Light Rail and Redevelopment

I found an article in The Salt Lake Tribune about light rail and the economic grow that it will spur in the community of Murray (in the Salt Lake City region of Utah.) According to the article, the city contracted a Portland development firm and a Portland architectural firm to evaluate the potential in their downtown core.

“In 10 or 15 years, mass transit will play a critical role in the future success of this valley for economic and environmental purposes,” said Murray Mayor Dan Snarr.

But Murray will be particularly well-positioned, Snarr said.

“We’ll have the only platform-to-platform transfer from one train to another,” he beamed, referring to the city’s current light-rail TRAX stop and its future FrontRunner South station connecting Salt Lake City to Provo.

Back in Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (a crown corporation) is already working on station design for the yet to be finalized light rail in that region. According to the Ottawa Citizen:

But now the NCC is running ahead of the train, so to speak, in seeking to help the City of Ottawa design the stations that will make up the proposed light-rail system. The projected $2.1-billion rail project has 13 stops, a number that coincidentally corresponds with the number of Canadian provinces and territories. The NCC has mused about a design competition that would showcase, in a thematic way, the different regions of the country.

Finally in Toronto, another report has come out recommending road pricing to help fund transit and reduce congestion. According to the National Post:

The Toronto City Summit Alliance says tolling highways such as the 400 series at a rate of 10¢ to 20¢ per kilometre would relieve “congestion hot spots” while promoting the use of public transit — but acknowledges the existing transit system would require an overhaul.

PS: Check out the Toronto City Summit Alliance website for the full report and other information.

News Brief

First off, another independent report has cleared the scientists at the center of the supposed "Climategate" that happened last year right before last year's Copenhagen Summit. According to an article on AP:

The inquiry by former U.K. civil servant Muir Russell into the scandal at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit found there was no evidence of dishonesty or corruption in the more than 1,000 e-mails stolen and posted to the Internet late last year. But he did chide the scientists involved for failing to share their data with critics.

In the New York Times, there is another article on how light rail drives economic development. This time in car capital LA:

The Expo route has spurred development proposals from major companies, including Hines, an international firm based in Houston, and Casden Properties, a leading Los Angeles developer of multifamily properties. In Santa Monica, Eileen P. Fogarty, the city planning director, said there was tremendous demand for any site that was located no more than a quarter-mile from a station. “People will comfortably walk a quarter of a mile,” she said.

Back in Winnipeg, the Mayor of that city is ready to replaced his bus rapid transit system even before it's up and running next year! According to the Winnipeg Sun:

Though the city is well into construction of an initial bus rapid transit (BRT) roadway from the south section of downtown to a site near the intersection of Pembina Highway and Jubilee Avenue, Katz stressed on Friday that it’s time to change gears toward a rail-based system — or even “LRT-lite” — that will attract more riders and provide a far better bang for the buck.

“The reality is that we need a long-term, sustainable rapid-transit system. And it’s been proven that LRT gets people out of their cars. BRT doesn’t. That’s just a fact,” Katz told the Winnipeg Sun. “It increases ridership. We already know it increases residential and commercial development.”

South of Fraser - Number One Transit Priority

I came across an article in Black Press' BCLocalNews website over the power shift that is happening from Vancouver to Surrey. For too long Surrey and the South of Fraser has received little attention when it came to transit. Over the past few years things have been improving with increased bus service, but we still have along way to go out here to get transit parity with the rest of the region. According the Jeff Nagel, Metro Vancouver's board voted to give South of Fraser rapid transit expansion priority over Vancouver transit expansion at their June 25th meeting.

Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie tried to amend the motion to put the Broadway extension on equal footing, but the board rejected the idea, saying priority for the Surrey extension fits the region’s growth strategy.

“It wasn’t well-received,” Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said of the amendment.

“Vancouver needs to embrace the rest of the region and the enormous needs the rest of the region has.”

Have the tided changed for the South of Fraser?

BC gasoline consumption up 10 percent

The Sightline Institute, who researches public policy best practices for sustainability in the Cascadia region (BC, Oregon, and Washington), has released a report that looks into gasoline consumption.

In BC after a decade of decreasing fuel consumption, there was a 10% jump usage. Ironically enough, the green Olympic Games were responsible for the largest spike in fuel consumption in at least the last 30 years. According to the report, our carbon tax helped keep the fuel spike from being larger.

Download the whole report from Sightline's website.