City of Langley proposed capital budget: walking, cycling, and parks

Last night, the City of Langley held an open house for people to ask questions about the proposed 2016 financial plan. This includes the proposed 2016 capital budget.

The engineering department with a proposed capital budget of $4.8 million, and the Parks & Recreation Department with a proposed capital budget of $2.3 million, together represent 68% of capital investment in the City of Langley.

Over the years that I have been posting about the City’s capital investment plan, I have been disappointed because the City had always deferred budget line items for specifically improving walking and cycling infrastructure. I am pleased to see that this year is not the case. In fact, the City of Langley is proposing to invest $740,000 for cycling infrastructure along 203 Street.

When it comes to improving walking infrastructure, the City is proposing to invest $100,000 this year to enhance and build new sidewalks thought-out the community. This is in-line with the recently adopted Master Transportation Plan. Beyond sidewalks, the City is also looking to invest $50,000 to rehabilitate neighbourhood walkways which allow people to walk through otherwise dead-end streets.

When it comes to transit, the only direct control that the City of Langley has over the delivery of transit services is the quality of bus stops. The City is proposing to invest $100,000 to improve bus stops in Langley.

The single largest Engineering project proposed is $600,000 to rehabilitate 56 Avenue between Glover Road and the Langley Bypass.

Over the years, the City of Langley has invested in improving sports fields and playgrounds in the community. These are expensive items, and can bump investment in other parts of the park system. This year the City is proposing to invest $500,000 to build a sports field, and $100,000 to upgrade equipment, at Penzer Park.

On the Parks and Environment Committee last year, we passed a resolution asking that City Council consider deferring investment in sports field and playground upgrades to allow investment in more passive elements of the parks system.

I am pleased to see that the City is proposing to invest $180,000 to expand the trail system in Langley. An additional $20,000 will be invested into the Nicomekl Floodplain to plant more native trees, shrubs and berries to manage invasive species. The City will also be investing $30,000 to improve signage at parks.

To get an in-depth understanding of the proposed 2016 capital budget, I suggest that you download the full 53 page overview.

TransLink can learn from the TTC when it comes to pushing information to riders

Last week, I posted about an internal TransLink report written by former Interim CEO Doug Allen. One of the recommendations he made was that TransLink needs to improve its communication with customers.

When it comes to communication, there are some things that TransLink does well. For example, TransLink’s online presence is second to none in North America. The agency’s Twitter account is usually the fast way to find out what’s going on with the system.

Not everyone uses Twitter, and many transit users don’t have access to a smart phone. Whether by Twitter, phone call, text, or visiting TransLink's website, you have to pull information from the agency. TransLink is good at making information available if you are willing to seek it out.

The other way to get information to customers is by pushing it out. When it comes to pushing information out to riders, TransLink has room for improvement.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was in Toronto last week. I used the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) services to get from my hotel in Downtown Toronto, to my work located in Leaside. This involved taking a subway and a bus.

While TransLink's customer service is far superior to the TTC's on many fronts, the TTC does a far better job of pushing out information to its customers.

One of the things that you can never do, when it comes to providing transit service, is give people too much information when there is the slightest distribution or change in service pattern.

A display at a TTC subway station noting a service delay. Select image to enlarge.

In Toronto, if a subway train is delayed by even a few minutes, the TTC pushes information out to its customers right away.

If you are riding the SkyTrain, you’ll notice that there are sections where the train goes slower than normal. The TTC announces these types of slow zones on its trains, stating that the agency is busy replacing tracks in these sections to improve service. While these small disruptions might seem trivial, people get less stressed when they know what’s going on.

When I was in Toronto two trips ago, there was a major service disruption on one of the subway lines. The TTC was announcing there was a disruptions almost continually at every subway station, plus providing information on how to get around the disruption on the screens in every subway station.

The TTC also pushes out information on its buses too. For example, one of the subway stations was being renovated which required buses to stop at different bays than normal. The TTC programmed buses to announce and display information about this change.

I don’t think TTC riders get upset when that agency pushes out information about every single little thing that could impact one's journey on the system.

TransLink should become more aggressive in pushing information to its riders. This would improve how people perceive the agency, and enhance customer service.

Toronto’s alternate reality SkyTrain: The Scarborough RT

From time to time, I must travel to Toronto for my job. Normally things are so hectic that I don’t really get a chance to explore beyond Toronto’s Downtown. Because of scheduling this time around, I had some time during the day to explore the Toronto Transit Commission’s rapid rail network.

One of the things that has always fascinated me is the Scarborough RT. This 6.4km line was built using the same technology as our SkyTrain network in Metro Vancouver. The RT opened in 1985, the same year that SkyTrain officially started operation.

For two systems built using the same technology, during the same time period, they couldn’t be any more different. In Vancouver, the SkyTrain network is operated by computers. In Toronto, the RT is operated by a human in each RT train set. This was due to political reasons. Because the vehicles weren’t designed for operator cabs, space is at a premium in the RT vehicles.

One of the things about TransLink is that it is always working to make sure the transit system is in an excellent state of repair. If you go to any SkyTrain station, or ride in any SkyTrain vehicle, they are all in good shape.

The TTC has not invested in keeping the Scarborough RT in a state of good repair. It has only done the required maintenance to keep the RT from falling apart. The stations have missing ceiling bits, light fixtures are missing coverings, and while the stations are clean, they haven’t aged well.

When I was riding the RT, the announcements were garbled, and it was noisy in the cars. People really love the SkyTrian in Metro Vancouver, but people in Toronto hate the RT. They hate it so much that the City of Toronto is planning on ripping it up, and replacing it with a combination of subway and conventional light rail.

I snapped some pictures of my experience with the Scarborough RT.

While some people get hung-up about transit technology (I used to.) The Scarborough RT experience shows me that great rapid transit service is more about maintenance, frequency, and location than SkyTrian, subway, light rail, or BRT.

Latest data shows border traffic, Canadian dollar, fuel cost linked

In December 2013, I posted about US-bound passenger vehicle volumes at Lower Mainland border crossings. I was looking to see if there was a strong correlation between carbon tax, TransLink fuel tax, and people driving to the US. I didn’t find a strong correlation.

With the crash of the Canadian dollar over the last few years, I wanted to see if that influenced US-bound passenger vehicle volumes based on the most recent data available.

The first chart looks at US-bound passenger vehicles entering through Blaine, Washington compared to the average noon exchange rate.

US-bound personal vehicles entering at Blaine, WA tracked with average noon CAD->USD exchange rate. Select chart to enlarge.

There is a strong correlation between US border traffic and the Canadian dollar’s value.

How does US-bound passenger vehicle volumes correlate to the average cost of fuel in Metro Vancouver?

US-bound personal vehicles entering at Blaine, WA tracked with average retail price of fuel in Metro Vancouver. Select chart to enlarge.

As you can see, there is also a strong correlation. The interesting thing to note about this though is that the Canadian dollar and value of oil are tied at the hip.

Regardless, there has been a massive decline in the value of that Canadian dollar, and around a 25¢/l drop in the cost of fuel. This is more than the current 17¢/l TransLink fuel tax and 6.67¢/l Carbon Tax. So whether it is the weak Canadian dollar or plunge in the cost of fuel, tt is clear that the taxation on fuel in Metro Vancouver isn’t driving people to cross the US border.