In the aftermath of the resounding no in the transit plebiscite, yes, it’s a mess out there. Mayors are looking at self-financing their big projects in Surrey and Vancouver. (And even Delta is considering using its own money to run some needed buses.) Senior execs are being fired at TransLink, and there are calls for […]
The post-plebiscite transit mess: Surrey, Vancouver look to self-financing, mayors’ council on verge of blowing up
July 16th, 2015 · 28 Comments
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Two top TransLink planners axed
May 8th, 2015 · 137 Comments
News seeping out this afternoon that TransLink called staff to a meeting to say that two top TransLink planners were gone. Both were very experienced people at the top of the heap and doing the actual planning. One, Brian Mills, was director of systems planning and research. The other, Tamim Raad, director of strategic planning […]
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Vancouver’s Compass Card, still in tests after two years. Typical for transit smart cards or no?
April 13th, 2015 · 19 Comments
Transit smart cards are the in thing these days, I’ve discovered. Everyone wants them, in order to keep tabs on how transit is getting used and to give customers all the options they want for paying things these days. Even systems that installed earlier versions, like Washington and Chicago, are upgrading their systems so they […]
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Yes side starting to talk to real people instead of each other and media
March 2nd, 2015 · 280 Comments
So the mayors headed out on to transit this morning to sell the Yes side. And then there’s this, tonight. No info in the news release from City of Vancouver on how people can join in, but perhaps 3-1-1 has the answer As part of ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the upcoming transit and […]
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The transit-tax debate roadshow first stop: Langley, where the argument is made: “Langley will get nothing. It never does.”
January 22nd, 2015 · 304 Comments
Made the trek to Langley (75 minutes there, 40 minutes back) to hear Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Jordan Bateman and pro-Yes campaigner Bill Tieleman face off, to get a sense of the main messages we’ll be hearing for several months. My Globe story is here but to add a few observations to what is in the […]
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Vancouver NPA and Green Party will support transit plebiscite
January 12th, 2015 · 143 Comments
Much hay was being made a week or so ago about the fact that NDP MLA Andrew Weaver wasn’t gung-ho supporting a Yes vote in the transit plebiscite. But the local Green Party rep, Adriane Carr, said she plans to support it in a motion coming to council next week from NPA Councillor George Affleck. […]
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Mayors appear headed for .5 per cent sales tax to fund 10 years of transit improvements
December 11th, 2014 · 83 Comments
We’ll be hearing any hour now what the final wording and funding choice is for the regional mayors, as they head into the referendum. But all indications I’ve had the past two weeks is that it’s the sales tax only, as I wrote in my Globe story. Fuel tax is seen as a losing proposition […]
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Transit referendum won’t be until spring 2015 at the earliest
June 27th, 2014 · 42 Comments
Mayors decided yesterday that holding it at the same time as the November election is just too early and would likely sideline a crucial group of voters — university and college students. Story here.
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TransLink snapshot: Budget trimmed, ridership dips, population growing, no money to expand
May 29th, 2014 · 121 Comments
We all trekked out to Surrey (sign of where the next major rapid-transit project will go?) yesterday to hear TransLink officials talk about the annual general report on the agency. These TransLink events are always kind of sad experience. To the rest of the world, TransLink is a roaring success — about to have more […]
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Is the Canada Line at maximum capacity? No. Will it be in a decade? Depends on …
April 22nd, 2014 · 108 Comments
For the last year, every time I’ve gone to a public hearing or meeting about development, I’ve heard people fret about how there’s not enough capacity to absorb the new people who will be coming with the developments. Not enough schools, hospital space, parks, libraries, you name it. And it used to be that, along […]
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