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Fall transit crisis season upon us. First up: What will happen with unfunded Highway 1 rapid bus when the new Port Mann bridge opens

August 29th, 2012 · 112 Comments

Part of the fall ritual is announcements about improved bus service here and there in the region, as TransLink determines where the transit-rider bulges are. This year, service is going up for a number of heavy commuter routes south of the Fraser, but other, less-used routes are being reduced, some to once an hour. Yikes, won’t be building up any customers there! (You can read all the changes here, which make great nerd material. Alert people will have noticed there what the City of Vancouver announced today, which is that Robson Square is going to remain closed to traffic even after Labour Day.)

And, as the summer doldrums end, we are back to thrashing around about how to pay for transit. As my story in yesterday’s Globe detailed, we’re going to have the privilege as of Sept. 17 of commenting on a new 10-year plan, one that is supposed to include a solution for the Highway 1 bus, among other projects.

 

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  • Mira

    Julia #100,
    Current environmentalism is a… religion! Only a fake religion. A Watermelon if you may… Green on the outside Red on the inside! To the bones!
    Terry M #99 hurray for that! IanS/ teririch I second your comments too… we have a big big headache circling the blogosphere wagon. 🙂

  • boohoo

    What’s disheartening is the mindless lumping into simplistic, stereotypes that consumes the discussions.

    Have concerns about the pipeline? You are an extreme leftist bent on ruining this nation’s economic prosperity.

    Don’t immediately think bike lanes are a bad idea? You’re a political hack taking your orders from nefarious american donors at the behest of shady interest groups.

    Want to reduce car dependency in Vancouver? You’re an elitist, cycling, hippy waging war on the good old common man.

    etc, etc, etc.

    We are all, ALL, somewhere in the middle of course. No one here fits these stupid stereotypes. It sure makes it easy to ignore the point someone is trying to make, but does nothing to further the discussion.

    If we could move past this inane stupidity we might get somewhere.

    This post was about transit in the region. Why aren’t we talking about that?

  • waltyss

    I am certainly prepared to admit that some of Chris Keam’s posts were, shall we sat, rigid and rather inelegantly put.
    I also agree completely with boohoo that we have too much of slotting in of stereotypical views.
    However, whoever says it, it would be somwhat more credible if you were as willing to condemn those expressing those types of views that are from your own political persuasion. (I say this knowing that this is asking too much of some people.)

  • teririch

    @ Ian S #97:

    Like is said, my time is worth more. And my point was proven…..:)

  • teririch

    @Terry M #99:

    Thank you… : )

  • ThinkOutsideABox

    If teririch is who I think she is, then I’m under the impression that she gives of her time to feed and show care to the homeless in her neighbourhood.

    If so, I find the above post with the comment, “Your time is worth nothing. Not to me or anyone else…” offensive and lacking in humanity.

  • Frances Bula

    @Thank you for this, BH.

  • Roger Kemble

    “This post was about transit in the region.” Here, here bh.

    Last nite CBC’s evening news ran a story on the crush of students, school is now back in, along the Broadway corridor.

    Nothing new about that: it worsens by the year. Nothing new about Translink’s shop worn solution: shiny trinkets by the billions!

    Nothing new about Mr. World-class-paradise Gordon Price chirping in with his usual platitudes. Mr. Price gained political notoriety shooing the ladies of the street out f his Westend neighborhood and used his time on council junketing the world attending transportation conferences: at which he learned a lot “twentieth century mumbo jumbo” that gurgles up every time he’s miked!

    What seem to have slipped Mr. Price’s and Translink’s attention is the world-class bankers paradise of debt.

    CBC’s graphics bandied about billions and billions, I cannot remember how many I was stunned, but it is a lot.

    I know I have posted this link . . .

    http://members.shaw.ca/theyorkshirelad72/working.mount.pleasant.html

    . . . many times: sorry for that.

    But it’s important to look beyond the status quo. Seek simpler solutions, (i.e. move the loci and focus by spending millions to save billions), if for no other reason we do not have billions.

    But we do have a TX problem that needs sensible solutions.

    Thanqu!

  • Higgins

    Ouchie mama, CK! :-@

  • Chris Keam

    “if you want us to embrace your message”

    I don’t. I don’t speak for anyone but myself. I don’t want sheep looking to me for direction. I’d prefer people actually read both what I originally wrote, and my follow-up which was quite clear that I was speaking in general terms. Further, I think that civility and respect come from accepting one’s insignificance and realizing that no one’s time is more important than the next person’s. I was under the understanding that our worth was intrinsic to our existence, not a factor that varies according to purchasing power. Frankly, that’s how we got to this ridiculous traffic nonsense we currently experience.

    Finally, what’s really funny is people who feel entitled to call others ‘douche’ from behind a curtain getting hysterical about manners when another person has the temerity to point out that what we will leave behind is more important than what we take while we’re here. But that means facing reality and it gets uglier every day.

  • Chris Keam

    If so, I find the above post with the comment, “Your time is worth nothing. Not to me or anyone else…” offensive and lacking in humanity.

    Time is the currency of transportation. If we say one person’s time is more valuable than the next in this arena, which is NOT an exchange of good or services for recompense, then we are implicitly saying some people are entitled to use more transportation resources (generally driving) than others (on transit or by some self-propelled means). Go far enough down that road and you end up like Russia, where the wealthy can drive however they want and face little or no consequences.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031203928.html

    So if you want a city where the elite travel as they want, and the rest sit stuck in traffic jams, continue to believe that ‘your’ time is more valuable than the person sitting next to you on Skytrain, buy a car and contribute to the problem. But at least be honest about it and accept that you are positing a reality where some animals are more equal than others.

  • Chris Keam

    Sorry, I should have put quotes around the first para, which is attributable to TOAB.

    cheers,

    CK

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