Editor:
I listened with interest to the presentation to Delta council on Feb. 16 by Mike Buda and Jesse Koehler from the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation, pertaining to what Delta can expect from the first 10 years of a 30-year plan to be funded partly by an increase in sales tax.
Buda showed a map and spoke about a new rapid bus stop with parkand-ride at highways 99 and 17A. Really? Why would a resident of Ladner or Tsawwassen want to drive to the area of the
Delta Town Country Inn to catch a rapid bus to Bridgeport? After all, both communities already have a park-and-ride and good rush hour bus service to Bridgeport.
Furthermore, the new transit plan promises 15-minute bus service 24/7. Once it leaves highways 99 and 17A, a rapid bus will not get to Bridgeport any quicker than a 601, or a 602, or a 620, since all use the same bus lane and do not stop.
Why build a bus stop that is not needed and pave over several more acres of the best farmland in the country?
I asked TransLink this question, and received an email reply saying, "The plan that included a stop there was altered." This just a week after the mayors' council made its pitch to Delta council, no doubt partly aimed at persuading the undecided to vote "yes" in the upcoming referendum.
Can TransLink be trusted to know what it is doing, where South Delta actually is and what our transit needs are?
Adrian Wightman
