Editor:
“Delta, TFN need improved transit service levels, says Harvie,” reads the headline in a recent Optimist story, but Mayor Harvie is dreaming because Delta's transit situation will not change for a long time.
Here are two reasons why:
What was going to be a $1.65 billion extension of the Expo Line to Langley, as promised by the current Mayor of Surrey, has now turned into a $4 billion plus boondoggle, with a financial shortfall of over $1 billion!
Inflation will cause more impressive cost overruns on the Expo Line extension to Langley and the now $3 billion Broadway Subway.
The Expo and Millennium Lines desperately needs a $3 billion rehab, largely unfunded, but needed to operate more trains.
Secondly, to attract customers, transit needs to be user-friendly and the product TransLink offers is definitely not. COVID has shown that those who switched from transit to the car are reluctant to switch back, because the transit option seems third rate.
Public transit in Metro Vancouver is designed to meet political agendas and not customer needs, thus continues to grow in unpopularity, with TransLink remaining in high odour with the taxpayer.
$10 billion is needed from all levels of government (one taxpayer) to complete two light metro extensions (not to mention the $70 million to $80 million increase in annual operating costs) that will do little or nothing relieving congestion and pollution.
SkyTrain light-metro is notorious for not attracting the motorist from the car and why the proprietary railway has failed miserably internationally, with a total of seven such systems sold in the past 41 years and only five remaining after 2025.
SkyTrain's current financial obligations means transit customers will be waiting a long time for local bus improvements, as Vancouver, Surrey and Langley are getting politically prestigious, platinum-plated rapid-transit at the expense of everyone else!
D. M. Johnston
