
Maple Ridge News:
The bundle of cash announced by senior governments Friday included a whopping $16 million for a 2.2-kilometre RapidBus lane from Golden Ears Bridge to Harris Road.
Pitt Meadows Mayor Don MacLean appreciates the money, but admits it came as a surprise and raises a few questions.
“I’m just a little confused. It seems once again the government is not speaking with TransLink in putting together these plans.”
1 comment:
All the Province cares about is building new roads. Even when they talk transit, it's only roads for buses.
Absolutely Greater Vancouver is getting left behind. Look at what a similar, self-declared "car dependent" city like Perth, WA has done with their rail infrastructure over the past decade or two. It puts us to shame and they are a smaller city.
The saddest part is, their trains are really nice, and yes you guessed it, built by Bombardier!!
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